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This project, proposed by the Rotary Club Tomebamba in Ecuador, aims to provide medical equipment to facilitate patient care by the Fundación al Servicio del Enfermo de Cáncer (FASEC). FASEC is a foundation dedicated to providing essential palliative care services, end-of-life care, and comprehensive support to patients who cannot afford private care. Its collaboration agreement with Hospital Santa Ines enables expanded access to healthcare professional services and offers collaborative training in palliative therapies. However, its healthcare staff remain constrained by a lack of equipment to assist its patients to live out their remaining days in dignity.
This project aligns with the Disease Prevention and Treatment Area of Focus, by strengthening health care systems and improving the capacity of local healthcare professionals.
Overview of Needs: Patients in the Austro region of Ecuador who suffer from chronic degenerative diseases and are unresponsive to medical treatments, face significant challenges in palliative care, leaving them without adequate care or institutional support. Patients do not receive the necessary attention from the public health system once their illness is considered beyond curative treatment. Most of these patients come from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, preventing them from financing adequate medical care at home or in residential treatment. Many of the patients do not have a solid support network to assist them in the management of their illness. The pressure of caring for a severely ill family member without adequate resources can lead to family disintegration. All these factors lead to a crisis in care for patients facing the end of life.
Current challenges faced by these patients and their families include:
-- Lack of Healthcare Coverage: The public health system does not cover palliative care, leaving patients without necessary care beyond curative treatment.
-- Socioeconomic Disadvantage: Patients from low-income backgrounds cannot afford adequate medical care at home, resulting in inadequate management of symptoms and basic care needs.
-- Absence of Support Network: Many patients lack support from family or friends for daily care and management of illness.
-- Family Disintegration: Caregiver burden (financial and emotional stress) associated with palliative care can lead to family breakdown, especially in regions with high migration rates.
-- Diverse Pathologies: Palliative patients are not homogenous, many are oncology patients, others suffer from various degenerative disorders that result in poor prognosis or lifelong immobility. These various complex medical conditions require specialized care.
Project Objectives
The objective of this Global Grant is to provide palliative care equipment to assist FASEC in providing care for the end-of-life needs of these fragile patients, ensuring equitable access to high-quality treatments and health services to those who are unable to pay for these services. This equipment and training will also serve to protect the health and safety of healthcare providers in the facility by providing equipment to safely move and care for its patients.
Some specific initiatives include:
● Provide Specialized Medical Equipment: Acquire necessary medical equipment (specialized wheelchairs, hospital beds, oxygen concentrators, infusion pumps for pain medications, and other essential medical devices) for the daily care of patients.
● Train Healthcare Personnel: Strengthen FASEC healthcare providers' skills to deliver high-quality palliative care while reducing health and safety risks to healthcare staff. This involves training programs for doctors, nurses, and support staff in advanced palliative care techniques and medical equipment management.
With these efforts, FASEC will be better able to alleviate patient suffering through quality medical care, equip healthcare providers to provide better support to patients and families, and strengthen FASEC's operational capacity and resource optimization.
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