La Maison de Tara, which featured on our website last year, is a hospice that offers an altermative to hopitalisation for people at the very end of their life. At the hospice, volunteers are not an 'add on' but are at the very heart of the hospice's activities and without themit simply could not exist. Following the success of its first training course, a second training course for English-speaking volunteers will begin in October this year. The course will be held one Saturday per month over a period of a year (see exact dates below).
On the course, volunteers will receive over 100 hours of training in basic knowledge, practical knowhow and 'how to be' with themselves, with residents and their families. Training is given by in-house and external people with deep experience of their subject. Course organizer, Daphne Fresle, told knowitall.ch, "Learning "how to be" is probably of the greatest importance in volunteers' support of patient, family and friends. What matters most is how we are more than what we say or do."
The training programme starts with modules on learning "how to be": the capacity to care emotionally and spiritually for patients, their families and loved ones. Further modules cover infectious disease, hygiene, patient transfer, manipulation of wheelchairs and beds, patient positioning and relaxing massage. Finally there are modules on palliative care, covering: illness, the ageing process, pain control, the death process, experiencing grief and ethics.
Lisa Cirieco-Ohlman (left) and Denise Nickerson (right)
Lisa Cirieco-Ohlman has teamed up with Denise Nickerson for a new project: Education Guide Switzerland. Lisa has been publishing Know-it-all passport® since 1999 and has built up a solid reputation in the area. The 8th edition is at press and will be available end-of-August 2012. Denise has been involved with education since 1997 and specializes in working with multicultural, international, and expatriated individuals and families, and international schools and universities.
This new catalog will be listing over 250 universities, graduate institutes, international schools and Montessori schools — all educational institutions that offer academic programs in English within Switzerland — listed free-of-charge. Each school will have a dedicated page for their description which will also contain quotes when available from parents, students, alumni, faculty, or directors. The tuition costs, contact details, location, fun facts or famous alumni, degrees and certificates will also be divulged in one handy book. This 272-page catalog will certainly meet the demands much needed in a country offering so many ways to learn.
Providing a catalog of a country boasting a variety of English-language educational experiences for children and adults in Switzerland has been met with much applaud. "This will be a very useful guide" and "What a super and useful idea!" are just some of the comments that have been pouring in.
If you're expecting a baby in the coming months and are finding that you just don't have the time to prepare for it as well as you would like, or you simply just don't know where to begin preparing for an event as big as this - then BabySteps may be just what you're looking for!
Created by local mom, Florence Helg, BabySteps provides a comprehensive baby planning service, which will guide and support you through every step in the process, so that you can enjoy those magical moments when your baby arrives! Passionate about all aspects of maternity, and knowledgeable about the world of perinatal care in Western Switzerland, Florence will help you take those first baby steps in the process of planning for the arrival of your baby and will even offer guidance and support in the months that follow if necessary.
Florence told knowitall.ch, "Married for 3 years, and a mom of two, I have always been curious about all aspects of pregnancy, even before falling pregnant myself. I spend a lot of my time perusing magazines, books on nursing and childcare, and scientific articles concerning pregnancy and babies."
Some of the winners and runners up during the Monday visit to the Imprimerie Nationale Rochat Baumann in Geneva. Lisa is the one in the middle with the light blue shirt and Jacques Rochat on the back row with the glasses.
Announcing the winners and runners-up in the Know-it-all passport® 2013/2014 photo competition. This 8th edition has some real quality photos taken by people who have an interest in either photography or happen to have been in the right place, right moment, with access to a camera! This is the second time Know-it-all passport has organized this competition.
D E A D L I N E : MAY 6th, 2012, midnight
Do you take beautiful or unusual photos?
Would you like to see your photograph published in the new edition of Know-it-all passport® 2013/2014 due out end-of-August this year? Click here to see the winners in the last edition.
Here is the table of contents we will have for this 8th edition and we need one photo per section (8 in all). The photo will be used as a category separator like in the example photos above. (See below for rules and prizes.)
