Basics of palliative care

 

 

 

Palliative Care: YOU Are a BRIDGE
https://youtu.be/lDHhg76tMHc

THE process of dying and the death of loved ones create a profound and lasting impact on their families and wider communities.

As a society, we are not exposed enough to be fully equipped to support end-of-life journeys.

We need to be able to normalise the process of death and have the courage to advocate for a holistic care plan not by just buying insurance policies but also by showing love, empathy and compassion. This is known as palliative care, which may begin at the start of life-threatening illnesses to end-of-life journeys.

Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of the modern hospice, described palliative care in its most holistic sense: “You matter because you are you, and you matter to the end of your life. We will do all we can not only to help you die peacefully, but also to live until you die.”

Palliative care regards dying as a normal process in the journey of life, integrating psychological and spiritual dimensions into patient care. A holistic approach care plan enables patients and families to better cope with the course of the illness and provides a support network for bereavement care.

The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of palliative care in all healthcare systems. The need for relief from severe suffering, the difficult decision-making and complicated grief brought on by the pandemic are exactly the types of problems that palliative care was designed to help address.

My father, who is a consultant haematologist, treats cancer patients, among other life-threatening blood disorders, and fully supports palliative care causes. I, as a tech start-up builder, believe that blockchain, AI and other automation technologies will drive the future of society. Despite our different calling in life, I also join my father in fully supporting palliative care as essential care for vulnerable members of our community.

We both fully recognise that palliative care does not start and stop with doctors and nurses alone. The success of effective and affordable palliative care lies in the hands of an informed society.

Hospices in Malaysia and Singapore are typically independent non-profit entities run by community members on charitable donations and volunteerism.

Ultimately, palliative care is a community-driven initiative. All of us have a part to play as family caregivers, pastoral caretakers, therapists, healthcare professionals and more.

Through a journey I’ve undertaken as a volunteer carer in a hospice, I have developed a genuine understanding of the principles of palliative care in practice. Hospice environments provide a powerful example of how we as a community can show love, empathy and compassion when facing fear and loss of loved ones.

What matters to patients who are actively dying include relief from pain, maintaining one’s dignity, not dying alone, and having a comforting hand to touch during their end-of-life journey.

Community volunteers can support palliative care nurses and doctors by assisting with non-clinical pain management, such as cleaning and feeding of patients, providing wheelchair assistance, and spending time with patients. These acts of love for others are what truly makes us human.

Through volunteering in a hospice, I was able to face the mirror of death and fully embrace my humanity by showing love, empathy and compassion for the suffering of others – something that technology or AI machines can never truly replicate.

Let’s all do our part today to build a palliative care-aware society, whether it is through advocacy, community volunteerism or giving.

KATHERINE NG LI PEI
Co-founder of Ministry for Good, a non-profit start-up to scale technology for good

Source link

 

Related:

 

Ministry For Good

Ministry For Good is a non-profit business consultancy and ideas incubation platform founded to improve the lives of people through effective use of spatial technology.

Ministry For Good | LinkedIn

 

What is Palliative Care? | Definition of Palliative Care | Get ...

Trees and plants can feel stress, need time to recharge like humans

KEPONG: Trees feel stress and need rest the same way humans do, and the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) is playing doctor to keep them healthy.

FRIM director-general Datuk Dr Abdul Latif Mohmod said trees in the cities were the worst affected.

“It causes them to fall sick, making them susceptible to attacks from fungi and pests,” he said at the institute’s open day and World Environment Day yesterday.

He said a tree that looked healthy on the outside could be hollow inside, making it hard to diagnose its problem with the naked eye.

Dr Latif said FRIM used sonar technology as an “X-ray” machine to diagnose such trees.

Research officer Ahmad Aza­ruddin Mohd Noor demonstrated the use of the device called the Picus Sonic Tomography.

“The device generates a 3D image of a tree’s insides, effectively identifying decay and cavities in the trunk,” said Ahmad Azaruddin, a certified arborist (professional in cultivating, managing and the study of trees) who has helped local councils manage trees.

“A tree that has become 30% hollow can fall in the event of a thunderstorm. If that happens, it can be very dangerous,” he said.

To prevent this, his team would usually prune it to preserve its structural integrity.

He said the team would do its best to preserve a tree due to its benefits to the urban ecosystem.

“We will be forced to cut it down only if the damage is too severe,” he said, adding that less than 20% of trees faced such a problem.

“In the cities, it only happens to trees that are more than 100 years old or those with roots that have been damaged.

“In the forests, the usual culprits are termites,” he said.

Dr Latif said as trees feel stress, FRIM closes its canopy walkway on Mondays and Fridays to let them rest.

“Our canopy walkway can accommodate 200 visitors a day. We don’t want to give the trees too much stress,” he said.

He also said Malaysians should be proud of FRIM’s man-made tropical forest as it was the world’s largest and oldest.

The forest covers seven arboreta (repositories of living plants) and a botanic garden.

He said it was originally an abandoned mining land and that the Forestry Department, which owned less than a hectare of it, planted its first tree there in 1923.

“Today, it spans 544.3ha and houses 73 out of 92 critically endangered plants in Malaysia,” he said, adding that more than 1.3 million people visited FRIM last year.

Dr Latif said FRIM prided itself as a community-friendly institute that facilitated learning and embraced outstanding universal values.

“Because of this, we are working towards being gazetted as a Unesco World Heritage site by 2020.”

By Adrian Chan The Star/Asia News Network

Related:

Trees can feel stress too'



FRIM to upgrade signs soon

Signs at FRIM need maintenance

Forget chocs, better to plant a tree instead

• Restoring Mother Earth

One to call their own: Residents and families posing with a tree they just planted for the programme. The particular tree will remain as part of each family’s responsibility and heritage in USJ Heights, inherited by future generations.