It started in Tirana the first training course for paramedical staff who will work in the two residential nursing homes that the Community of Sant'Egidio is building to shelter patients now in the psychiatric ward of the Hospital Centre "Mother Teresa".

The opening of the course was attended by the head of the Italian Cooperation, which funds the project, the local coordinator of the WHO and various members of the Albanian Ministry of Health, including Director General of Public Health and the Director-General of Hospitals.

All speakers emphasized the value of over twenty years of friendship of the Community with Albania, in many situations, even difficult for the country, and the attention and effort directed especially to the most weak and vulnerable.

The course is for 24 participants, and it will provide formation to the staff to be working in the two residential nursing homes and also the human and professional skills necessary to care for persons who have been institutionalized for more than 20 years.
This course is a contribution to support the process of mental health reform underway in Albania by providing a model from the experience lived by the Community with the opening in 2005 of the first residential nursing home in Albania.