The team from the new palliative care unit at the regional government hospital in Baffousam, Cameroon has reported ongoing success.
The first seeds of palliative care knowledge were planted in April 2012 when Mrs Constantine Lonlack attended a palliative care initiator’s course organised by Hospice Africa Uganda and the Cameroon Baptist Convention in Mutengene, Cameroon.
As a caregiver and psychosocial counsellor, she immediately set about putting her knowledge to work to help patients with incurable diseases in Regional Hospital Bafoussam. The activity initially was still limited to psychological support for patients and their families.
However, feeling powerless in front of the excruciating pain of some patients, she put her body and soul into what is now history, but that could well be called today the “battle for morphine.”
With the help of the hospital, under the director Dr. Fetse Tama Gerard, in July 2013 a mobile palliative care unit in the hospital was created. The unit was set up after a presentation on the concept of palliative care. The ‘battle for morphine’ was won with the support of the hospital management, by sending two people on internships on the use of morphine in the palliative care unit of the Regional Hospital Bamenda, under the guidance of Dr Fondoh Richard.
Since then, a team has been functioning and more and more patients are being supported by this young structure.
The new palliative care team is mobile and has three members; a doctor, a pharmacy technician and a nurse aide trained in palliative care and psychosocial counselling. Dr Djoumsessi Romance has begun improving his knowledge by starting studying for a diploma in palliative care in Hospice Africa Uganda.
Home visits are at the centre of the activities. When patients leave hospital they conduct visits to reassess their needs, continue care and provide psychological support. They make multiple home visits to their patients, and visits of condolence to families. Those who live outside their immediate region are followed by phone.
In just a few years the seeds of palliative care have grown and are having a big impact on patients’ lives.
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