PROJECT EVALUATION REPORT

Project Evaluation Reflective Report

Project Evaluation Reflective Report

Hospice is a concept of caring borrowed from medieval times, where travelers, pilgrims and the sick, wounded or dying could find rest and comfort. The contemporary hospice offers a program of care to patients and families facing a life threatening illness encompassing medical, nursing, spiritual, and psychological care. Terminal disease is managed so that patients can live comfortably until they die. The hospice program in the United States has evolved in part as an attempt to compensate for the inadequacies of the present medical system, particularly in caring for patients with a terminal illness. Children hospice care has grown from an alternative health care movement to an established component of the American health care system. (Dawson, 2003, p.5227) The modern hospice movement began in 1967 when Cicely Saunders opened St. Christopher's Hospice in London. This became the nation s first specially designed children hospice care center.

But what is children hospice care? In an attempt to answer, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a statement in 1990 about the philosophy and techniques of children hospice care. Hospice affirms life and regards dying as a normal process. Hospice neither hastens nor postpones death. Hospice provides relief from pain and other distressing symptoms associated with dying. Hospice combines aspects of psychosocial and spiritual care. Hospice offers a support system to help patients live as actively as possible until death. Hospice offers a support system to help the family cope during the patient s illness and during the bereavement process. We can see that the hospice concept is a bio-psychosocial approach to the dying process, concerned with biological, psychological, and social health. By its proponents, hospice is considered a more humane and sensible approach to terminal illness, combining care, comfort, and support of family and friends as the individual faces death. Their concern for dignity and for maintaining quality of life rather than mere quantity lead to the following practical principles as an appropriate approach to care for the dying and their families. earlier stages of life. (Jane, 23)

The influence decreases as the person becomes older and more independent. Those who never become independent from their parents were too closely enmeshed with their parents in earlier stages of development. Although there is no one ideal family there are certain things parents can have influence over that will help in the normal development of a child. One such factor, and considered by most the most important, is love. A child, who grows up feeling loved and wanted, grows up with a much better chance of being mentally healthy and stable. How many times have you heard someone say that the reason they committed a crime or did something horrendous was because they did not feel loved as a child. Although there are different degrees of love, depending on the family situation, most people would agree that any amount is helpful.

Another thing parents teach their children, which mold them, is ...