Articles about hospices and palliative care
"If the patient cannot be cured, this does not mean that nothing can be done for him. What seems to be a small thing in the life of a healthy person can have a great meaning for the patient"
Communal Lviv City Hospital "Hospice" is the first medical institution in Ukraine and the only one in Lviv region for terminally ill patients, designed for inpatient 30 beds. The task of "Hospice" is to create an optimal quality of life in the conditions of a serious illness, to alleviate the boundless suffering of a person, his pain. "Hospice" operates on the basis of the hospital's Charter and License for medical practice.
Historical reference
The creation of the Hospice was included in the "Ukrainian Mercy and Health" program back in 1989. The auxiliary service of the Order of Malta took an interest in him, and donated part of the hospital equipment to Lviv. Thanks to the understanding and assistance of the city administration, the building of the former children's hospital was allocated, in which major repairs were carried out in order to create the most comfortable conditions for the difficult category of patients. The methodological foundations of the new medical institution were developed, the staffing schedule and funding were approved. In March 1997, the Hospice in Lviv was opened...
The creation of the Hospice model, as a new form of medical and social institution of palliative medicine, is due to the need to solve the problems of providing medical and social assistance, care, psychological rehabilitation, as well as psycho-social support for relatives during the period of illness and loss of a loved one.
The Lviv City Hospital "Hospice" was established on the basis of the decision of the Executive Committee of the Lviv City Council of People's Deputies dated September 16, 1994 No. 19 and the order of the Health Care Administration of the Lviv City Executive Committee dated October 3, 1994 No. 190.
The chief physician is Yevhen Yosypovych Moskvyak. Honored doctor of Ukraine. Candidate of Medical Sciences, Master of Public Administration
Information about the institution
Communal Lviv City Hospital "Hospice" is the first medical institution in Ukraine and the only one in Lviv region for terminally ill patients, designed for inpatient 30 beds. The task of "Hospice" is to create an optimal quality of life in the conditions of a serious illness, to alleviate the boundless suffering of a person, his pain. "Hospice" operates on the basis of the hospital's Charter and License for medical practice.
This hospital is not like other hospitals. A small house in the quietest area of Lviv (Kotlyarevskogo St. - General Chuprinka St. side) - renovated and well-maintained. Instead of the usual hospital commotion, there is silence. Patients, who are already mostly bedridden, lie in their rooms. Employees talk quietly among themselves, there is no noise - silence and peace.
- This hospital is the first Hospice created in Ukraine at one time, - says the chief doctor, Honored Doctor of Ukraine Yevhen Moskvyak, - thanks to the Lviv oncologist professor Borys Bilinskyi, who was the initiator of the creation of such hospitals. The hospice was founded as a medical institution for those people whom medicine is no longer able to help. When a person reaches the terminal stage of the disease, persistent dystrophic, destructive, age-related and other pathological changes occur that cannot be corrected or reversed by medical means. At first, it was only cancer patients, then people who suffered strokes joined, patients with diseases of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems, gastrointestinal tract, excretory and endocrine systems, patients with dystrophic and destructive changes of the central nervous system (senile dementia, Alzheimer's disease ), people suffering from chronic pain syndrome. The hospital is the only one in the Lviv region and has 30 beds, which is a catastrophically small number not only for the region, but also for the city. There are queues for a place in the Hospice. In recent years, when Lviv residents began to travel abroad en masse (and sick old parents stayed at home), the need for such hospitals became especially acute. People are even angry that we cannot accommodate their mother or grandmother, who remains in Lviv, is sick and needs special care.
Patients' eyes are sad. Grandmother Kateryna, whose ward we entered together with the deputy chief physician, therapist Roman Krupnyk, smiled. She says that she is fine here. On the table in the grandmother's house is a rosary, above the neatly made bed is an image of the Mother of God. The grandmother is in severe pain, which she is numbed with injections, so she can feel a little better.
I didn't know what to say to 46-year-old Stepan, a patient of the clinic, a lawyer by profession, who already had a brain tumor removed for the second time. To the fact that the sun shines beautifully on him from the window, he bitterly replied: "The sun shines on those who have no trouble...". It is difficult to accept a young person who is bedridden and powerless in his condition. Grandmothers and grandfathers are taken for granted: they lived their lives, have children, grandchildren, and left their mark. Young people amaze.
The doctors said that they had several child patients over the past 10 years. One child was under one year old, from an orphanage. The diagnosis is hydrocephalus, popularly known as dropsy. There was also a three-year-old boy, whose story is remembered here as a miracle: he was diagnosed with a brain tumor, but combinations of antibiotics were tried (or maybe something else had an effect) - and a miracle happened for this hospital: the disease process stopped and went back - the child started to recover and he was transferred to the inpatient department of another hospital.
- Special requirements here and for medical personnel. There are such doctors who cannot last a day, - says Roman Krupnyk, - they immediately say that they will not be able to. And there are people who have been working since the beginning, and patients become almost family members for them. Because they open their souls, share their pains and worries. Doctors are attached as if they were their own and run to work, because they know that they are very needed here.
- Once, two old people in their 80s visited the hospital, - says Yevhen Moskvyak. - They came, holding hands, kind and sweet. They said that they had loved each other all their lives and now, when they understand that someone can be bound by illness or sudden death, they asked to perform euthanasia for them at the same time (voluntary, agreed with the doctor, the death of a terminally ill person with the help of special painkillers)... We talked with the old women for several hours, explained that God gave life and only God can take it away, and we should not ask to hasten this end. In the end, they were convinced, and they, holding hands again, went home... I was impressed by their appearance and feelings: having carried love, warmth, and respect throughout their lives, they wanted to remain inseparable. Those people who come here to work undergo a fundamental reassessment of their values. They become kinder, more merciful... They understand that every day given by God is happiness, and it should be lived with kindness, joy and love...
The staff of the communal Lviv City Clinical Hospital "Hospice"
Activities of the Hospice
The activities of the Hospice are carried out in accordance with the current legislation of Ukraine, directive and instructional and methodical documents of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, the Ministry of Social Policy and Labor of Ukraine, health care departments and departments of labor and social, policy of regional state administrations, local authorities, its own Charter .
On October 10, 2013, as part of the week of palliative and hospice care, Mayor A.I. Sadovy visited the hospital and talked with patients
At the state level, the following were worked out:
- Concept of state policy of Ukraine regarding palliative care. State quality standard of social services provided in the course of the Hospice movement. Order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine No. 33 dated February 23, 2000 "On staffing standards and typical staffing of health care institutions". Order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine No. 385 dated October 28, 2002 "On approval of lists of health care institutions, medical, pharmacist positions and positions of junior specialists with pharmaceutical education in health care institutions." Methodological recommendations "Organization and management of medical and social support for terminally ill patients of "Hospice".
At the regional level:
- Opening of palliative care hospitals in the cities of Kyiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kherson, Kharkiv, Lutsk, Luhansk, Simferopol.
According to the definition of WHO, palliative care is an approach that allows improving the quality of life of patients and their families who have faced the problem of a fatal disease.
Yevhen Yosypovych Moskvyak is the chief physician
Vinnyk Oksana Vasylivna - Deputy Head from medical work
Communal Lviv City Hospital "Hospice"
located at:
Lviv, st. Kotlyarevsky, 53
Phones: +380-32 237 58 62, 237 35 96
E-mail: hospis_uoz_lviv@ukr.net
To find out about the urgent needs of the hospice, contact the administration of the institution.
