Hospice founder – ‘Embrace your Hospice’ amid Hospice Week

Hospice Week is a time to recognise the crucial role of Hospice and palliative care services in providing comfort and dignity to individuals with life-threatening illnesses.

To commemorate Hospice Week, observed from May 4 to 10, Stepping Stone Palliative Care Services founder and CEO, Tersia Burger, also an interim CEO of the Association of Palliative Care Centres (APCC), shined a light on the extraordinary yet often unseen work of palliative care providers across South Africa during her recent interview on 919 FM with Samm Marshall.

During the interview, Marshall pointed out that palliative care providers in the country continue to serve insured and uninsured South Africans with compassion and resilience, often without formal funding.

Burger reiterated that the palliative care industry in South Africa was recognised for its compassion and innovation. She also stressed the competence and ability of their staff to offer excellent care.

“Because we are non-profits, people often think we offer standard care. No, not at all. All our nurses and doctors are highly trained and qualified. They have done ICU and emergency care training. Palliative care is more about quality of life rather than end-of-life care.

“We care for our patients during their treatment, offer pain management, symptom control, and psychosocial support for both the patient and the family,” she said.

A Hospice in an urban setting and a peri-rural setting have the same standards.

According to Burger, it might be a different socioeconomic setting, but the standards are the same.

“We are serving individuals from different economic classes – whether from an affluent or an impoverished area, they are served equally.

As Burger explained, the cost of daily inpatient care is no less than R1 100.

They need insurance, and they have to pay for electricity, utilities, fuel, and staff salaries.

As they commemorate Hospice Week, Burger said that during this week-long event, they celebrate the work they do and honour the phenomenal efforts of the palliative care community.

“Our motto is that we want people to live until they pass on. The big takeaway from this Hospice Week is we provide comfort care through the most difficult journeys people will ever face,” she said.