They teach you how to deal with a dying child

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Title: They teach you how to deal with a dying child
extracted text: SDA-RF-CH-1.30

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They teach you how to deal with a dying child
By Sonora Jha Namblar
BANGALORE, June 22:
Five-year-old Niloufer’s (not
her real name) parents know
that their daughter will soon die,
. -' but even more traumatic is their
-.. helplessness every time their
z daughter begins screaming with
. the devastating headaches
caused by her cerebral cancer.
Since March this year, how. ever, they have had some res. pile. Two women entered their '
. ' home anti their lives, and pa
tiently taught them how to deal
' with a dying child.
In a scheme quite unique in
India, members of the Bangalore
'. Hospice Trust (BHT), unable to
sit around waiting for their
premises to take shape, decided
to take up the not-so-popular
...cause of caring for the terminally
■ ill from within the family. On
Sunday'when Karnataka Gov
ernor Rhurshed Alam Khan lays
the foundation stone of Bangs-

‘He keeps them going’
The nurse and counsellor team that takes on the draining
task of providing palliative care to terminally-lli cancer pa
tients lias recently been Joined by a third member — the antorickshaw driver hired to take them around.
“When Shekliar Chary found out exactly what these women
were up to, he plunged headlong into the task himself." says
Kishore S. Rao, managing trustee of the Biuigalore 1 lospice
Trust “On one occasion, when the two women were about to
give up exhausted trying to locate a patient's address given to
them by a doctor, he urged them to keep al it. When Lhey
could not get a lead, Shekhar Chary, who found out that Lire
patient was a Muslim, went to the mosque nearest lhe address
given, approadied the niulia and traced down the patient.”
This man, in fact, has been a source of inspiration to the
home-care team which must witness each day, the draining
effect minding those destined to die within a few mouths.

lore's first hospice, on AirportWhitefield Road, tlie movement
will only be straightened, says
BHT managing trustee Kishore
S. Rao. speaking to The Tur.es

ofIndia.
Niloufer’s is just one of the
cases tliat the BHT's home-care
team is handling. On May 19, in
fact, the two-member team vis

ited the home of its 100th pa
tient. Of these, 76, so far, have
died, as the doctors said they
would but not as miserably as '
such people had in the past.
This home-care team has the
unenviable job of collecting
names of terminally 111 cancer
patients from tire oncologists In
Bangalore, tracing down their
address and then entering their
homes so that they can provide
palliative care. This palliative
care moves Lire emphasis to :
'caring' when all hope of ‘curing’
has been lost. Which means tliat
Nurse Jose Mary can provide
medical interyenlion to ease Ute
pain and counsellor Usha Shinde
can help the patient and the
family drain out their emotions.
“The philosophy Is to value
life until death'/ savs Mr Rao,
“and to give the dying the dig
nity of breathing their last in
surroundings oftheir choice.
The motive is — peaceful end."

.Which ineans that when a
nin^year-old hasiowcer of the j '
bones with an exposed tumor on
tlie knee wltlch begins oozing
and ^nailing, and the'doctors
have sent her bonus to die, and,
tlie family has nowhere to taketills very physical and emotional
problem, the home-care team
steps in.
Cutting across age, class and
income-group differences, tlie
home-care team's patients will
soon also liave the option of .
ending their lives bi a 57-bed
hospice set up for them, which
will provide, free of cost, care .
tliat is not available at home.
The hospice, being set up on
five acres of land given free by
the Karnataka government, wifi
provide personal care, emotional
support,'respite care, financial ■
and legal planning advice, symp
tom control, appropriate nutri-,
tion, bereavement support and '
medical supplies and equipment.

Media: SDA-RF-CH-1.30.pdf

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