What’s behind the name change?
We were seen as two separate organisations – Grahamstown Hospice and Sunshine Coast Hospice. We’re actually one legal entity and we wanted our name to reflect that. We’ve consolidated certain services as well, for example, all phone calls are now routed through the Makhanda office.
Second, over time, our services have expanded to include palliative care as well as Hospice care.
Palliative care is offered in conjunction with curative treatment. It can even start from the date of diagnosis. We can support a patient and their family while they are undergoing curative treatment. We can help them to manage the symptoms that arise, and side effects, and we can offer emotional support for the challenges that go with having received a challenging diagnosis.
What does that support involve?
Our approach is holistic, so it includes multiple team members including a registered nurse, social auxiliary worker and carer.
For example, clinical support for someone who has had a mastectomy includes assisting with wound care, liaising with an oncologist or a local GP. We can support pain management, we can help manage symptoms and side effects from chemotherapy.
Emotional support is as important – having a safe space to talk about how you’re feeling now that you’ve had a challenging diagnosis. That support extends to the family as well. There will be primary caregivers at the home who are helping the person going through with the treatment.
There’s medical equipment available to help care for someone at home. Oxygen machines or practical items like a sheepskin if you’re spending a lot of time in bed. Wheelchair, swivel bath seat – equipment that makes caring for somebody at home easier.
We also offer support, showing family how to practically care for someone at home.
Our interventions also extend to social support. Sometimes at home there’s substance abuse, kids who have been affected by the fact that their primary caregiver is now sick. We offer advice and network with other NGOs to help the family.
We offer spiritual support – whether that’s connecting you with a minister, or making sure you’ve got the space to talk about spiritual concerns.
In private health care that degree of care would be unaffordable for many people. A lot of your resources are volunteer and donation based, but that’s still a huge service to offer.
Dealing with patients who most of the time don’t recover is a challenging environment to work in: we recognise that and we want to make sure our staff feel supported.
Hospice care is terminal phase care. It involves pain management, and symptoms that arise through the natural progression of the disease towards death. We recognise that death is a normal part of life. We don’t shy away from it, but we don’t try and prolong it or hurry it along. We’re there just to keep the person comfortable, and the family and patients supported as they journey through that.
Once the patient has passed away, we continue with the family and offer bereavement support.
Who can access Hospice care? For which part of the community are your services.
Everybody and anybody who needs it.
We receive referrals: a GP, a clinic, an oncologist, Cancer Care or Livingstone Oncology or the individual themselves will fill out our referral form and refer the patient to our care. The Palcare nurse will make contact with them and visit, and decide with the patient what their care pkan will look like.
The important thing for us is that we are invited into the home. As much as the family, or a neighbour thinks it’s a good idea for Palcare to assist, if the patient themselves is not ready for us, we will not intrude. The important thing is that they are respected, and their wishes are respected.
We try and create an awareness of how helpful the service is. Let us support you and should your treatment be successful, we will celebrate with you.
Let us to build a relationship with you and support you.
The other stigma many people have is dealing with illness, disability or old age at home. Are fewer people prepared to look after family members at home?
I think people are finding they have to look after family members at home. Frail care is incredibly expensive and there are a select few who can benefit from that.
Because our care is home based, we’re trying to empower the family with the knowledge and skills they need to care for somebody at home. What we’re able to do is go in, create a calm environment, show them practical tips to make it easier and provide medical equipment. Our message is, we’re going to help you, we’re going to teach you, we’re going to support you, hold your hand, walk the journey with you.
Being available to patients and family is really important. When it’s 10 o’ clock at night and something strange is happening, you can phone the nurse and say, ‘Please, what do I do?’ or ‘Can you come?’
So without putting more weight on families than they can bear, what you’re saying is, actually there’s a lot you can do at home.
Definitely. With a few tips and maybe some medical equipment, you can manage. If someone’s walking the journey with you, you don’t feel scared and alone in the experience.
The cost of private health care and the current less than ideal state of public health care mean that the kind of service Palcare provides is actually very important?
In many areas, what we’re trying to do is alleviate the burden on the state system.
A lot of times, for the private patients, they actually want to be at home. That’s our aim – is for patients to feel comfortable and the family to feel supported enough to care for somebody in their own familiar home environment. Where they can have their dog lying on the bed, and the family can come and go as they want to.
In the state sector, that’s a huge challenge because a lot of times, the home environment is not a happy or comfortable place. So we may have to create a support system that didn’t exist. We do what we can; we help where we can; we provide what we can.
So you have to adapt to the circumstances of a person’s home, and that can vary hugely.
Absolutely. Because we don’t have the funds to provide for all the needs – but we are making a difference.
Just by us supporting them at home – they don’t have to go and sit in a queue at a clinic when they’re feeling ill – we can help make life easier.
This is an amazing service that Palcare provides to Makana and Ndlambe communities. Apart from funds, what kind of support would you like, ideally, from the community?
The community is incredibly supportive, both in Makhanda and at the coast. Every year we have a calendar of events that we host, to raise the funds we need to provide the service. The community is incredibly supportive – they attend the events or volunteer their services at them.
Giving of your time to help at an event, helping at our charity shops – our charity shops in [Makhanda] and Port Alfred have grown immensely over the past few years, and that money is channeled directly to providing a service. Bring stuff that we can sell, buy from our charity shops – that’s a huge help to us.
People also donate consumables that we can use such as toiletries we can use for care packs. Schools use us as a project – they fundraise, they ask for a wish list.
But the most important thing we ask the community to do is to share what Palcare is about. Talk to your friends: when you hear someone is ill, recommend us. We want the community to know exactly what we provide, so that people feel comfortable suggesting us to a friend or family member.
More about Palcare from 046 622 9661 or office@palcare.org.za or www.palcare.org.za
On Facebook:
@palcare: Palliative and Hospice Care
@palcarecharityshops
On Instagram:
@palcare_ec
@palcarecharityshop
Annual fundraising events in aid of Palcare that you can support
- Brenda Lear Bridge Day (July)
- Rotary Club of Kenton annual Pigeon Race (July)
- Bria Waddington memorial bowls Day (June)
- Cupcakes for cancer (April)
- GBS Port Alfred golf day (April)
- Kingswood music evening (March)
- Bathurst Agricultural Show – we man the gates and we get a piece of the takings (March)
Win a bag from Just Jo and support Palcare
Jo Hilder from Just Jo has created another stunning bag collection, and you have a chance to win one! Over the next month, Palcare will be raffling off these beautiful, handcrafted bags to raise funds for the organisation.
Jo chose to support Palcare in honor of her late, dear friend Vicky Richards, who bravely fought a battle with cancer. Palcare provided Vicky with compassionate care during her time of need, and Jo wanted to give back to the organisation that made such a difference.
Jo’s journey began during the COVID pandemic when she taught herself to sew, and now her passion has turned into a way to support a cause close to her heart. By participating in this raffle, you’re not only getting a chance to own a unique, handcrafted bag but also supporting the valuable work of Palcare.
Tickets will be on sale in the Makhanda Palcare shop until September 9. Then the raffle will move to Port Alfred on September 11, 19 and 25 at Rosehill Mall. R20 a ticket, R50 for 3, R100 for 6.
- This article was first published in Talk of the Town, August 29, 2024. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays.
