I.

Larrie Lenn Geneve M. Calinagan

BS SW 4-2

II.

Background information of the project:

Title: Palliative and Hospice care: An Emerging Setting in Social Work

Palliative care is an approach that improves the quality of life of patients and their families
facing the problem associated with life-threatening illness, through the prevention and relief of
suffering by means of early identification and impeccable assessment and treatment of pain and
other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual. Palliative care:

provides relief from pain and other distressing symptoms;

affirms life and regards dying as a normal process;
intends neither to hasten or postpone death;
integrates the psychological and spiritual aspects of patient care;
offers a support system to help patients live as actively as possible until death;
offers a support system to help the family cope during the patients illness and
in their own bereavement;
uses a team approach to address the needs of patients and their families,
including bereavement counseling, if indicated;
will enhance quality of life, and may also positively influence the course of
illness;
Is applicable early in the course of illness, in conjunction with other therapies
that are intended to prolong life, such as chemotherapy or radiation therapy,
and includes those investigations needed to better understand and manage
distressing clinical complications.

Hospice care is a field of medicine that focuses on the comprehensive care of patients with
terminal illnesses. Hospice need not be a place but rather a service that offers support, resources,
and assistance to terminally ill patients and their families.
The main goal of hospice is to provide a peaceful, symptom-free, and dignified transition to
death for patients whose diseases are advanced beyond a cure. The hope for a cure shifts to hope
for a life free of suffering. The focus becomes quality of life rather than its length.
Hospice care is patient-centered medical care. A host of valuable services are offered to address
every aspect of the patient's care as a whole. This is achieved by considering each individual's
goals, values, beliefs, and rituals.

Our chosen foundation is Madre de Amore foundation, The Madre de Amor Hospice
Foundation is a non-stock, non-profit organization providing community-based
hospice/palliative care service. It began in Los Baos in 1994 and currently covers 23 out of the
30 towns in Laguna.
The Hospice Center in Los Baos, the first in the country, is where our patients and their
families, out staff and volunteers gather for consultation, meetings, training and fellowship.
We have a growing group of dedicated volunteers who devote their time and talent to the care of
our patients and their families.
We have medical equipment like hospital beds, oxygen tanks, wheelchairs, nebulizers and
suction machines to aid in our patients home care.
We regularly conduct the Volunteer Training Program for interested volunteers and assist in
setting up independent hospices in other communities.
III.

Objective of the Project:

1. To gain more knowledge and understanding about palliative and

hospice setting.
2. To identify the experiences, roles and responsibilities of a social worker
in a palliative care setting.
3.
To identify the factors that impede or help the social worker in
their perceive roles; and
4.
To identify the contribution of social work education in the roles
and responsibilities of workers in palliative and hospice care setting.
IV.

Content: