Some teams have access to the services of beauticians, massage therapists, chiropodists, musicians and other professionals who have different skills to offer those nearing the end of their lives. Palliative care is about quality of life, not quantity . It is a holistic approach that treats the entire person, and strives to make dying a positive experience for patients and their families. It is not aggressive cure , but rather compassionate care , ministering to the spirit when cure for the body becomes impossible. It makes full use of medical technology for pain and symptom control, while remembering that we also have souls and minds, dreams and feelings.
Palliative care accepts that the act of dying is a social activity, a natural and inevitable event.
Death is not a disease, illness or sickness, but the final transition of the life cycle. In today s often heartless bustle, with daily debates in the press about euthanasia and doctor assisted suicide, hospice is making a timely and needed reappearance. We knew she would always be there, so we never had to worry. In November, she suddenly became ill. She had an emergency operation in a Montreal hospital, and nobody thought she would ever leave intensive care.