Activity Report 2010 - Sovereign Military Order of Malta in the United ...

Europe
I
n Albania, the growing number
of volunteers in the Malteser
Ndihmon ne Shqiperi (MNSH)
continues to expand their range of
social, medical and emergency
relief operations – particularly
among impoverished communities in
the north of the country.
Initiatives such as summer camps and
school visits are helping to reduce street
begging among Roma children, while the
volunteers also provide educational and
vocational training for girls and women
from poor families. Transport and home
visits are also provided for older people
and for those of all ages who have been
abandoned by their families, either
through disability or poverty.
A rapid intervention team of nurses and
paramedics, established in 2006, has
been in action several times – most
recently to help evacuate people injured
in an explosion at a munitions depot
near Tirana.
MNSH’s main project, however,
continues to be the provision of medical
services to more than 5,000 people
living in extreme poverty in the remote
mountainous area of northern Albania
where the collapse of socialism left
them with no doctors, no pharmacies,
no ambulance service and no money
to buy medicines.
Volunteers from the Order are now
providing health education training
as well as regular medical visits and
emergency transport to hospitals.
In 2007 alone, more than 2,800 people
were helped in this way.
International Summer Camp for Disabled Youth, now in its 26th year
In response to a request from the
Albanian Ministry of Education, first-aid
courses have been introduced for
students at a number of schools in the
Shkoder and Lezhe areas. This follows
the delivery of similar courses to
members of the police and fire services
in several northern towns.
As a result of this work, and several
other ongoing projects, MNSH has
established itself as a significant
provider of health and social services
to vulnerable groups in Albania.
The Austrian Grand Priory’s hospitaller
division – Malteser Hospitaldienst
Austria (MHDA) celebrated its 50th
anniversary in 2007. The Grand
Chancellor, many members of the
Sovereign Council and the Austrian
Federal President and the President of
Hungary attended the anniversary event.
The service has 380 regular volunteers,
1100 part-time volunteers, and 60
medical doctors offering temporary
services.
In 2007 MHDA provided medical services
during the Pope’s three-day visit to
Austria as the leading first aid organisation.
MHDA organised also a pilgrimage
with handicapped to Mariazell during
the visit of His Holiness, where 120
helpers accomplished more than 2,000
hours of dedicated work. In the Jubilee
year 2008 130 helpers and 180 handicapped
were on the Order’s train to
Lourdes.
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SOVEREIGN MILITARY HOSPITALLER ORDER OF ST. JOHN OF JERUSALEM OF RHODES AND OF MALTA