Noticing that some legal issues were particularly relevant to its palliative care patients, the Palliative Care Association of Uganda (PCAU) initiated a program where lawyers from the Uganda Network on Law, Ethics, and HIV/AIDS visit health care institutions to instruct palliative care staff on health rights and social justice issues.
“We have been providing patients with information on issues that affect them: land grabbing, child neglect, and domestic violence where one person has a life-limiting illness and are discarded,’ says PCAU programs manager Mark Mwesiga. ‘They can help patients write wills, do succession planning, and recognize when to refer them to make a police report or approach the local council.
‘The training empowers the staff, and where the health worker is unable to address the legal need, the patient is put in touch with a lawyer, who offers their work pro bono. The important thing that we found out is that patients and caregivers lack information.’
This collaboration with UGANET has led to another partnership with a public interest legal clinic, which, in 2018, sent a group of 10 students to a palliative care facility for an internship.
The Palliative Care Association of Uganda (PCAU) has created a ‘Deaf Awareness’ manual introducing basic sign language, and initiated a four-day training program for health workers, so that health workers are better prepared to communicate with deaf patients.
This initiative was taken when the association became aware that some deaf palliative care patients were being transferred to other wards or institutions without palliative care expertise.
The Maruzza Foundation, a well-established advocate for children’s palliative care based in Italy, is collaborating with Education in Palliative and End-of-Life Care (EPEC) to provide a Pediatrics Curriculum workshop for the first time in Europe.
The first course of the Advanced Pain and Palliative Care Workshop, to give health care providers pediatric knowledge and skills, takes places in Rome from 20-23 November 2019. The second course, to train people to become trainers, will be held in October 2020 during the 5th Maruzza Congress is Rome.
‘The goal of the project is to enhance both access and quality of children’s palliative care [CPC] by making this comprehensive training program available to as many children’s palliative care providers as possible from throughout the European region, the Mediterranean basin and neighboring territories,’ according to Maruzza.
The four-day workshop comprises 22 modules delivered by internationally recognized experts through interactive lectures, analysis of case studies and role-play. It covers topics such as procedural pain prevention and treatment, treating chronic persistent pain, the management of fatigue in children and adolescents, and psychosocial and psychiatric symptoms in CPC.
Reduced rates apply to participants from low- to middle-income countries; the organizers are also seeking funding for grants and scholarships to defray costs.
The cost is €850 for high-income countries, €450 for upper middle-income countries, and €250 for low and lower-income countries. The cutoff date for registration is 10 November 2019. For more information, visit: www.maruzza.org/epecpedatrics-rome or contact [email protected]
The following events were added last month to the IAHPC Calendar of Events:
XVI Congreso Argentino de Gerontología y Geriatría, Argentina. August 22-24,2019. Mar del Plata, Argentina
X Congreso Argentino de Cuidados Paliativos y Segundo Encuentro Nacional de Investigación en Cuidados Paliativos. October 30 -November 2, 2019. Salta, Argentina
3º Jornada Intervención Multidisciplinaria del Paciente Oncológico Adulto. "Un Complejo Camino Hacia La Paz". Seminar. July 5,2019. Viña del Mar, Chile
Primer Congreso Nacional de Cuidados Paliativos. October 3-5,2019. Valdivia, Chile
Curso Básico de Profesores de Cuidados Paliativos. August 12-14,2019. San Salvador, El Salvador
Palliative Care Nurses New Zealand (PCNNZ) 7th Biennial Conference 2019. October 21-22,2019. Wellington, New Zealand
Find the workshop, seminar, congress, or conference that speaks to you in the IAHPC Calendar of Events, updated monthly, that lists activities of special interest to those who work in palliative care. Or submit an event for consideration; it’s free!
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