WHAT WE DO
1.
Provides free home-based Palliative Care to clients infeced by life-threatening illnesses.
2.
Provides psychosocial services and access o spiritual support as well as bereavement support.
3.
Liases with primary health care facilities, hospitals and medical doctors.
4.
Organises support groups and adherence clubs for clients.
5.
raises public awareness about life-threatening illnesses and hospice services.
6.
provides education and training for staff and board members.
7.
creates opportunities for the community to support the work of camdeboo hospice .
8.
runs a charity store to boost hospice finances.
9.
organises fundraising events.
Palliative Care
Understanding what Camdeboo Hospice can do for you!
WHAT WE DO
We provide home-based Palliative Care to clients infected and affected by life-threatening illnesses.
DEFINITION OF PALLIATIVE CARE?
Palliative Care is the physical, psychological, social and spiritual care provided by a multi-disciplinary team of experts to anyone with a life-threatening illness and support for their loved ones. Care is offered from the point of diagnosis and extends to bereavement support if needed.
With this in mind – Palliative Care is not just for the last days of a patient’s life as previously thought. Palliative Care is a long term process and is holistic (all round) quality health care program to help the patient with everything from start to end.
Patients and family are educated about treatment, diet, basic nursing, and adherence to medication. Pain and symptoms are assessed and monitored to ensure patients do not suffer.
Counselling of patients and families involves emotional and spiritual support, decision making and, if necessary, preparations for dying and bereavement comfort.
Patients diagnosed with a terminal illness may ask their doctor for a referral letter to hospice as soon as possible after diagnosis is received.
TO PROVIDE QUALITY PALLIATIVE CARE, THE FOLLOWING ARE ESSENTIAL:
Quality patient and family communication and updates – education on the illness , includes the cause, treatment, what to expect and the kind of help they can get. It is important for the family to be included in the education updates and counselling of the patient as their support goes a long way regarding the care of the patient wishes to receive.
Pain & symptom control – Pain is the most feared symptom and is very distressing for the patient & their family. Individual pain assessment and treatments are offered.
Planning for the future – To ensure the patient and the family experience the best quality of life and support possible throughout the course of the illness, including where the patient wants to be cared for and who should be the decision-maker when they’re no longer able to make decisions for themselves. Advance care planning is an important part of quality palliative care. The patient’s preferences are clear and conflicts about decision-making are avoided. Confidentiality and privacy are essential and considered to be part of the hospice team’s responsibility.
Emotional, spiritual, and social-welling – The Holistic approach – Helps patients find meaning in what they are going through and they and their families learn how to cope with the challenges they face.
Where is palliative care provided?
Patients usually choose to be treated in their own homes but may need to be hospitalized at some stage during the course of their illness, regular visits in the local hospital are done by the Registered Nurse and Staff Nurse.
Camdeboo hospice is a registered member of
As the above logo depicts, palliative care can and should be provided alongside curative treatments for life-threatening illnesses, ideally from the point of diagnosis.
(Based on the National Department of Health’s National Policy Framework and Strategy for Palliative Care.)
(APPC previously known as Hospice Palliative Care Association – HPCA)
World-health organization definition of palliative care
Provides relief from pain and other distressing symptoms.
Affirms life and regards dying as a normal process.
Intends to neither hasten nor postpone death.
Integrates the psychological and spiritual aspects or patient care.
Offers a support system to help patient’s live as actively as possible until death.
Offers a support system and counseling to help the family cope during the patient’s illness in their bereavement, if indicated.
Will enhance the quality of life, and will positively influence the course of illness.
Is applicable early in the course of illness, in conjunction with other therapies that are important to prolong life, such as chemotheraphy or radiation therapy, and includes those investigations needed to better understand and manage distressing clinical complications.
Patient care equipment hire
By paying a refundable deposit and minimal monthly rental fee, community residents may hire the following patient care equipment: wheelchairs, walkers, crutches, and commodes.
Making a difference
In the semi-rural areas of the Karoo many patients suffering from life-threatening illnesses do not have easy access to appropriate care: ambulances are scarce, taxi fares exorbitant, and the distances to the nearest public health care clinics are too vast for sick patients to walk in their weakened condition. This means they are left at the mercy of their ill-equipped, desperate family and friends for help.
This is the gap that Hospice fills:
Hospice provides care and support to patients in their own homes.
During home visits, all family and household members are made to feel valued by:
Being trained on basic care and support of the patient in the home.
Being educated on the prevention of the spread of the disease.
Being tested and monitored regularly to ensure that they have not become infected.
Being educated on basic personal and household hygiene.
Being afforded quality time to voice their queries, fears and doubts and to receive re-assurance, comfort, encouragement and support.
Having their social and spiritual needs attended to.
Having Individual and family group counseling.
Sharing sad and happy moments with someone who cares.
Family involvement in a patient’s care promotes acceptance and understanding. Families are empowered with knowledge and skills resulting in the community at large benefitting significantly from the services rendered, at no cost, by Camdeboo Hospice.
Hospice instils a sense of hope in the lives of people in the final stages of their illness by meeting the patients’ constitutional right to care and dignity in death.