The Origin of the G.S.W.F

Twenty years ago, noticing that our government and the folk did not work for the welfare of patients in a persistent vegetative state (pvs), Mr. Cao-Ching, the founder of G.S.W.F, decided to unify the power of benevolent people by knocking on their doors everywhere in Taiwan . In 1986, with the support of 700 benevolent members, the first home for PVS sufferers was established as a non-profit professional organization which takes care of the PVS sufferers in poverty. Later, in 1994, this organization was transformed into a national foundation, the G.S.W.F.

It pursues two ideals: 1) calling on local people to assist their neighbors in need, and 2) allocating social welfare to the community. With effort, gradually the G.S.W.F have established twelve homes for PVS sufferers located in Taipei , Taichung , Kaohsyung, Hsinchu, Tainan , Banchiao, Chayi, Tao-yuan, Maoli, Fengshan, Hsindien, and Chielung. There are three types of services offered by the foundation: (1) to take care of PVS sufferers in poverty, (2) to look after the elderly, and (3) to care for the homeless.

The Goal of G.S.W.F

The G.S.W.F aims t o uphold human dignity and to respect lives with compassion. By unifying benevolent people in society, we may accumulate drips of offerings into a huge river of love in action to run social services for impoverished PVS sufferers, the elderly, and the homeless.

Our Services in the G.S.W.F

1. To take care of impoverished PVS sufferers
Since the initiation of the G.S.W.F in December of 1986, we insist on the ideal, ‘Once a patient with pvs has been looked after, a family may survive', to establish more homes for PVS sufferers in Taiwan . We provide necessary medical care for PVS sufferers in poverty. To the present, more than seven hundred people have received it. P eople with a pvs certificate , or handbook of physical or mental disability caused by brain damage, who are registered to the government as impoverished, and have no infectious disease approved by the hospital, may apply for services offered by the G.S.W.F.
A patient with pvs requires full-time care, so the G.S.W.F has employed professional nursing staff to serve them 24 hours a day. In order to keep the patient with pvs clean and to prevent bedsores, the nurse needs to turn over his/her body, and to change their incontinence pads every two hours. The nurse pats the patient's back to assist him/her in spitting every two hours and feeds him/her once every four hours. Every two days, the nurse helps the patient with pvs to take a bath. If the patient with pvs has an emergency, the nurse will send him/her to the hospital at once.

2. To look after the elder.
To make greeting calls to solitary elderly people In order to prevent any emergency happening to the solitary elderly people with no awareness from others, and hoping that there would be no delay for emergency medical care, the greeting call was begun in 1989 May. The volunteer social worker makes greeting calls every day according to arranged appointment from two to five in the afternoon. If he/she gets no answer three times, the social worker will contact the elderly person's relatives, friends or neighbors to check. The visit could possibly prevent an emergency and comfort the lonely hearts of solitary elderly people. To visit mentally disabled elderly people with home services

With the aging of Taiwanese society, the population of elderly people with mental deterioration has increased. This causes family and social problems which urgently need to be solved. Thus, the G.S.W.F began to establish “the Home for the Elderly and Mentally Impaired” in 1995 that offers humanized, family-like, and professional nursing in order to decrease the worsen of Alzheimer's disease and to share the family burden. In May of 2000, the G.S.W.F start to promote “the Voluntary Home Services for the elderlys”. The voluntary social worker visits the elderly person constantly with concern and provides services, like household cleaning, daily-life assistance, or temporary alternative daily-care, and even to acccompany the elderly person for medical treatments, etc.

To establish “ the intellectual and health center ” for the elderly

This center of our institute provides the elderly with opportunities to enrich their social lives with intellectual, recreational and healthy activities. H ealth facilities, like the blood pressure measure, the jogging machine, and various exercises beneficial to intellectual practices, like the traditional “Mahjong” game, are offered to the elderly. All the arrangements attempt to build an appropriate leisure location for the elderly and to enhance social interaction among them.

“The establishment of the sister foundation, Huashan.”

In order to enlarge services for the elderly, the G.S.W.F has assisted in the establishment of the Hashan Social Welfare Foundation in 1999 May. The Huashan foundation has set up the love angels' website, and the community charity and beneficence center to serve elderly people with no partner and with mental impairment, in order to make the services appropriate.

3. To concern the vagrant, our “street friends”
From 1991, the G.S.W.F started to show concern for the vagrant in the area of Wanhua in Taipei . In 1997, the “Street Friend's Peace Port” was established on Da-li Street in Wanhua District in order to offer services listed as below: No Starvation — to provide meals of lunch and dinner for the homeless, in order to stop starvation on the street. The G.S.W.F make rice tamales, moon cakes, and meal gatherings on the Dragonboat Festival, the Moon Holiday, and the year-end dinner gathering, to encourage the vagrant to progress.

Disease prevention — whenever the elderly and weak homeless people are confronted with diseases, we assist them to take medical treatments, and help them to apply for national heath insurance and welfare insurance, and to prevent them suffering to death on the street.

To establish the Zenan Social Welfare Foundation

The Zenan Social Welfare Foundation has planned the “shelter company” and self-survival projects on purpose to establish the self-confidence of the ‘street friends', and to urge them to earn the living cost for themselves. We hope that finally they can return to society, participating in it. In July of 2002, the G.S.W.F assisted in the establishment of the Zenan Social Welfare Foundation in order to raise the quality and quantity of services for street friends.

This foundation provides necessary care and supports to enhance the rehabilitation of homeless people. It works for those who are physically disabled, and mentally or psychologically impaired or abused, including the homeless. The institute does not only attempt to meet the basic physical needs of vagrants but also tries to arrange job training and consultation for them. Furthermore, it organizes the homeless into self-regulated teams to provide services, such as street cleaning and traffic control, in order to contribute back to the community. And it hopes to rehabilitat e the social image of ‘street friends' and even to gain public esteem.

The G.S.W.F needs many volunteers to support daily services and administration tasks. In order to manage and coordinate the volunteers effectively, a committee is formed to perform the strategic plans and take the decision-making. In addition, the teams are organized to carry out plans and activities. Till now, there are around two thousand registered volunteers, and almost three hundred regularly participate in daily services and activities, contributing two thousand five hundred working-hours each month.

Every month, the organization communicates and interacts with volunteers through newsletters and birthday cards. They include students, retirees, housewives, and working people.

The present development of the G.S.W.F
　　
Eighteen years have passed since the initiation of the G.S.W.F. We now have received more than seven hundred PVS sufferers in poverty and do help their family to release some of their burden. However, according to the information announced on the website of the National Interior Affairs Department, we learn that there were 4,846 PVS sufferers in Taiwan so far by June in 2003. This indicates that the G.S.W.F has only looked after 5% of this population. In other words, we need to put more effort into taking care of the other 95%.

Apart from the little governmental financial support, 90% of the budget of the G.S.W.F for its services offered is contributed by irregular donations from people of the society in Taiwan . Every donation will receive a formal receipt and will be used according to the donor's wish for specific purposes.

By reviewing the previous history and to propose the future prospect, the G.S.W.F, and its sister foundation, Huashen, and the Zenan Social Welfare Foundation all pursuit the project of ‘369, 23, 20' explained as below: we will attempt to establish 369 elderly unified family communities, 23 homes for PVS sufferers in different counties and cities, and 20 “Street Friends Peace Ports” on the main stations along the railway. We do need your participation and encouragement; please support us with great enthusiasm.