A modern-style boarding house was built in the Postavy district

 A significant amount of work has been done in the Vitebsk region over the past year and a half to upgrade the material and technical base of boarding facilities for the elderly, disabled, and children in need of state social care. The results are already evident. And here is another confirmation of the effectiveness of the efforts made – on January 23, a new residential building of the Dunilovichi psycho-neurological boarding facility for the elderly and disabled was opened in the Postavy district.
 
This is one of the oldest stationary social institutions in the region. Immediately after the Great Patriotic War, a children's home was located in the former manor house in the village of Novye Yasnevichi, and in August 1957, a home for disabled people was established. The last of the old buildings of the boarding facility was constructed in the mid-1970s; like all others, it was a single-story, barrack-type building.
 
In 2005, according to the conclusion of an expert commission, two residential buildings were declared unfit for habitation. Subsequently, the number of residents was reduced from 210 to 105 people. The prospects for the boarding facility at that time were extremely uncertain. And only in 2011 did the situation change radically when, in April, the construction of a new, modern, three-story building equipped with all amenities began. This is the first such facility in the Vitebsk region.
 
– With its opening, we have also solved the problem of waiting lists for boarding facilities, and it existed, despite the fact that the Vitebsk region has more boarding facilities than other regions – 15, – said Alexander Khristoforov, Chairman of the Committee for Labor, Employment, and Social Protection of the Regional Executive Committee, at the opening ceremony. – And most importantly, we have significantly improved the living conditions of the wards and the working conditions of the boarding facility staff.
 
The construction and timely commissioning of the new residential building of the Dunilovichi boarding facility was called a clear manifestation of care for disadvantaged people by Oleg Matskevich, Deputy Chairman of the Regional Executive Committee. He recorded his personal impressions of what he saw during a tour of the rooms prepared for residents, the training room, the halls, and the relaxation areas in the visitors' book of the small museum of the boarding facility, which also found its place in the new building.
 
/>In total, about 65 billion rubles were spent on the construction, reconstruction, modernization, and major repair of boarding houses in the region last year, of which 25.5 billion were invested in Dunilovichi. Its reconstruction will be continued: the next steps include the commissioning of the medical building, the construction of a canteen, and the modernization of the remaining buildings. Work will also continue in other boarding houses; the next location for good news is the Gluboksky district, the village of Petrunovo, where a major repair of a similar psychoneurological boarding house for the elderly and disabled is being completed.
 
Tatyana Gornova, "NS", photo by the author