Hospital's History
Although the Insula County Hospital is considered one of the most prominent health institutions in the Republic of Croatia, it has been a long and rocky road from its beginnings dating back to World War II and the fascist occupation of the island of Rab. In 1942, a concentration camp was formed in Kampor Bay (Kamporska draga) housing about 15,000 people, mostly Croats, Slovenes and Jews, who were imprisoned for little over a year. For the purposes of managing the camp, the occupiers began the construction of ten single-story stone houses and two bungalows, which remained unfinished after the capitulation of Italy.
The leaders of the Rab Municipal Assembly and the director of the Psychiatric Hospital Vrapče, Professor Desiderio Julius, PhD, recognized the potential of this abandoned architectural complex and the beneficial Mediterranean climate, and took to the adaptation of the existing buildings for the purposes of establishing a mental hospital. Despite many challenges, difference of opinion, and even opposition from some of the local population, on June 1, 1955, the first patients arrived from Rijeka to Kampor by steamboat, and the Hospital was formalized on September 1 of the same year.
The initial adapted building had 50 beds, but with the ever increasing number of patients, other facilities were gradually put into use in the subsequent years. The Hospital was equipped with admission offices, laboratory, pharmacy, kitchen, laundry, and other units essential for work and patient care. Efforts were being made towards educating and granting scholarships for medical and other personnel, as well as improving work conditions.
Due to receiving patients from war-torn areas, as well enduring a naval blockade, mobilization of part of the workers to the battlefield, and working in extremely modest conditions, the period of the Croatian War of Independence was extremely difficult for the Hospital and the quality of health care at one point became questionable.
The Hospital became property of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar County in 1994, ensuring minimum funds for emergency rehabilitation and the purchase of fixed assets for work. At that time, the Hospital was lagging behind most similar institutions in the country in terms of lack of qualified personnel, accommodation and residence conditions, the number of admitted patients, and the type and quality of therapy offered.
In 2001, a strategic program was agreed upon with the County, negotiating the reconstruction of facilities and equipment, as well as the reorganization and restructuring program of the institution as a whole. Since then, substantial resources have been invested to ensure the work and renewal of infrastructure and equipment, as well as to improve quality, patient standards and working conditions for employees, along with the education of existing and employment of new qualified personnel. Thanks to the vision and enormous effort over the past two decades, the once neglected establishment was transformed into a modern institution which offers a number of modern diagnostic and therapeutic services to the general population, as well as the treatment and rehabilitation of mental impairments and illnesses in eight specialized departments.
The Hospital rates highly in terms of values and tasks, modern treatment trends, as well as life and health as a fundamental human right. In accordance with the mission and vision of the business, the Hospital enjoys a good reputation in the health services market in the wider region. Approximately 500,000 citizens of the Republic of Croatia gravitate towards the Hospital’s services, as well as the guests who come to Croatia for vacation and treatment, especially during the preseason and postseason, now that the Hospital's is offering health tourism services.
Continuous efforts are being made to develop and improve therapeutic models in order to, with a personalized approach and treatment, increase the diversity of therapeutic approaches, and the quality of treatment programs, as well as provide users with faster recovery and better quality of life. In addition to inpatient healthcare, in order to achieve high standards for the inhabitants of the island of Rab and the wider region, the Hospital also offers integrative and comprehensive healthcare and rehabilitation at the polyclinic level, by means of various diagnostic examinations such as X-ray, ultrasound, ECG, ergometry, polysomnography, EEG, evoked potentials, biochemical laboratory findings, etc. Services provided by physiatrists, internists, neurologists, speech therapists, clinical psychologists, and nutritionists are also available. Interdisciplinary teams of experts create and implement programs for neurocognitive, integrative and physical rehabilitation, utilizing both classical and modern therapeutic methods such as biofeedback, sensory stimulation and integration, acupuncture, physical therapy, animal-assisted therapy, etc.
Insula County Hospital nurtures a holistic approach to community health by engaging in community activities, involving volunteers and removing barriers or stigma related to citizens' psychological problems. In this context, it is important to highlight the volunteer anti-stigma lavender harvesting campaign, The Art of Well-Being. As the Latin proverb says: “As is rose the fragrance of the heart, so is lavender the fragrance of the soul.”
Since 2022, the hospital has been implementing the project "Mobile Team for Neurocognitive and Physical Rehabilitation in the User's Home", in cooperation with the city of Rab. Its users are elderly people and those with accompanying health problems in dislocated and less populated areas of the island of Rab. Special emphasis is placed on persons with reduced mobility and persons with disabilities, for whom the use of physical medicine and neurocognitive rehabilitation services in the hospital presents a serious problem or insurmountable obstacle.
Numerous prominent public and social workers, scientists, donors and guests who regularly visit the hospital have expressed support for its development and results. We wish to express our thanks to everyone who supports the project in its development to the benefit of service users and all employees.
