Reconceiving the Home Visit

[Betty DirrParticipant]

Can anyone share any guidelines or policies regarding how to handle requests for assistance from someone who drops in church or the parish office. We sometimes get calls from parish staff to come and help when such situations occur. We
Are struggling to respond with both compassion and prudence.
Thanks

[Irene FrechetteModerator]

Hi Betty
Does your conference have their own helpline/voicemail?
Anyone who stops by the parish office in my area is given the SVDP helpline telephone number and asked to call. We check for voicemail at least once a day and call the folks back to make an appointment for a home visit

[Jose Antonio MirelesParticipant]

Hi Betty,

We have had lots of cases of people stopping by the parish to ask for assistance.
the majority of the cases have been from Distress Travelers, People that need assistance with medicine and in some few cases people that need food..or in very few cases of people that did not know our helpline number..
The people in the parish office will provide them with our helpline number if it is not an urgent case, But if the office people realize that is a sort of an urgent care. They will get in contact with the Vincentians that are on duty that week for home visits. The Vincentians on duty will come with these clients to put gas in their vehicle, go with them to the pharmacy or to a supermarket near by…We are lucky because we are at a very short distance from these places..Clarification..We never provide money….

[Tom PelgerParticipant]

Since our parish is St Vincent de Paul, our parish office gets lots of both calls and drop ins. They always provide our area Helpline number for the people to call to set up an appointment for a home visit.

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