Since 24th February 2022 our Palliative Care Center became the single point of contact for relocated patients with life limiting diseases and incurable illnesses. We are working on creating a network of hospices and palliative care departments (both in-patient and mobile teams) in the region in order to lead, educate and improve cooperation and development between different establishments that provide palliative care.
Ivano-Frankivsk region has sheltered over 200 relocated patients in the in-patient hospice and nearly 250 patients were provided with palliative care by mobile teams (including 62 children). The palliative care centre in cooperation with the St Panteleymon Charity Fund has managed to coordinate and transport patients to different hospice departments in the region with the help of an ambulance vehicle provided by Hospices of Hope and Blue Heron Foundation. Some of the patients were transported to the border, where volunteers were waiting for them for family reunion or to send them to charity organizations and hospices in EU countries who were willing to take in people who were alone and came from occupied or unsafe areas of Ukraine.
The Palliative Care Center has provided care for 58 persons in the in-patient department and around 60 patients have been cared for by the mobile team, all of them having been relocated from the south (Kherson, Mykolaiv, Zaporizzhya) or the east (Donbas, Kharkiv, Sumy) and northern parts of Ukraine (Chernigiv, Kyiv, Zhytomyr).
The Nadvirna First Children’s Hospice cared for 8 kids as palliative patients alongside functioning as an orphanage for 29 children from war-affected areas of Ukraine. In 2023 they will face even more challenges as financing of orphans will be terminated at the end of year and we will put all our efforts to secure its future as a multi-functional hospice and rehabilitation center for children and adults.
In 2023 we expect to sustain the same level of relocated patients and are preparing to provide them with the best possible Palliative Care with the help of our partners. Despite limited funding and budget cuts for most of the palliative care departments,we will ensure a high quality level in Palliative Care, but will need support and coordination in order to be efficient and able to overcome these challenging times.
“ Behind every hero on the front line, there is a family member”
Patients in our center have different and difficult stories of their life, but they continue to struggle just the same as the Ukrainian Forces do. We are pleased to be there for our patients that have gone through some of the most unexpected and challenging events due to the unprovoked Russian aggression that forced them to move away from their homes and shattered their lives.