Travel date: May 18, 2017
Name of Meeting/Event/Activity: 15th European Association Palliative Care Conference
Origin: Kauno, Lithuania / Destination: Madrid, Spain
Congress did to me a significant influence in several aspects: professional as a doctor working in palliative care (PC); as an administrator who must prepare the meetings, reports, communication between the different groups and individual as a person - psychologically and spiritually that encouraged me in my job and in my own life journey. Finally, it was a great rest and acquaintance with stunning Madrid.
¬¬Hospital: Congress encouraged me to provide PC services, continue application of a holistic approach to the patient with an emphasis on quality of life, spiritual care, symptom control; to involve in PC team everybody who work in a Hospital (physiotherapists, dietitian and others) more; to present impressions of EAPC Congress in the staff meeting. LPMD (Lithuanian Association of Palliative Medicine): to invite for IAHPC membership; to improve our website; to share my impressions on Congress, to make a presentation. In society: spread the news about the Congress in the press.
Palliative care has an important place in my life. I think she is special and to the patient and to the persons providing it. It is not enough to have the knowledge to work with palliative care patients. We need to have a working example we need of encouragement, support, training, lectures, experience sharing, communication, palliative care news and friendship with a smile. All this is available with IAHPC Traveling Scholarship.
When our country regained independence since 1990 we are back to basic human values - love and compassion for the other person especially terminally ill. This is the essence of Palliative Care. The first steps in PC were based on only thanks to enthusiasts. Kaunas Nursing Hospital with PC idea was founded in 1993, the first pain clinic was founded in Vilnius in 1994, Lithuanian Association of Palliative Medicine (LAPM) - in 1995. The high PC impact had Dame Cicely Saunders visit in Lithuania and the lectures by Professor I. Lukosevicienė from Canada in 1996. A significant achievement in this area was in 2007 when PC legitimated as separate service for adults and children by Health Ministry and in 2008 when basic costs of different forms of PC services were set. We have a lot to do in improving PC services, especially at home, to improve the development of spiritual care, to create mourning services, to spread the idea of volunteering. We have undeveloped PC training in medical schools. This Congress has affected all these questions. Three doctors from our Hospital were able to attend 15th World Congress in Madrid thanks to IAHPC. I think that our work and plans will contribute to the development of PC in Lithuania.