Welcome to MWB Palliative Care Center
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. Volunteer Application Forms: If you would like to volunteer with MWB, please fill out the Volunteer Application and Medical Release forms and email them with the required documents to info@medicswithoutborders.org. Membership is free of charge
MWB Guest House and Palliative Care Center