So what is Palliative care?

Palliative medicine is the treatment and care of patients diagnosed with life-threatening conditions, such as cancer and AIDS. Regarded as a holistic form of care, palliative care not only addresses the physical needs of patients with life-limiting illnesses, but places equal importance on their psychological, psychosocial and spiritual needs. The objective of palliative care is not to cure, but to provide comfort and relief to patients, and maintain the highest possible quality of life for as long as life remains. Palliative care was not always acknowledged as a professional branch of medicine in its early years. Even today, not enough people are aware of the existence of palliative care, believing that patients with terminal sicknesses are lost causes. Hence, there are still many patients with life-limiting illnesses who are skeptical of where to seek pain relief and hospice services. Established in 1991, Hospis Malaysia now has a full-time palliative care team comprising of medical professionals and dedicated volunteers working in their centre in Cheras. They have been tirelessly providing palliative care for their patients for more than 15 years while providing counseling services to bereaved families. They believe that all patients deserve care and attention regardless of what stage their illness is in. Caring for them till the end of life is never too much of an effort. Being a non-profit organisation, Hospis Malaysia is in urgent need of funds for medical equipment such as oxygen concentrators, ripple mattresses, nebulisers and pulse oximeters; which have a high usage among their patients. They are also hoping to raise enough funds for the extension of their current building due to the drastic increase in number of patients over the years. As they provide their services free of charge, they depend greatly upon corporate donations and public support to maintain their standard of excellence in providing palliative care for their patients. However, this year corporate donations have been channeled mainly to environmental causes, therefore rendering Hospis Concordantly, Project PHUNK hopes to assist Hospis Malaysia in their mission to create public awareness towards palliative care, as well as to promote prevention of needless suffering. We believe that people with terminal illnesses should still enjoy the best quality of life possible, just as healthy people can. Source: http://www.hospismalaysia.org/ Do visit www.hospismalaysia.org to find out more about palliative care and on Hospis Malaysia