that call be given by a home care organization. After the definition, I will talk about the organization of home care: in what way did the organization evolve, how many institutions are there, which kind of professionals are employed, etc. Then it is time to show you the video, in which are shown five home care 'products', as is it called nowadays. After the video two subjects remain: financial aspects and quality.
You may have noticed that in home care I don't use the word 'patient'. In The Netherlands it is common practice to use the word 'client' when we talk about home care. Not every client that receives home care is ill, and even when they are ill, this illness is embedded in a total home situation. Although home care is available to everyone, most of the people that receive home care are elderly people. Many of them are female and live alone. During the last ten years, the number of clients above age 80 has been increasing.
I will now give a defintion of 'home care' given by the National Council for Public Health in 1989:
Screen 37: home care: definition by National Council for Public Health
Home care is defined as 'nursing care, family care, treatment and support provided in the homes of clients by professionals, and aided by self-care, informal care, and volunteers, and specially geared to enabling clients to remain at home as long as possible',
By 'informal care' is meant the help by family and friends. Volunteers are part of the many volunteer organizations that exist in the Netherlands. As you can see self-care, informal care and care by volunteers are all explicit part of the definition. In the case of Mrs. Peterson this
