COMPASSIONATE action and co-creating reasonable hope turns the private pain of witnessing confusion, despair, suffering and injustice associated with life-threatening illnesses (exacerbated by poverty, family disintegration, debilitating symptoms, fear, unemployment, drug abuse and violence) into public purpose.
Hospice patients and their families receive home visits by professional nurses, social workers, volunteers and trained palliative home-based carers and they attend support groups catering for specific needs.
Partnerships have been formed to provide massage therapy, psychological support, play therapy, catering, craft and computer skills. At Butterfly House, children do extra maths, receive academic and pre-school support, HIV education, life skills, dancing, drama, sing in a choir and are part of their own soccer team; Butterfly United.
The aim is to support patients and their families facing problems associated with life-threatening illnesses with the process of optimal living and dying. This challenge has engaged a ‘public purpose’ partnership which currently provides a palliative care service to 250 sick adults, 54 sick children, 198 children whose parents could potentially die and 110 vulnerable and children.
The head of Drakenstein Palliative Hospice, Elizabeth Scrimgeour, says, “Over the years our service delivery has adapted to changing needs and environments.
“The training and employment of home-based carers was motivated by the increase in patient numbers and diversity of illness and cultures. Butterfly House programmes respond to the needs of patients, families and vulnerable community members ‘living with’ and affected by a life-threatening illness. The traditional hospice expectation of patients dying now includes patients and families ‘living’ with an expectation and reasonable hope for a functional future.
“The plight of older persons has increasingly been highlighted as we realise that older people suffer unnecessarily because of widespread under-assessment and under-treatment of their problems. The real needs of older people – pain relief and active symptom management, to feel involved and listened to and to enjoy a certain degree of autonomy - are often not met.
“Traditionally, high quality end-of-life care has been provided to cancer patients, but this kind of care needs to be provided to those with a wider range of diseases.
Our focus this year includes providing care for older persons. In support of this endeavour we have added an extra paid-for home-care service for persons needing daily care beyond the free palliative care service. Our Butterfly Wings have expanded to provide comprehensive palliative care for all ages within the Drakenstein District through the co-creation of goals and pathways to launch the possibility of ‘reasonable hope’ for the future.
Contact Drakenstein Hospice on 02-872-4060.
