Care, May 7. Excerpts follow: "Mr. Pierre Janssens, Mr. Roland Seutin, honoured guests, ladies and gentlemen.

It is my very great pleasure to have this wonderful opportunity on behalf of the World Homecare & Hospice Organisation (WHHO) to welcome all of you from so many countries to this important Second World Congress on Home Care.

"...It is a great source of pride to me that The World Home Care and Hospice Organisation was born in Bermuda 1993.

This extraordinary event would not have been possible without the vision of three people: Val J. Halamandaris, President of the U.S. National Association for Home Care (NAHC); Mary Suther, its Chairman and Henk Tjassing, then President of the home care association in the Netherlands and simultaneously President of the European Association for Care and Help at Home (EACHH).

At the very first World Congress on Home Care held in Boston, U.S.A. in 1997, Henk Tjassing addressed the huge gathering and said "this is the fulfilment of a dream and vision made in 1992''.

That Boston meeting was the first true World Congress with representative from over 50 countries. The World Home Care and Hospice Organisation, and all of us here today are "united in common understanding that Home is the best place for the aged, the disabled, the infirm and the terminally ill''.

It is appropriate that we pause at the beginning of this meeting to thank these individuals who have therefore paved the way for all of us to follow.

...May I tell you a little about the World Home Care and Hospice Organisation.

The World Home Care and Hospice Organisation was founded for four reasons: 1.

To promote networking and cooperation among people involved in home care.

2. To increase public awareness of home care.

3. To collect and share research data.

4. To provide educational opportunities where caregivers can learn from each other.

We have a unique opportunity at this historic World Congress to do all four of the above as well as learning from our past experiences and to prepare for the century ahead.

How very fortunate we are to be in this beautiful and historic city of Vienna in the heart of Europe right at the beginning, not only of a new century but also at the beginning of the third millennium.

...It is my belief, a belief I am sure you all share, that early in this new century home care will take its rightful place as the centre for all health care delivery throughout the world. I say this because there are numerous mega-trends which lead to this conclusion.

For example: Firstly there are the demographics. More people are living into their 70's, 80's and beyond. The fastest growing age group throughout the world are the people over 85.

The great gift of the 21st century is another third of life. At the centre of the civilised world, at the time of the birth of Christ, the average Roman lived to be 33 years of age. In the next 19 centuries, life expectancy increased to 43. Today, it is approximately 73.

In other words, we obtained 30 years of life expectancy in the last century alone and these trends will continue into the future.

Numerous diseases which used to cause death have been eradicated, and instead, many of us here today will, in extreme old age, do battle with a number of minor disabilities, meaning that we will need help to remain independent in our own homes. By the year 2025, the population in the world will exceed 8.5 billion.

Secondly, technology will further expand the life span. It will allow us to provide access to home care in remote regions of the world. The Internet is as revolutionary as the greying of nations.

Today, already in North America virtually any medical or therapeutic intervention, which until recently was only possible in a hospital, can now be done and is being done in the home.

Thirdly, there is cost effectiveness. Home care certainly in North America is always less expensive than comparable stays in hospital, and it is almost always less expensive than care in a nursing home.

In these days, when cost and efficiency are important, more and more governments around the world will look to home care as the answer. You have only to look to Canada, which just completed a huge three-year study.

The Canadian Government reached the conclusion that home care is overwhelmingly cost effective against institutional models and therefore has advocated a massive expansion of home care services in that nation.

Fourthly, personal choice. Home care keeps families together. People are the same everywhere. From Alaska to the Antarctic, they prefer to receive medical and supportive services in their own homes.

As the public awareness for home care increases, there is a direct correlation with the demand to expand the scope of such services. All of these factors coming together have caused a major shift in our approach to health care. In 1995, for the first time in the US, more people died from chronic disease than from acute disease.

What this suggests is that the future of health care has been changed forever.

Future doctors and nurses will focus on prevention and wellness from the beginning of life and on the management of long-term care and what we call hospice, at the close of life. Both prevention and long-term care are appropriately the province of home care.

Physicians and indeed communities must learn to trust those of us in home care, those of us who can truly make a difference in the lives of our patients and clients as well as their families.'' Clarence St. George Burgess, (Captain Jack) age 78, is a well known character at Crystal Cave's Treasure Cove. He works five days a week. "The key to long living: the heart is the engine of the body so keep it tuned and clean,'' he says.

Maude Carlington, age 65, senior guide at the Tucker House Museum, St. Georges educates visitors. She has four daughters, seven grands and seven great grandchidren. They enjoy fishing and doing family activities. She share cares for her sister, Verlie. In her spare time she likes working in her garden.