Explain What Hospices Do
Uploaded by makemequeen on Jun 04, 2007
Hospices are homes or houses committed to the wellbeing of terminally ill patients and which began in 1900 in Ireland by a group of Christian nuns, and today there are more than 100 nationwide. Many of these are Christian based because it is seen as a substitute to euthanasia.
‘Hospice’ comes from the word ‘the hospitium’ which is a part of a monastery or nunnery where the nuns or monks would care for travellers, the ill and the destitute in Medieval England. The first identified indication to palliative care (alike to hospice care) can be linked back to the Greek philosopher Hippocrates in 460 BC when he is quoted to have saying, “To cure sometimes, to relieve often, and to comfort always.” Then again in 1996, palliative care was told to be, ‘a concept where there is a shift of emphasis from conventional care that focuses on quantity of life, towards a commitment to care which enhances the quality of life.’ In other words, it is care given to make the quality of life better for terminally ill patients, and the aim of palliative care is to stop or treat a disease as premature as can be and to support any patients who have any psychological, social or other problems linked to the disease or its treatment.
The modern hospice movement started in the year 1967 by the opening of St Christopher’s Hospice (now being an international movement) which began by the means of the woman Cicely Saunders, who was motivated by her job as a nurse and then a social worker, not solely to help with physical needs of the patients, but also spiritual and the emotional. And through her yearning to help people in pain she became a doctor.
Yet, these homes are not only for the elderly but also for children who have untreatable illnesses and facilities are made especially for them so that they have a chance for a happy and caring life in a safe environment, with rooms being available for siblings so that they may have a chance to be together through the pain.
The three main aims of any hospice are to relieve pain, to help patients and their family and friends to accept death, and to care for the needs of the family and friends of the dying. Through time, people have come to the conclusion that it is unnecessary for people to die in anguish,...