The Psychosocial Support Team (EAPS) of the Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve (CHUA) presented yesterday, March 16, in the auditorium of the Hospitalar Unit of Faro, the first group of volunteers trained by this team to support Palliative Care.
The candidates, belonging not only to the existing volunteer group at the Hospital Unit of Faro of CHUA, but also to the Support Group of Faro of the Portuguese League against Cancer/Núcleo Regional do Sul, went through a registration, training and interview phase and will now provide support within the scope of the Palliative Care external consultation, in close collaboration with the Palliative Care Team of the hospital of Faro, host team of the «Humaniza» program.
“The CHUA EAPS, within the scope of one of the axes of action of the «Humaniza» project, of the «la Caixa» Foundation, aims to facilitate the projection and active organization of volunteer activities, in partnership with the program’s host teams”, explains Giovanni Cerullo, the doctor responsible for this team, who thanked the CHUA Board of Directors, the Palliative Care Team and the Social Service of the hospital of Faro, for the realization of this project.
Mariana Santos, nurse director of CHUA, highlighted the importance of volunteering for the institution, thanking everyone who was involved in creating this group of 14 volunteers.
“Both the volunteers and the professionals, we are all eager to have much more volunteer work. I believe that we are on the right path to have more humanization and affection, which our patients need so much”, he explains.
This is a pioneering project that provides for volunteers to support patients in carrying out logistical tasks, such as scheduling appointments and exams, detecting the needs of the patient and family/caregivers, promoting the perception of support, humanization and proximity to care. of health, as well as the distribution of food while the patient waits for the consultation.
Cátia Martins, EAPS social worker and responsible for EAPS volunteer work at the Hospital Unit of Faro, highlighted “the importance of volunteers, in this specific area of Palliative Care, in improving the quality of life of people with advanced disease” and expressed “his gratitude to those present, who collaborated and helped to implement this project”.
In the presentation session of the volunteering project in palliative care of the EAPS, the doctor Dagoberta Lima, from the Directorate of the Palliative Care Service of the Hospital Unit of Faro, Felizarda Santiago, nurse who manages outpatient consultations at the Faro, Sandra Pinto, responsible for volunteering at the same hospital, and Pedro Bragança, member of the board of the Portuguese League Against Cancer. Online, Iciar Garcia, director of the «Humaniza» program of the «la Caixa» Foundation, in Spain and Portugal, was also present.
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