Compassionate Bruges

In Bruges, the city administration, residents, several civil society organisations and researchers recently joined forces to make the city a compassionate and caring environment in which experiences of serious illness, death, dying and loss are considered a shared responsibility. The Compassionate Bruges project is driven by a broad core team that meets on a regular basis to respond to the local needs and strengths of Bruges. Together they will design and implement numerous concrete actions. Compassionate Bruges is also one of the living labs of the VUB Compassionate Communities expertise center (COCO). Are you interested in getting involved? Feel free to contact the Compassionate Bruges facilitator! (Contact info at the bottom.)

Visit the Compassionate Bruges website!

Current Core Coalition

Alderman's college of Bruges, Work & Entrepreneurship,
Welfare & Care, Community Work

Heidehuis,
Palliative Care Unit De Vlinder

Primary Care Zone of Bruges

Mintus

Huis Van De Mens

Informal Care Support Center

HoWest University College of Applied Sciences

End-of-Life Information Forum (LEIF)

End-of-Life Care Research Group

Actions

Launch of Compassionate Bruges – 30 September 2020

Bruges has officially started as Compassionate City and the core coalition group has signed a declaration of intent. Students, volunteers and informal caregivers spoke at the launch and the press was also present: link

Launch of the Compassionate Bruges website

The project and all the information and tools that it produces can be followed on this website. The website is divided into the three pillars of the project: Loss (Verlies), Connect (Verbinden), and Strengthen (Versterken).

Actions that will make Bruges into a Compassionate City

Many organizations are developing activities and actions that already contribute to a culture of Compassionate in Bruges. Some examples are the red letterbox at 't Zand, and the meeting group for people in mourning from Samana. For an overview, have a look here!

Research

Large-scale survey – September/Oktober 2020

CAPACITY studie 3: Broad survey of the residents of Bruges regarding their local social participation, neighborhood connections, awareness, knowledge, skills, attitudes, competencies and help-seeking behavior.

CAPACITY studie 4: Focused survey of neighborhoods in which local initiatives are being developed related to social cohesion, participation, communication, support, willingness to lend support, availability of support and experiences.