A total of over sixty people worked in all the hospital’s wards. Some were sent there from other partisan units, while others were former patients who joined its staff after recovery. Before the war, the hospital staff were engaged in various professions; most of them were workers, farmers and craftsmen, while some were students and officials. Compelled by current needs they turned into nurses, builders, stewards, etc.
A few years before the war, Vencelj became owner of the farm Cmilk in Dolenji Novaki, which lies on the slopes of Škofje opposite the Pasice gorge. Through his mother he was related with the Podnjivč family. Vencelj and his wife Frančiška gave birth to a large family. In the summer of 1942, invited by cousin Metod Mlakar, Vencelj started working for the Liberation Front. He helped collecting funds and materials for the partisans, as well as distributing mail and propaganda leaflets. In his barn he built a hideout for partisan reconnaissance patrols, which often passed by before the capitulation of Italy. After the first bombing of Cerkno in Autumn 1943, his house was used as a mobile hospital. In it, between three and twelve wounded were treated at a time until March 1944, except for a short interruption. From March until the end of the war, the house served as a communication point for the Franja Partisan Hospital. All the wounded and sick who were to be hospitalised in Franja were first brought to the house where they were blindfolded. In September 1944, a wooden cabin was built about five minutes south of the house, as an emergency shelter for the wounded in case of danger. It was also intended for patients who did not need hospitalisation. It was used until the end of the war.