The local people of Remetea receive steady support from the Caritas charity service of Alba Iulia in several areas. Forms of active charity range from early education and development through youth career-planning to programmes for the elderly, including home nursing care.

Helping little ones grow big

 
The Early Education and Development programme has been operating in Remetea since 2011. Today mental-health specialist Lujza Czirják holds weekly sessions for babies and their mothers. There are two group activities: one for non-walking infants under one year, and another for young children aged 1–3. At these gatherings 5–6 children and their parents explore playful developmental activities, learn about each other’s needs and enjoy the benefits of community life. The presence of a qualified specialist matters not only because of the structured programme, but also because it allows for individual counselling.

Participants tend to be persistent: anyone who realises the programme’s value who feels how much early development helps their child and how important the time spent with other mothers is, becomes a regular. The specialist also notices a strong tendency among Remetea residents to self-organise, help one another and show enthusiasm both among the mothers and the municipal staff she encounters in her work.

Meetups for older people, fighting loneliness

Since 2009 there has been a support group for the elderly in the municipality; when public-health conditions allow, its members meet fortnightly at the Saint Anne Social Centre, where social worker Róbert Péter hosts them. In addition to the regular Thursday gatherings, their programme includes events such as a carnival ball, a one-day summer excursion, an International Day of Older Persons celebration and a Christmas party.

The gatherings aim to maintain physical, mental and spiritual well-being and to slow down decline. Themed meetings provide opportunities to share worries and successes, to look for solutions together, all of which can delay social isolation, strengthen interpersonal bonds and replace lost sources of joy.

The group currently numbers twenty-five people who want to meet where they can share the emotions and thoughts of the “here and now” in a supportive community. The pandemic brought particular dynamics to the group’s life: after quarantine there was an initial elation at being able to meet again, followed by frustration and anger caused by restrictions (especially mask-wearing); then came the deeper exhaustion from isolation and loneliness; fear when the virus reached Remetea and some group members fell ill, and when a member’s husband died; thereafter the group surveyed and sought possible resources; members were supported through debates around vaccination (pros and cons), fears were addressed, information was provided, and hopes were expressed, that many had already been vaccinated and that perhaps this summer they could go on an outing or cook together in a cauldron.

Compared with peers in other settlements, Remetea residents adapted more readily to pandemic restrictions: they can be drawn into conversation, they reveal themselves and they give small gifts to those who provide them with an experience. Their feedback is encouraging; in the words of Róbert Péter: “They come to the sessions gladly and express that. I feel I can offer them something that restores their zest for life.”

Home nursing care for housebound patients

 
For twenty years the Caritas Home Nursing team from Alba Iulia has been visiting Remetea’s patients every day of the year. The aim is to maintain the quality of life of older people, and the daily work of nurses Balázs Bakos and Margit Borbély is varied. Most of the roughly fifty people cared for each month need basic nursing: washing, changing, measuring vital signs, and helping mobility-impaired patients to maintain or improve their mobility. Home nurses also provide post-hospital care and help arrange the loan of nursing aids and walking aids, and they advise family members.

There is demand — but not enough time — for staff to provide household help as well; they are looking for ways to offer this in a community whose people are persistent, straightforward, able to voice their needs (and their displeasure) and also express gratitude. Here, the daily experience of the home-care workers is satisfaction, thanks and feeling valued.