Why a garden?
On Saturday, 10 October, for the second year in a row, we marked World Hospice and Palliative Care Day at the Jevremovac Botanical Garden. We want the second Saturday in October to become a regular meeting point. It is a chance to talk openly about palliative care with anyone who has a question, for themselves or for someone close to them, and to better understand how each of us can help.
We didn’t choose the garden by chance. Support is something that grows with care, and something we want to cultivate as a community. A spell of Indian summer worked in our favour. Besides those who came to see us, we were joined by many who had simply come to spend a sunny day surrounded by nature.
Palliative care: a conversation for everyone
The heart of the programme was a short panel talk. Our speakers were Dr Aleksandra Marjanović, Executive Director of BELhospice, and Ivana Radojičić. Ivana is a translator, an advocate for important public health issues, and coordinator of Prevodilačko srce (Translator’s Heart). For more than ten years, this citizens’ association has translated medical records free of charge for patients who need treatment at clinics abroad.
The conversation covered what palliative care is, who it is for and how BELhospice provides it, as well as how much it is talked about in our public space. The speakers shared experiences from their work and reflected on how to shape the public conversation about palliative care and how to make this day more visible.
Special attention went to people who are rarely talked about: those caring for a seriously ill family member. This year, World Hospice and Palliative Care Day fell on the same day as World Mental Health Day. So we talked about the challenges caregivers face, and about the fact that palliative care is meant for them too.
Questions and comments from the audience encouraged us to hold conversations like this more often, for the good of the whole community.
What else grew in the garden?
Visitors could also talk to our professional team and share their questions and concerns. They could get advice from young physiotherapists from the Pharmaceutical and Physiotherapy School, who brought a massage chair with them.
For the youngest visitors, we set up a children’s corner where they drew and wrote messages for our tree of support. For everyone, we offered a guided tour of the Botanical Garden. The tour had one stop that matters a great deal to us. BELhospice planted a tree in the garden in 2024, on its 20th birthday, and we have now placed a plaque on it. So the garden itself now holds a lasting mark of the support we cherish together.
There was also a charity bazaar and a lottery. We presented the Run & Walk challenge, our ongoing campaign that brings together everyone who walks or runs for BELhospice while giving monthly. We announced this month’s winners and presented them with medals and great prizes:
- Dragana Plećaš – 152,59 km
- Bogdan Vurdelja – 136,83 km
- Aleksandra Marjanović – 133,99 km
Congratulations to everyone who walked with us this month to show that palliative care is not a privilege but a right for every one of us. Follow our posts and join the new challenge, which starts on 15 October.
The charity bazaar featured T-shirts and tote bags with designs by painter Tamara Kusovac, along with autumn treats from the Kolačević and Mandarina Cake Shop patisseries. Thanks to everyone who came, we raised more than 85,000 dinars. This will go towards the free palliative care BELhospice provides to adult cancer patients and to children with serious and life-limiting illnesses.
The lottery gave away 16 valuable prizes, provided by our main sponsor, ComputerLand.
Kako da uđete u našu baštu podrške?
If you need support, our free helpline is 0800 370 371, available on weekdays from 8 am to 4 pm. If you’d like to help, you can join one of our short-term initiatives, from the Run & Walk challenge to events like this one. You can also become a monthly donor, an option we recently introduced.
The people who made it all possible
Thank you to the acoustic duo Spark for the music, to our friends at MS Balloons for the decorations, to KST, the Belgrade engineering students’ club, for the sound system, and to all the donors mentioned above for their support. A special thank you to the Jevremovac Botanical Garden for its long-standing hospitality. And thank you to everyone who stopped by, whether on purpose or along the way.
See you next year in our garden of support. Until then, let’s keep growing it together.
