LEBANON: Fund Raising Dinner Celebrates Retirement Home Project

CHOUF (Daily Star), August 30, 2005: The Health Association of the Druze Community (HADC) held a fund-raising dinner to celebrate the completion of the first stage in the construction of a new hospice for the elderly. The proceeds of the fund-raising venture will go toward the remaining construction of the new building. The hospice board of trustees has already provided 17,000 square meters of land in Ain wa Zein, paid for with HADC funds. The cost of the project totals around $5 million with the necessary equipment costing another $1 million. The building, to be located on the hills of the Chouf village Ain wa Zein, will be surrounded by gardens occupying an area of 6,000 square meters, thus creating a beautiful landscape for senior citizens. Ain wa Zein is known for its good climate and could provide an ideal location for health tourism. The dinner was attended by Chouf MP Walid Jumblatt, Immigration Minister Nehmeh Tohme, MP Anwar Khalil, and other religious and political figures, as well as representatives from the hospice. MP Anwar Khalil, a member of the hospice board of trustees recalled the stages of the establishment of the hospice praising the efforts of the former Druze spiritual leader the deceased Sheikh Daoud Abu Shaqra. Khalil said: "We meet today to express our commitment to providing adequate social and health care for our elderly wherever they are, regardless of their religious or social affiliation." The new hospice will be composed of four floors (three residential floors and one floor for services). It will have 168 rooms with 312 beds. It will also provide wards for mental and psychological illnesses, as well as for chronic, incurable and acute diseases. Lebanese and French experts worked together on the design and construction of the building, with the assistance of the Broca Hospital in France, which specializes in geriatrics. By Maher Zeineddine DAILY STAR Correspondent Copyright © 2004, The Daily Star.