May 7 th – 21 st, 2011. Our Team To educate, encourage and empower the medical community of...

Epworth Villa’sQuality Life

Hospice Ukraine Mission Trip

May 7th – 21st, 2011

Our Team

To educate, encourage and empower the medical

community of Lugansk, Ukraine to establish a home-

based Hospice Ministry.

Our Mission

In the Ukraine, Hospice Care as we know it,

does not exist. The vast majority of Ukrainians die in their

home with limited or no support from the government ran health care system.

The Quality Life Team spent two weeks interacting with and training the Ukrainian medical professionals and community leaders regarding the tools and framework for implementing home-based hospice care.

Hospice Care in the Ukraine

The team left from Will Rogers World Airport and

flew from Oklahoma City to Minneapolis then on to Amsterdam.

After a two hour lay over in Amsterdam the team flew to Kiev, Ukraine.

The team arrived in Kiev the evening of the 8th. The entire trip took almost seventeen hours. There is an eight hour time difference between

the time zones.

May 7th & 8th - Travel Days

Victory Day or May 9th marks the signing of the treaty

between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in WWII. During the Soviet Union's existence, it was celebrated

throughout the USSR and in the countries of the Eastern Bloc.

The ritual of the celebration gradually obtained a distinctive character with a number of similar elements to the 4th of July in the United States: ceremonial meetings, speeches, parades, and fireworks.

After communism’s fall, the former USSR retained the celebration, though it was not formally celebrated by some.

Ukraine has officially recognized 9 May since 1946.

May 9th – Victory Day Celebration

Victory Day Celebration

May 9th & 10th – Train Trip from Kiev to

Lugansk The team boarded a train the evening of the 9th for a

15 hour train ride from Kiev to Lugansk (located in the far Eastern Region of the Ukraine, very close to Russia).

The average Ukrainian does not own a vehicle and must rely on the public transportation system for travel – train, bus, and/or metro.

The team traveled by sleeping car with four bunks in each compartment.

Most Ukrainians travel economy class and sleep in an open non-air conditioned car with 40-50 other passengers.

Train Trip from Kiev to Lugansk

Our first day in Lugansk was spent preparing for

the two day conference. After checking into our hotel rooms we had lunch

with the conference organizers and interpreters discussed the presentations and their expectations.

We toured the conference facility (public library) and made the final adjustments and preparations.

Tensions were high, as everyone involved had been preparing for this event for almost nine months.

May 10th – Arrival in Lugansk

The 2 day conference was highly anticipated by the

Eastern Ukrainian Medical Community and throughout the entire country.

Participants traveled from across the nation from as far as Lviv (a major city in far Western Region of Ukraine).

The local media was represented throughout the conference and remained with the team during our visits to the local medical facilities.

Speakers were brought in from the local government and medical community each day to speak on the status of end-of-life care in the region.

May 11th & 12th – The Hospice Conference

The American Philosophy of Hospice Care: The

Home-Based Hospice Model Take Care of You First: Avoiding Burnout Signs and Symptoms of Approaching Death:

Recognizing and Responding to the Needs of the Dying and Their Families

Effective Pain and Symptom Management On Death, Dying and Grief Children, Death, Dying and Grief Alternative Therapeutic Modalities: Combining

Aromatherapy, Therapeutic Touch and Music Therapy

The Hospice Conference Content

The Hospice Conference

The team was invited to speak to students at the

medical school in Lugansk. The medical school prepares both doctors and nurses. Medical and nursing education in Ukraine consists of

vocational and technical training and requires no undergraduate or general studies program.

Therefore, doctors and nurses enter the medical field at a very young age.

Doctors and nurses are among the lowest paying professions and the burn-out rate is extremely high.

May 13th - Medical School

Medical School

Pediatric mortality is disproportionately high in the

Ukraine due to lack of technology to enable early diagnosis and limited access to aggressive treatment.

Mothers stay in the hospital with their child 24/7. Patients are sent home when the prognosis is

determined to be terminal, but without the benefit of home-based hospice care.

The team distributed toys to each child, lead therapeutic play activities, spent time with supporting and encouraging the staff, patients and their mothers and planted flowers along the entrance.

May 13th – Pediatric Hematology Oncology

Hospital

Pediatric Hematology Oncology Hospital

Living Faith United Methodist Church in Lugansk

played an integral role in facilitating our mission. Representatives from five different denominations

gathered at Living Faith on May 15th as Chaplain Pendleton lead a discussion regarding hospice care and grief support, tools were provided to assist leaders in facilitating grief support groups.

The team participated in the Sunday worship and Chaplain Pendleton delivered the sermons.

Living Faith has adopted a group of African medical students with which the team interacted and answered questions about hospice care.

May 14th & 15th – Faith United Methodist Church

Living Faith UMC

The team was invited to visit the honorary

museum created in honor of a prominent oncologist who died of cancer.

Through his own dying process he realized the need for better end-of-life care in the Ukraine.

Part of his legacy was passing on the task of bringing hospice care to the Ukraine to his daughter.

His daughter, Helena is very motivated to implement a home-based hospice care program in the Lugansk Region and has created an non-profit organization toward that end.

May 16th – Honorary Museum Tour

Honorary Museum Tour

The team visited Lugansk Hospital’s Palliative

Care Unit. The unit’s total capacity is 25 beds. The total population of the Lugansk Region is

close to 3 million. The patients treated by the unit have little or

no family support available. The remainder of the terminally ill residents of

the region will die at home without the benefit of home-based hospice care.

May 16th – Palliative Care Unit

Palliative Care Unit

Due to federal and global grants the AIDS/HIV

Center was the most modern and technologically advanced of all the health care facilities visited.

AIDS/HIV treatment in the Ukraine is very similar to other parts of the world.

The staff at the center also enjoyed higher pay scales and better working conditions.

The team toured the center, met with the patients and staff, and helped plant flowers around the grounds.

May 16th – AIDS/HIV Center

HIV/AIDS Center

The participants and conference organizers

planned a day trip to demonstrate their appreciation for the team.

The team toured three small villages within the Lugansk Region very near the Russian border.

Following the excursion the team met with the local conference organizers and discussed possible

They plan to implement measures to start developing the framework for a Home-Based Hospice Ministry.

May 17th - Excursion

Excursion

The team headed back to Kiev by train on the

evening of the 17th arriving the morning of the 18th.

May 17th & 18th – Train Trip Back to Kiev

Responsible for the treatment of all solid

tumor childhood cancers throughout the entire country of Ukraine.

The capacity of the hospital is 40 beds. The waiting list is long, so many receive care

too late or not at all. Their parents take on the heartbreaking task

of caring for their children at home without the benefit of home-based hospice care.

May 19th – Kiev Pediatric Oncology Hospital

Kiev Pediatric Oncology Hospital

The team left from Kiev the afternoon of the

20th and flew to Amsterdam. After a twenty hour layover in Amsterdam the

team flew back home to Oklahoma City on the 21st.

The team arrived home the evening of the 21st very jet-lagged, but forever changed by the experience.

May 20th & 21st – Return Trip

This mission trip was made possible through your

support!

Thank You!

May 7 th – 21 st, 2011. Our Team To educate, encourage and empower the medical community of...

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