Father Eugeniusz Dutkiewicz SAC Hospice

A Palliative Care and Pain Therapy Outpatient Clinic has been established in the hospice house so as to deal with patients in the final stage of their disease. The clinic is intended to be visited by patients from Gdańsk and its environs who had completed casual treatment in hospital.

The hospital additionally hosts bereavement support group workshops.

The primary purpose of Gdańsk hospice is to focus on the palliation of patients in the terminal phase of their illness. The professional medical team, i.e. doctors and nurses, additionally aided by both clergymen and volunteers, strive to improve quality of life for people facing this difficult period of their existence. Medical volunteers provide services to the ailing and their families not only in the stationary residence, but in patients' private homes as well. Some main examples of volunteers' duties are: providing assistance with personal care such as bathing, doing light housekeeping for the patients and their families, and being a comforting and supportive presence.

In addition to the medical voluntary service, Gdańsk Hospice is also the organiser of various campaigns, both local and national. The aim of those is to help the ill and dying, as well as to popularise the hospice idea in society.

One of such campaigns is the WHAT programme (full name: Hospice Voluntary Service as a Tool of Acceptance and Tolerance Learning Tool among Prisoners), whose pioneer is Father E. Dutkiewicz Hospice. In accordance with the programme's guiding principles, convicts and small offence criminals may join voluntary service. The programme was initiated in 2002, and since then has proved to be a success. The movie To Overcome Prejudice tells the story of this campaign.[1]

'Fields of Hope' (Pola Nadziei) is an international campaign, first conducted in Scotland by the Marie Curie Cancer Care Foundation. In Poland, the first to organise this campaign was the Hospice in Kraków in 1998, and in 2003, Father Eugeniusz Dutkiewicz Hospice SAC in Gdańsk joined the action.[2] Each year, around 4 October, thousands of people plant daffodils (at hospitals, schools, government buildings, etc.) as a symbol of solidarity with cancer patients. In spring, when the flowers are in bloom, begins the action aiming to gather funds for providing hospice care. The volunteers, dressed in yellow T-shirts, collect money for the hospice on streets, in parks, in front of churches and shopping malls. A daffodil flower – the symbol of hope – is given out in thanks for contributions. The fund-raising is accompanied by various artistic happenings (e.g. concerts). In addition to gaining monetary fundings for the hospices, Fields of Hope is also aimed at promoting the idea of hospice care, informing the society of its role and activity, as well as sensitising people to the needs of terminally ill patients.

The Package from the Heart campaign (Paczka od Serca) is organised each year in December, with the aim of helping the youngest patients. Within the campaign, an auction of special packages is held. The contents of said packages are composed by media, movie, music and sports celebrities.

The Become a Gdańsk Angel campaign (Zostań Gdańskim Aniołem) has taken place during the 749th Dominican Fair (Jarmark Św. Dominika).[3] The volunteers, dressed as angels, took part in the opening parade, and organised an additional attraction for spectators and the ill from Gdańsk Hospice. The aim of this campaign was to help people realise the importance of helping others, and also to call attention to the suffering of another.