Medics Without Borders

Palliative Care

What can you do to help people whose diseases or sicknesses cannot be cured with modern medical sciences and interventions? All over the world, even in advanced countries where there are many healthcare workers, abundant medicines and the most modern medical equipment, there are patients who cannot be cured. Can anything be done to help them? Palliative care seeks to do just that. Palliative care simply means looking after people with incurable illnesses, relieving their suffering and supporting them through difficult times. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines Palliative Care as follows: "Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families facing the problems associated with life threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual". (http://www.who.int/cancer/palliative/definition/en/)

Palliative care recognizes that people are much more than just bodies - our minds, our spirits and our emotions are part of who we are, as are the families and communities to which we belong. So the problems facing sick people and their families are not just physical; there may be psychological, social and spiritual issues which are just as important as the illness itself. It is only when we address all these areas that we are helping the whole person. Moreover, many people think that palliative care is just about looking after someone in the last few days of his/her life, but in fact it is about relieving suffering and improving quality of life right from the time when a person first finds out that he/she has an incurable disease. The aim of palliative care is not to lengthen or shorten life but to improve quality of life so that the time remaining, be it days, or months, or years, can be as peaceful and fruitful as possible. Therefore, palliative care is about living as well as dying (Courtesy: Help The Hospices, UK). Palliative care can help people with:

Cancer
Severe kidney or heart failure
End-stage lung disease
Progressive neurological illnesses
Other life-limiting illnesses

Medics Without Borders helps people to care for the sick more effectively by teaching important skills that can be used to care for sick people who will not get better even with advanced medical care. If you are interested in courses in palliative care, contact us for more information on how to register for classes.

If you have the time and desire to volunteer with us, please, fill out the following forms and email them to info@medicswithoutborders.org or info@mwbhealthsystems.org

1. Application Form 2. Medical Release Form