Organizer: Fundación Paliaclínic.
Collaborative institutions: Ramon Molinas Foundation and Institut Catalá de la Salut.
Implementation schedule: 01/01/2014 – 31/12/2014.
A project to face the end stage of life process with dignity
For the second year running, the Ramon Molinas Foundation has supported the programme for patients in the final stage of life with social needs, created by the Paliaclinic Foundation with the support of the Catalan Institute of Health. The initiative has helped to widen the scope of the Paliaclinic Foundation to include a new sector in the city of Barcelona: the Mountain (North) Primary Care System.
The Paliaclinic Foundation provides the service and assistance, for a period of between one and three months, to patients in situations of socioeconomic vulnerability, so that they can face the final stage of their life in a dignified manner, in their own home. The assistance begins as soon as the need is detected and continues until the patient passes away or until the public services take over after completing the relevant administrative procedures.
The aim of the program is to make feasible that the process of accompanying and assisting is carried out at the patient’s home, and that it can be faced with the utmost dignity, with less suffering, and with the desired company.
Technical and emotional support
The Paliaclinic Foundation provides the part-time assistance of a family support worker who will look after the patient’s essential care. In addition, technical assistance is provided to ensure the patient’s comfort. The organisation provides special mattresses to patients who have to be in bed for long periods of time, hoists, adjustable beds and wheelchairs.
During these processes, emotional support is very important. Patients need to feel supported, loved and respected in order to feel human until the end. For this reason, the organisation provides the emotional support of a psychologist for the patient and their family. There are also other complementary emotional support treatments such as art therapy and music therapy.
The Fundación Paliaclínic
The Fundación Paliaclínic was born in 2008 as a result of the will of a group of people specially sensitized with respect to the end of life stage situations. Circumstances in which both the patient and their families face multiple difficulties and deficiencies in a context with a high emotional charge.
Since its creation, the entity has established as a main goal the support of patients in a situation of socioeconomic vulnerability so that they can face the process with dignity and at home.
Links of interest:
Fundación Paliaclínic website.