Over 8 million services every year: how the Ukrainian Red Cross cares for elderly people living alone

For millions of Ukrainians, the full-scale invasion brought a time of forced separation from their loved ones. Leaving the country, military service, and financial difficulties, for various reasons, many people were left to manage their daily lives on their own.

In response to this challenge, the Ukrainian Red Cross has developed a nationwide support network. Social helpers provide regular home-based care for elderly people and persons with disabilities who are unable to care for themselves.

The Home-Based Care programme began in 1961 as the Patronage Service. For a time, it operated in only a few regions, but in 2022 it was once again expanded to cover the entire country.

“Currently, the Home-Based Care programme reaches 23 regions of Ukraine as well as the city of Kyiv. Last month alone, social helpers provided 784,176 services, and over the course of a year, that number exceeds 8 million,” says Zoia Pogorila, Head of the Long-Term Care Unit at the Ukrainian Red Cross.

In total, 1,328 social helpers support 7,947 beneficiaries with their daily needs. Grocery and medicine deliveries, help with personal hygiene, cleaning, cooking, and accompaniment to medical appointments — each day, people receive the assistance they cannot manage on their own. Yet this work goes beyond meeting basic needs; at its heart, it is about care, companionship, and understanding. Social helpers organise walks and other activities, creating a sense of warmth and attention. For elderly people living alone, this support can be truly life-changing.

Thanks to the support of reliable partners within the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the Ukrainian Red Cross does everything possible to care for the most vulnerable members of society, offering them a sense of dignity, humanity, and value.