Local Committee

The “KASSITATEION” Nursing Home for the Aged in Kythera is under the authority and management of the “TRFYLLEION FOUNDATION OF KYTHERIANS”, but it operates under a 5-person Local Committee supervision with a 3-year mandate, appointed by the Trifylleion Foundation. According to article 1 of the Nursing Home Organization, the post of the Committee members is without pay and honorary. The duties of the Local Committee and in general the functioning of the Nursing Home are regulated by the special Organization drafted and approved by the Board of Directors in 1975. Currently (2016), the Local Committee members whose tenure is terminated in 31.1.2017 are the following:

George Kalligeros, Chairman.
George Sofios, Vice-chairman.
Anthony Protopsaltis, Secretary.
Stamatina Samiou, Treasurer
George Lourantos, Member



Personnel

The staff of the Nursing Home enumerates 22 persons. According to article 6 of the Organization, they are hired through a selection among the better qualified from those applying for the openings offered. They sign private law contracts and their wages are determined by the current collective bargaining agreements. The duties and the responsibilities of the personnel are determined by the Local Committee.

Inmates

According to article 11 of the Organization, the Nursing Home accepts in residence elderly persons-with preference to Kytherian permanent residents –of both genders, over 60 years of age, unable to work, primarily
those without any means of subsistence or abandoned, who have no relatives capable of taking care of them. The care at the Nursing Home is free of charge; however, the inmates with some income would contribute a sum commensurate with their maintenance costs, determined by the Local Committee.

According to article 13 of the 1975 Nursing Home Organization, inmates are admitted following the application submitted by the interested elderly or of their relatives, the local community councilor, or the Priest of the parish. The application must be accompanied by the following documents: birth and family status certificates from the Municipality and affirmation of the parish priest that the applicant is in need for admission to the Nursing Home. The applicant is then examined by the official doctor of Nursing Home, certifying whether the applicant falls within the restrictions of article 11 concerning the admission to the Nursing Home. Next, the application is examined by the Local Committee and the Board of Directors of the Foundation and is approved or rejected.

Basic Information and Conditions for the Admission of Inmates

As it is well known, the Nursing Home has its own property and income, its economic management being by law autonomous (Autonomous Account of Trifylleion Foundation). Any shortages in its budget are covered by the Trifylleion Foundation.
For quite some years now, the composition of the inmates has changed. The overwhelming majority are bedridden or incapable of taking care of themselves. This has in essence changed the Nursing Home into an asylum of helpless elderly, raising consequently to a considerable degree the cost of operation and the cost per bed. 
The contributions by the inmates cover, on the average, only about one-third of the monthly expenses of their beds, in spite of the fact that certain of them have a family property. Unfortunately, in some cases, the descendants of the inmates keep the property for themselves and commit their elderly relatives to the Nursing Home. This, in effect, ends up with the exploitation of the Nursing Home and the Foundation, and in the final analysis of all those who donated their fortune for the good of the island.  
The rest of the cost is covered by: a) the income from the property or the reserve of the Nursing Home and b) a significant annual contribution by the Trifylleion Foundation. If this situation continues, the Nursing Home may reach the point to be unable to take care even of the needy compatriots, while the Foundation wouldn’t be able to finance any other community projects or activities for supporting the youth and the qualitative development of the island.
For alleviating this situation, the Board of Directors of the Trifylleion Foundation decided to reorganize on a more rational basis the operation of the Nursing Home, in a way that the cost of its functioning be met by the income from its property, provided by the donors and devisors exclusively for the care of the elderly.
According to the principles of the charity institutions, the Nursing Home would provide without limit as many beds as needed for the free of charge care of the elderly who have neither “family property” nor any pension. Those with a small pension would contribute half of it for their sustenance. As “family property” are considered the assets owned by the inmates themselves jointly with the property owned by the persons that have the obligation to support them. If there are no such persons, the heirs (relatives or not) of the applicants would decide how they can contribute.
The rest of the newcomers into the Nursing home would contribute in proportion with their assets and their own incomes or the incomes of their family, at least up to the amount required for covering the expenses of their living relative to the bed category (one-bed, two-bed, three-bed, bedridden, common, interior, exterior, etc) that they choose.
Any interested applicant that belongs to the category of those that own property may be asked to donate, if so wishes, instead of money some other piece of property (farm, land or real estate). In such a case, there would be an estimation of the value of the contribution by the tax office or any other competent public service.
The admission to the Nursing Home will be effectuated after a written application of the would be inmate, a relative, a heir or other representative. If one is interested to be admitted free of charge, he or she should submit relative documents that prove the lack of property, as well as the amount of the pension. For the evaluation of small value property relative documents would also be requested.
The disposition of beds in a price has the exclusive purpose of complementing the cost for the poor inmates and it does not in any case aims at a profit.
With these regulations, the Board of Directors of the Trifylleion Foundation: renders the Nursing Home a charity bequest, for it will provide free of charge care to the really needy poor, as well as care (non-profit) to all Kytherians that wish to be admitted, without however, shifting the cost to others. It puts this way a restrain to the exploitation of the charity endowment of the Nursing Home by those who can bear the cost of care of their own elderly person.

The regulation of the Kythera Nursing Home " Kassimateion"