The provincial department of health reaffirmed its commitment to palliative care at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital last Thursday, ahead of World Hospice and Palliative Care Day on Saturday October 12.
This year also marked a decade since the World Health Assembly passed a resolution calling for all countries to “strengthen palliative care as a component of comprehensive care throughout the life course”.
Health and Wellness MEC Mireille Wenger said palliative care was more than managing symptoms; it’s about honouring the human experience and ensuring that every person received compassionate care tailored to their needs.
“Our department is committed to strengthening palliative care services to enhance the quality of life for children and adults who require this specialised service. I also want to take this opportunity to thank our dedicated healthcare teams who provide this service with compassion and care.”
In an effort to strengthen paediatric palliative care, the hospital announced a draft paediatric palliative care model that stresses a holistic approach to supporting children and their families facing life-limiting or life-threatening illnesses.
“For many children who receive care here, it means a long, fruitful life. For other children, however, it is about the team providing the child and the family with a dignified, pain-free and peaceful death. This framework seeks to set out the ways of working to ensure that the holistic needs of the child and family are explored and addressed. This can only be done by a multidisciplinary team who connects and brings together their collective wisdom to develop a care plan to care for and meet the expectations of the patient and family,” said hospital CEO Dr Anita Parbhoo.
Elrien Joubert, clinical training manager for the department, said: “With an increased training budget, we’ve seen a substantial rise in attendance and demand for programmes that cater to a diverse audience, ensuring that all health-care providers are equipped with the skills necessary to deliver compassionate care.”
Registered professional nurse Alicia Dauds, who leads the palliative care service at the hospital, said: “For me, I didn’t choose to be a palliative care nurse, I feel like palliative care chose me.
“As a palliative care nurse, I build relationships with our young patients and their families who need support following a diagnosis. We often find that families don’t open up easily – but as palliative care nurses, we build relationships and walk a difficult journey with them. Part of my job includes counselling, either individual counselling with the patient or group counselling with the family. I also work closely with our doctors to ensure that families better understand the next steps of a patient’s care and how the family can provide support and be supported.”
Meanwhile, St Luke’s Combined Hospices ran its The Hospice Week 2024 Roadshow from Monday October 7 to Saturday October 12, during which staff raised awareness about its services.
St Luke’s is calling on its supporters to make monthly donations to aid its efforts to provide palliative care to those with life-limiting illnesses.
St Luke’s CEO Dr Ronita Mahilall said the medical care, counselling, home-based support and spiritual guidance they provided all relied heavily on donor contributions.
Visit stlukeshospice.co.za or email Jenelle Krishna at jenellek@stlukes.co.za to find out how you can help.
