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Epworth Villa’s Quality Life Hospice Ukraine Mission Trip. May 7 th – 21 st , 2011 . Our Team. Our Mission. To educate, encourage and empower the medical community of Lugansk , Ukraine to establish a home- b ased Hospice Ministry. Hospice Care in the Ukraine.
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Epworth Villa’sQuality Life Hospice Ukraine Mission Trip May 7th – 21st, 2011
Our Mission • To educate, encourage and empower the medical community of Lugansk, Ukraine to establish a home-based Hospice Ministry.
Hospice Care in the Ukraine • In the Ukraine, Hospice Care as we know it, does not exist. • The vast majority of Ukrainians die in their home with limited or no support from the government ran health care system. • The Quality Life Team spent two weeks interacting with and training the Ukrainian medical professionals and community leaders regarding the tools and framework for implementing home-based hospice care.
May 7th & 8th- Travel Days • The team left from Will Rogers World Airport and flew from Oklahoma City to Minneapolis then on to Amsterdam. • After a two hour lay over in Amsterdam the team flew to Kiev, Ukraine. • The team arrived in Kiev the evening of the 8th. • The entire trip took almost seventeen hours. • There is an eight hour time difference between the time zones.
May 9th – Victory Day Celebration • Victory Dayor May 9thmarks the signing of the treaty between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in WWII. • During the Soviet Union's existence, it was celebrated throughout the USSR and in the countries of the Eastern Bloc. • The ritual of the celebration gradually obtained a distinctive character with a number of similar elements to the 4th of July in the United States: ceremonial meetings, speeches, parades, and fireworks. • After communism’s fall, the former USSR retained the celebration, though it was not formally celebrated by some. • Ukraine has officially recognized 9 May since 1946.
May 9th & 10th – Train Trip from Kiev to Lugansk • The team boarded a train the evening of the 9th for a 15 hour train ride from Kiev to Lugansk (located in the far Eastern Region of the Ukraine, very close to Russia). • The average Ukrainian does not own a vehicle and must rely on the public transportation system for travel – train, bus, and/or metro. • The team traveled by sleeping car with four bunks in each compartment. • Most Ukrainians travel economy class and sleep in an open non-air conditioned car with 40-50 other passengers.
May 10th – Arrival in Lugansk • Our first day in Lugansk was spent preparing for the two day conference. • After checking into our hotel rooms we had lunch with the conference organizers and interpreters discussed the presentations and their expectations. • We toured the conference facility (public library) and made the final adjustments and preparations. • Tensions were high, as everyone involved had been preparing for this event for almost nine months.
May 11th & 12th – The Hospice Conference • The 2 day conference was highly anticipated by the Eastern Ukrainian Medical Community and throughout the entire country. • Participants traveled from across the nation from as far as Lviv (a major city in far Western Region of Ukraine). • The local media was represented throughout the conference and remained with the team during our visits to the local medical facilities. • Speakers were brought in from the local government and medical community each day to speak on the status of end-of-life care in the region.
The Hospice Conference Content • The American Philosophy of Hospice Care: The Home-Based Hospice Model • Take Care of You First: Avoiding Burnout • Signs and Symptoms of Approaching Death: Recognizing and Responding to the Needs of the Dying and Their Families • Effective Pain and Symptom Management • On Death, Dying and Grief • Children, Death, Dying and Grief • Alternative Therapeutic Modalities: Combining Aromatherapy, Therapeutic Touch and Music Therapy
May 13th - Medical School • The team was invited to speak to students at the medical school in Lugansk. • The medical school prepares both doctors and nurses. • Medical and nursing education in Ukraine consists of vocational and technical training and requires no undergraduate or general studies program. • Therefore, doctors and nurses enter the medical field at a very young age. • Doctors and nurses are among the lowest paying professions and the burn-out rate is extremely high.
May 13th – Pediatric Hematology Oncology Hospital • Pediatric mortality is disproportionately high in the Ukraine due to lack of technology to enable early diagnosis and limited access to aggressive treatment. • Mothers stay in the hospital with their child 24/7. • Patients are sent home when the prognosis is determined to be terminal, but without the benefit of home-based hospice care. • The team distributed toys to each child, lead therapeutic play activities, spent time with supporting and encouraging the staff, patients and their mothers and planted flowers along the entrance.
