Summer School "Healthy Aging Challenges in WB"

In the period from 10 - 14.06.2024. The Faculty of Medicine of the University of Zenica is the organizer of the fourth consecutive summer school called "Healthy Aging Challenges in WB", which is intended for all health professionals, students, lecturers and all others involved in the process of healthy aging.
During the great program in four working days, participants from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Belgium, the Netherlands, Finland, Albania, Poland, Denmark and the United States of America had the opportunity to listen to very interesting lectures prepared by the organizers, but also the students had the opportunity and to participate in workshops prepared by their fellow students from our faculty.

Lectures on all aspects of healthy aging were also the focus of the kick-off meeting of the Erasmus+ project approved for our faculty entitled Supporting development of TransCultural Competence for healthcare professionals in the Western Balkans. This event was attended by a large number of dignitaries from the Federal Ministry of Health, the Erasmus+ Office of BiH, as well as other partner institutions such as IPD and FAMI.

On the first day of the summer school, the participants had the opportunity to hear about the realization of two great projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the first one led by IPD called "Healthy Communities" and the second development of professional competencies of nurses/technicians as part of the Project to Strengthen Nursing in Bosnia and Herzegovina led by FAMI, as well as lectures and workshops organized by lecturers from Zenica and the Netherlands.

The second day of the summer school is dedicated to healthy eating, preventive examinations and screening programs carried out by the Institute for Health and Food Safety ZDK, but also to the presentation of cultural aspects of healthcare in Greece, as well as a presentation on the importance of employees in healthcare systems held by Stefanie PReaxmarer - Fernandes (WHO consultant) from Denmark.

On the third day, we focused on new learning methodologies and creating projects in the field of prevention, promotion and advancement of healthcare workers. The guest lecturer was Prof Janusz Janczukowicz from Posljka (WHO consultant). We must certainly mention the workshops as part of the Problems project, which aims to introduce metacognitive learning in the field of medical/health sciences.

The fourth day is reserved for mental health, ie for work and presentations in the field of mental health from the aspect of impact on healthy aging. We must also mention the great workshops of bath therapy techniques conducted by Nedža Međuseljas and Emina Smriko, which were enthusiastically accepted by our participants.

In addition to the professional part, our participants had the opportunity to visit our city and get to know our culture and environment.

See you in June 2025.