There has been an outpatient palliative care team for children in Rhineland-Palatinate for a few days. It aims to help families with seriously ill children lead as normal a life as possible.
There are happy faces at this press conference in Mainz, even if the topic is certainly not an easy one. Caring for seriously ill children and knowing that many of them only have a limited time to live is a task that is both beautiful and difficult, says Carola Weber, the medical director of the mobile children’s palliative care team.
Many beautiful moments with sick children
Even if there are always situations that are emotionally stressful, there are at least as many beautiful moments. Many of the children would accompany Carola Weber and her colleagues for years. Because of this, there are always good situations.
Nine employees for the first outpatient palliative care team for children
Three doctors from different disciplines, five nursing staff and one medical assistant. This is the new children’s palliative team “iMPalCT”, which is stationed in Mainz. Affiliated to the Mainz hospice and in cooperation with the Mainz University Medical Center, they want to enable the children and their families to lead a relatively normal life.
“The biggest thing parents want, of course, is that they are not always torn apart as a family and that care can take place at home so that you don’t have to go to the hospital again and again,” says Carola Weber.
The employees of the child palliative care team supplement the offers of the nursing services and advise the families, for example, on medication and treatments.
“We want to enable families to live independently in their own homes.”
Children’s palliative team is on duty around the clock
The children’s palliative care team is on duty 24 hours a day, every day. An offer that many parents are very grateful for, as the managing director of the Mainz hospice, Uwe Vilz, confirms: “In our experience, ’round the clock’ is very important for families. Just having the opportunity, ‘I can reach someone at any time of the day or night. They know me, they know my child’, that’s reassuring for many.”
The illnesses of the children are very different. Some have a metabolic disease, others are struggling with the consequences of severe brain damage. Many of the children also suffer from genetic diseases.
Already the first requests for a new children’s palliative care team
Although the new outpatient children’s palliative care team only started work a few days ago, there are already a few inquiries. Since the beginning of October, the employees have been visiting their little patients within a radius of 120 kilometers from Mainz. This means that not only the Rheinhessen region can be supplied in the future, but also the Nahe and the Rhein-Hunsrück district, for example, can be served by employees.
The team is currently being financed by donations from the Mainz Hospice Society and the Rotary Clubs, above all the Rotarians from Mainz and Rheinhessen, who supported the project with 350,000 euros in the initial phase. Together with the donations from the Mainz hospice society, almost 150,000 euros, the children’s palliative team has a good half a million euros at their disposal.
Two new doctors for the children’s palliative care team
Carola Weber and her colleagues currently assume that they can treat between 30 and 40 patients at the same time. In order to be able to look after even more families in the future, the children’s palliative care team will be supported by two more doctors next year.
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