In the world there are a sufficient number of diseases that cannot be treated. This is not only well-known cancer and AIDS, but also more than a hundred diseases, which, alas, are fatal. For those people who can no longer be cured, but are still in the world of the living, a branch of medicine such as palliative therapy has been created. What it is?
Palliative medicine is not concerned with curing patients, but with supporting their condition, quality of life, getting rid of the suffering caused by a serious illness, as well as a set of measures to help relatives of such patients. And the main form of institutions where such assistance is provided is hospice. Such support centers will be discussed in this article.
What is a hospice? This is a
medical institution where people who suffer from serious ailments and incurable forms of diseases are permanently hospitalized. In such a place, they are provided with qualified care by medical personnel, at least a minimum supply of medicines, including painkillers, which are prescribed for such diseases, as well as the simplest attention and support. Usually, when it comes to such institutions, the oncological hospice comes to mind first. But in fact, in such places there are not only patients suffering from
terminal stages of cancer, although there are most of them in the post-Soviet space.
In order to understand what a hospice is, one really needs to visit the walls of such institutions at least once. Patients who are there for permanent residence are surrounded by familiar things, they are visited by relatives and friends. The very principle of the hospice is to maintain a “home” environment around a patient who does not have much time left. The only thing that distinguishes such institutions from, for example,
intensive care units is a clear sense of doom. After all, what is a hospice most often? This is the place where people who become a burden for those relatives who have no opportunity to provide a decent level of care for patients at home are sent. A person who comes here is aware of his diagnosis, although the principle of “openness” is not mandatory for hospices. Also, another principle of the work of such institutions is an individual approach to each of the patients, depending on their diagnosis, religious and ethical beliefs.
Hospices are financed from charitable foundations, and therefore are not always sufficient. Relatives of patients also help with something, but on a purely voluntary basis, since one of the rules of such institutions is the free provision of all services provided to the dying, because they do not pay for death, as well as for birth. Well, the best help for hospices is not always measured in money. Much more important is the attention given to patients by volunteers who help staff to make patients feel comfortable, as well as communication with those whom relatives and friends do not come to for any reason. After all, what is a hospice, if not a house for its inhabitants, and it, as you know, should be comfortable and open.