Introduction to the Project

Motto:

The room, which is darkened for a long time,

can be enlightened immediately,

if we let the light in.

However, we cannot succeed

if we attempt to expel the darkness.

(Paramahansa Yogananda)

The care for a dying person in his/her most natural environment - at home or in the home-like environment - is obvious must at the first sight. The person, who is vulnerable, losing his/her power, beauty, independence and - often - the hope, should definitely spend the last period of his/her life among those, who understand him/her even without any words and who are pleased to help him/her in his/her worries and suffering.

However, the last part of one’s life is often filled with great uncertainty, confusion, false hopes and heavy hopelessness and without any external help it is often not possible to ensure, that the family is really able to find a right direction in the new situation, that it is able to balance priorities and to be able to care in such a way, so that even during this part of his/her life the patient lives full and respectable life. The palliative care is the offer of such a help. Both from human and expert points of view it has been focused on the support of the family exactly, where it is necessary and as long as the family wishes so.

However, in the Czech Republic, the absolute majority of families have no option to ask for that help, as the network of hospice facilities and often simple hospice initiatives is very scarce and not available to most population. Even two years ago, the awareness both among citizens and health care staff regarding what is the palliative care was very low; many people even did not know what a hospice is and were not aware of such a possibility.

Many people and many hospice activities have tried for many years to implement the high quality palliative care but in our legal conditions and in the specific environment of a post communist country usually very concrete and mostly local activities have absorbed all their energy. There has been no power left for the concept view; there has often been no courage to cooperate with other similarly focused persons.

No wonder happened but something significant has been changed during these two years. The Open Society Fund foundation supported the development of the palliative care in the Czech Republic in a well-considered way, which is unbeatable in our country as for the generosity and the general approach. Through the support of mutually connected areas of the project (mapping of the situation in the Czech Republic and research, comparison with foreign trends and experiences and inspiring through them, the medial publicity of the palliative care and the de-tabooing of the subject of death and dying as well as the implementation of the home care hospice as a pilot project) the foundation enabled to evaluate of existing attempts to lay the grounds for more conceptual development of the palliative care in the Czech Republic. The pilot project of the home care hospice as a part of the project and as a work of the project bearer played very important role: on one hand in making visible the otherwise hardly visible diplomatic attempts to implement system changes, on the other hand in the implementation of a particular example of good practice, which improves the self-confidence and the commitment of citizens to fight for their natural rights and to care for the most vulnerable members of the community, which has been damaged so much in past decades. Several people have collaborated on the project but within two years they have collected hundreds of supporters, involved voluntaries, health care members and politicians, who do not feel indifferent towards the condition of care for dying and whose activities and opinions can be used as a base for the enforcement of the high quality palliative care available to all, who need the help in our country.

Martina Špinková, project manager