President Milanović Receives Employees, Beneficiaries, and Parents from the Down Syndrome Rehabilitation Center Pula

The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović today received employees of the Down Syndrome Rehabilitation Center Pula, beneficiaries of the Center, and their parents.

The employees of the Down Syndrome Rehabilitation Center Pula, led by Acting Director Srećko Butorac, introduced President Milanović to the activities of this non-governmental and non-profit institution, founded in 2005. They emphasized that the Pula Center is the first and only institution of its kind in Croatia and Southeast Europe. The Center’s main activities include working with people with Down syndrome, protecting their rights and the rights of their families, supporting their social integration into the local community, and improving their quality of life.

The Center provides half-day and full-day care services to beneficiaries from Pula, Istria, and all over Croatia, across 1,800 square meters of space in the city center. To date, more than 600 families from Croatia and the wider region have participated in the Center’s rehabilitation programmes, it was noted during the meeting. The Center is also preparing a project for permanent accommodation for people with Down syndrome, which is currently in the process of obtaining the necessary administrative permits. It is hoped that this project will soon be implemented as the crowning achievement of the Center’s two decades of work.

In addition to Acting Director Srećko Butorac, the meeting at the Office of the President was attended by employees Branka Butorac, Goran Usainović, Sandra Piljan Matan, and Izabela Đaković; beneficiaries Cvita Markulin, Zarra Martinović, Gabriela Pašalić, Lea Butorac, Roberto Mohorović, Dino Sloković, Karolina Krstevska, Carla Rojnić, Lando Dušan, Dorja Čaušević, Ana Bašić, Kristina Ivančić, Andrija Krot Novosel, Nives Petrović, and Dario Geng; and their parents Anđelka Markulin, Krešimir Markulin, Dušica Martinović, and Cinzia Steffe Pašalić.

President Milanović was accompanied by Jadranka Žarković, Adviser to the President of the Republic for Education.

PHOTO: Office of the President of the Republic of Croatia / Tomislav Bušljeta