World Palliative Care Day: “It's about reducing suffering, not ending life”

Entitled “Much more than care”, the campaign aims to show that palliative care is not a synonym of death, but rather with quality of life. Palliative care is designed to improve the quality of life of patients and their families, by providing support for “physical, psychological, social and spiritual well-being”.

Every year in Belgium, tens of thousands of people and their families could benefit from such care, according to the Palliative Care Indicators Tool (PICT). This tool identifies patients in need of palliative care, based on criteria of frailty, incurability and severity of illness. Palliative care is not reserved solely for patients with a vital prognosis of less than 3 months, or for cancer sufferers. On the contrary, anyone suffering from a serious, progressive illness with no possible cure can benefit from it.

The campaign is available in French and Dutch, with posters in public places and care institutions throughout Belgium, and messages on social networks. The www.bienplusquedessoins.be website explains not only what palliative care is, but also who can benefit from it.

The Brusano association, a coordination platform for palliative care in Brussels, has also developed informative cards that address various sensitive issues relating to palliative care. These highly didactic cards, which can be downloaded from the association's website, recall the aim of palliative care: “It's about reducing suffering, not ending life”; “Dying is a natural process”. They explain in clear terms what refractory symptoms are, end-of-life sedation, the effects of morphine, and how to feed and hydrate at the end of life.

Image: Information cards from the Brusano Association