Addressing the graduands and their relatives, the chairperson of Nairobi Hospice, Dr Sobbie Mulindi, commended the tireless effort, support and encouragement of the teaching team from the hospice and the unwavering support from OBU that allowed the students to achieve such great success.
“I have no doubt that your knowledge, skills and positive attitudes have been greatly enhanced so that you are competent practitioners, educators and advocates for palliative care wherever you will be,” Dr Mulindi said.
Dr Mulindi spoke about the “key” importance of palliative care education for better quality service to the patients and family.
According to Dr Mulindi, Nairobi Hospice intends to expand and strengthen education in palliative care, among other focus areas.
“There are plans to carry out a needs assessment and curriculum development with a view to establish and run e-learning degree courses in palliative care,” he said.
In preparation for this, three members of the teaching team are pursuing the OBU online Masters programme in palliative care.
The associate dean of the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at OBU, Dr Rob Wondrak, said that OBU’s commitment to supporting an international provision of palliative care and the close relationship with Nairobi Hospice team has borne wonderful fruit.
“It has been a rewarding relationship where both the university and the hospice have learned from each other over the years,” said Dr Wondrak.
This follows a successful pilot in Nairobi where OBU and Nairobi Hospice signed a formal agreement to work together in 2001, leading to this sixth cohort of students from Africa, and the second one since the franchise was approved in 2008 for Nairobi hospice to lead and deliver the programme.
“Caring for the sick and the vulnerable is a very great privilege. Your patients or clients let you into their lives in the most intimate way – sharing their hopes and fears and looking to you for help and support. Your contribution to their lives makes a difference. Your education and level of skill makes a difference to their lives. That makes you very special people indeed,” Dr Wondrak told the graduands.
The graduands expressed their sincere thanks to all tutors and mentors for helping them through teething problems, saying that they helped them learn to search for information, broaden their knowledge and to apply it in their work, hence enriching their practice.
Read the full story on the Kenya edition of ehospice.
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