Áåëîðóññêèé äåòñêèé õîñïèñ

On Thursday, September 30, 2009 NGO «Belarusian Children's Hospice» led a roundtable discussion in the framework of the project «Development of social initiatives in improving quality of life for families of seriously ill children of Belarus affected by the Chernobyl accident». Teachers, parents of disabled children, NGOs for social assistance and volunteers took part in it. The area of the roundtable discussion was «Palliative care for children: Problems and Prospects.»

Topics under discussion were:

1. «Current state of palliative care in the Republic of Belarus»

2. «Psychological aspects of palliative care»

3. «Pattern of interaction between the state and the hospice in providing population with palliative care»

4. «The role of volunteers in raising awareness of the importance and functions of palliative medicine»

In the course of open discussion we talked over the application of the project in practice: the training of volunteers of peculiarities of nursing seriously ill children, retraining of nurses and physicians, training of parents. In addition, we gave careful consideration to the involving of youth in volunteering and assistance, teaching of pupils of the ethics of the communication with disabled children.