The Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve will create an Intra-Hospital Support Team for Pediatric Palliative Care, to improve the support given to patients and those accompanying them.
The decision to create this new response was taken yesterday, February 15th, International Day of Children with Cancer, by the Board of Directors of CHUA.
Consisting of a multidisciplinary team, which has two poles - in Faro and Portimão -, the creation of this team aims to ensure that, from diagnosis, all users of pediatric age (newborns, children and young people) who live with a complex, life-limiting or threatening chronic disease, and their families, receive care that meet their needs, desires and preferences, up to and beyond death.
Ana Varges Gomes, chairman of the Board of Directors of CHUA, says that “the added value is being able to accompany patients, who are unfortunately in the terminal phase of their illness, with dignity, supporting parents, families and children. From now on, we will be able to count on that support».
The pediatrician Elsa Rocha, in charge of the Faro, mentions that the creation of this team reflects the will and joint work of colleagues from Faro and Portimão to improve access to pediatric palliative care in the Algarve region.
Proponents of the creation of this team, for their part, consider that «this is a fight for all children and we are only providing global access to this care».
In Portugal it is estimated that there are at least 8000 children in need of palliative care and only 10% have access to such care.
To mark the International Day of Children with Cancer, the Pediatrics Service organized a small exhibition alluding to the theme, which will be on display in the hall of the Hospital Unit of Faro and where a yellow ribbon was distributed, an international symbol of awareness of childhood cancer.
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