Can social workers do health screening?
ShowUp4Health says: yes, they can!
ShowUp4Health is a project about care. Mainly taking care of yourself. And from there we started the training of all HESED employees and municipal social workers working on the field.
On October 8 and 9, 2025 in Belchin city, we gathered representatives of the Social Welfare Directorates and Child Protection Departments from the metropolitan districts of Vazrazhdane, Lyulin and Slatina and from Kyustendil and Samokov cities and together with our specialists we discussed topics such as:
• Presentation of the ShowUp4Health project and the HESED’s program for prevention and screening on the field of non-communicable diseases
• Non-communicable diseases and factors that influence our health
• Capacity of social institutions and organizations (human, financial, time)
• Coordination, interaction and a partnership network for cooperation at the local level between social institutions and community-based services
• Opportunities for referral and free medical examinations for people in need at the health services of HESED in Sofia
A special focus was placed by Dr. Elena Kabakchieva, who motivated and inspired in her unique way everyone to take care of their own health, that of their loved ones and their clients.
We emphasized the importance of prevention, the possibilities of screening and the need for timely treatment – huge and challenging areas for field work. But when there is good interaction and a partner network for guidance, when we share our difficulties, but also our successes – the overwhelming task becomes easier.
We parted with a promise of mutual assistance when needed and for future meetings, where we can fight professional burnout together!
This publication is part of ShowUp4Health project. The content represents the views of the author only and is his/her sole responsibility; it cannot be considered to reflect the views of the European Commission and/or the European Health and Digital Executive Agency (HaDEA) or any other body of the European Union. The European Commission and the Agency do not accept any responsibility for use that may be made of the information it contains.
