Wroclaw Hospice Foundation is the only one in Lower Silesia which allows to provide care at HOME, since family itself is the best place for the sick child. Besides professional medical and nursing care, terminally ill children require rehabilitation which many families can't afford. Our goal is to provide them with a free of charge, in-home physiotherapy.
Our Foundation takes care of over 280 terminally ill children in Poland. They all require professional medical and nursing care and rehabilitation. Cost of rehabilitation is about 266 USD/month, which is a big strain on the budget of the children's families. Government funding is non-existent, benefits and aid from social services are insufficient. We want to organize free of charge rehabilitation for our patients, provided by qualified staff which is an important part of palliative care.
The rehabilitation of children will be aimed to improve the physical endurance, increasing the motion range of the joints (preventing cramps), exercising using various instruments (balls, rollers, etc), active and passive verticalization, breathing exercises, manual lymphatic drainage. As a part of home visits we will also educate the families and custodians, so the rehabilitation of the patient staying at home could be done daily, which will improve patient's comfort and quality of life.
The main benefit will be improving the quality of life of the terminally ill children. Regular rehabilitation allows to minimize the consequences of akinesia, which results in: joint motion disorders, muscle mass decrease, increase risk of blood clots, decreased efficiency of the respiratory and circulatory system, metabolic disorders and higher risk of bedsores. Exercises also minimize the feeling of fatigue caused by the illness - the common symptom among palliative patients.
