A seminar-meeting on palliative and hospice care was held in Poltava Oblast

"It is necessary to implement a new ideology of the culture of the attitude towards terminally ill patients" -  these words were announced by Vasyl Knyazevich - the head of the NGO "Ukrainian League for the Development of Palliative and Hospice Care" during the seminar-meeting "Development of palliative care in the Poltava region: problems, prospects, achievements".

Vasyl Mykhailovych called the creation of a system of a fundamentally new approach to medical, social and spiritual support for those who are on the threshold of Eternity due to an incurable disease a common task for our country. One of his main messages was about the importance of changing society's view on this problem, educating our fellow citizens in a special philosophy of attitude towards death and towards those who are at the edge of life. After all, one way or another, sooner or later, this topic can affect everyone. And palliative care  is  a step towards a civilized society.

During the 5 years of existence of the NGO "Ukrainian League for the Development of Palliative and Hospice Care", one of the first major achievements is participation in the development of articles of the law with a clear definition of the term "palliative care". It was also possible to help change the procedure for prescribing painkillers so that a sick person could get as much as he needs to get rid of pain at his place of residence. This is a vivid example of active participation and influence of the public in solving such painful issues.

Viktor Lysak, director of the Department of Health Protection of Poltava State Administration, told about how doctors help palliative patients in Poltava Oblast. This important issue was comprehensively discussed by the participants of the seminar-meeting, since the provision of palliative care is an integral part of the health care system in the hospital, nursing facility, patient's home, care facilities for the elderly, outpatient services.

Viktor Petrovych said that in the Poltava region palliative care is provided on 156 palliative beds, in regional treatment and prevention facilities, in the city of Poltava, in cities and districts of the region. Last year, 208 patients with HIV/AIDS (45 patients at home), 133 patients with tuberculosis (65 at home), 1,337 cancer patients (3,353 at home) and 1,250 patients received palliative care in health care institutions. with other non-infectious diseases (287 at home).

"Pain Cabinet", which has been working for two years at the Poltava Regional Oncology Dispensary, helps alleviate the condition of patients and their relatives.

As for the prospects for the development of this type of care for terminally ill patients, in accordance with the "Plan of measures of the Poltava Regional State Administration for the development of palliative and hospice care until 2020", it is planned to open a department for hospice care in Kremenchuk and to reorganize the Vepritsk Regional Tuberculosis Hospital into a department for providing palliative care assistance to tuberculosis patients for 20 beds.

The meeting participants discussed the interaction of medical and social services in the provision of palliative care. Nina Chernyak, the first deputy director of the Department of Social Protection of the Population of the Poltava Regional State Administration, called this issue very urgent, because one third of the population of the region are elderly people, pensioners.

The chief freelance specialist in palliative and hospice medicine of the Department of Health Protection of the Poltava Regional State Administration Lyudmila Samolelis spoke about providing palliative care in a hospital, in an outpatient setting, and at home. And among the main tasks for improving the provision of hospice care, she named the development and approval of the palliative patient route at all levels of medical care provision, the creation of specialized multidisciplinary mobile teams of palliative care "Hospice at home" in the districts and cities of the Poltava region. The plans include improving and ensuring the functioning of existing palliative care beds and simplifying the access of critically ill patients to painkillers.

An important aspect of work in this direction is the continuation and expansion of cooperation with public organizations of the region, among which are the Poltava regional charitable organizations "Association of Palliative and Hospice Care", "Light of Hope" and others.

The heads of local medical institutions familiarized the districts with the experience of providing palliative care in the cities and districts of Poltava Region.

Special emphasis was placed on the extraordinary importance of spiritual support and the role of Churches and religious organizations in the system of palliative and hospice care. Archpriest Valery Marakhovsky, rector of the Holy Trinity Church of the UOC of the Poltava Diocese, spoke about the spiritual principles of palliative and hospice care. He did not recall a single time when he was refused to provide spiritual support to patients who were on the verge of death while in our medical institutions. Father Valeriy expressed his gratitude and affection for the feat of doctors who have mercy and compassion for such patients. He appealed to those present not to deny this to the sick in the future in order to spiritually brighten their last days.

To unite the efforts of the state and the public for the further implementation of the palliative care development strategy, to move forward step by step is the task of those who take care of the issue, which gathered for the seminar-meeting on issues of palliative care.

Press center of the Department of Health Protection of the Poltava Regional State Administration