The effect of undeveloped areas on the availability of hospice care to children Hospice is a place where persons with incurable diseases are provided with care and support. Most of the patients who are at the hospice are in the last phase of the disease they are suffering from. The care providers in these places offer pain-free support to their patients, and they make the patients comfortable and maintain the quality of the remaining part of their life as in this case they recognize dying as the normal process of life. The hospices focus mainly on the provision of care and treatment to the patients. Accordingly, the hospices provide patients with emotional and spiritual support and other physical needs, which they require to lead a comfortable life. They specialize in the management of pain and symptoms as well as the support services, which includes counseling and education. It is argued that the word hospice is derived from the word hospitality (Naierman & Johanna 15). The hospice centres offer care to people in the last stages of their life irrespective of age, gender or ethnicity. Therefore, the enormous burden of the life-threatening in the underdeveloped areas explains why there is an urgent need for hospice care centres in such areas. This is because the majority of those who need hospice care are children who live in the underdeveloped areas. Notably, in underdeveloped areas, the presence of hospice care has offered relieve too many children. For instance, back in the year 2016, in honor of the children whose young lives were cut short, Kathy Hull started pediatric palliative care facility in the US. The main objective of the facility is to giver terminally ill children a peaceful place in the final days of their life. The center emphasizes on the quality of life and the wholeness of spirit in a supportive atmosphere (George Mark Children's House 1). This centre aims at improving the quality of life of children with life threatening conditions and it manages in minimising sufferings, optimize their (Cannon) 2 functioning and meet their spiritual and emotional needs. For the time it has been in existence in the undeveloped areas, it has been able to offer paediatric nursing to children who cannot benefit from the acute care in hospitals, but they still cannot be cared for at home. Provision of hospice care for the children in underdeveloped areas is important because of the huge burden occasioned by the illness. There are many cases of children who are suffering from terminal diseases and who are in the final stages of their illness. Early diagnosis of these diseases, such as cancer, is important for early treatment, and although it's still a burden, it will prevent more complications. However, in underdeveloped areas, early diagnosis is rarely heard of and the patients are presented to the hospitals in the late stages of the illness. Studies have shown that most of the children presented to the hospitals with the terminal diseases in the underdeveloped areas are victims of delayed diagnosis due to the physician's delay or other factors (Corr & Corr 11). The lack of infrastructure or other necessary resources means that most underdeveloped areas have no access to diseases screening, early treatment, and hospice care. There are major challenges in the provision of hospice care to the children in this area. First is the lack of the epidemiology data which is occasioned by lack of reliable and accurate registries and the prevalence of the opportunistic infections (Corr & Corr 11). There is also the problem of making early detections, because the symptoms of the terminal diseases may coincide with other opportunistic infections and the lack of adequately equipped hospitals which leads to poor services. There has been the attempt to improve the early detection and treatment of terminal ailments, especially to children. The World Health Organization pushes these initiatives are also aimed at enhancing the capacity of the healthcare systems in these areas. The burden of the terminal diseases is enormous with very few children being able to access hospice care services. (Cannon) 3 Studies in the underdeveloped areas to determine the burden and prevalence of the symptoms have shown that psychological problems and the pain are the most common symptoms of the underage patients. This shows that there is the need for a holistic approach to the assessment and management of the patients. The main concern, in this case, is on the best approach in providing hospice care in the underdeveloped areas. It appears that in most of the areas hospice care is a new concept and it is lacking. There are several approaches which can potentially be used in the underdeveloped areas however it is not possible to adopt an evidence based approach due to lack of accurate data. The most suitable approach in the provision of the hospice care is the public health strategy. This approach is aimed at preventing diseases and improving the quality of life especially the children through a hospice care programme. In this regard there is the need for the development of all the policies, availing of drugs as well as education of the healthcare workers (The History of Hospice 1). This will help in the implementation of the hospice care centres. The underdeveloped areas need to ensure that the above issues are part of their system as a way of integrating hospice care for the children. Access to medicine is one of the components of the access to the highest attainable healthcare. The low pain medicine in most of the underdeveloped areas is not accessible. Further, the hospice care services can be provided by the independent hospices, or through programmes in hospitals or other healthcare systems. In most cases, it is managed by a multidisciplinary healthcare team. In essence, the doctors who are providing care to the children should be involved. The other people who may be included in the team includes the clergy, trained volunteer caregivers, social workers, nurses, doctors, counsellors and the family members who provide care to the affected children (Hale 100). A well-coordinated operation by this group (Cannon) 4 will provide supportive care to the affected children who are aimed at relieving the pain and providing emotional and spiritual support. In this regard, the hospice care staff should be kind and caring. They are supposed to be able to communicate well, and willing to work with the children who are suffering from life-threatening illness. They are supposed to be trained especially on matters surrounding and be provided with continuous support due to the emotional demands of their job. The hospice volunteers are also supposed to play a critical role in planning and offering of the hospice care services. The volunteers can be lay people or healthcare professionals. However, the situation in most of the underdeveloped areas is contrary. There are in few if any hospice centres. There are very few professionals who are willing to volunteer their services and the few who are available are poorly trained. The staffs in the few hospice care centres receive little support despite the high demand for their work given the high number of children they have in their care. This leaves most of the children in this area who need hospice care without access to the services. The hospice care services are designed to be available for 24-hours in a day for a whole week. They can be offered in hospitals, homes or residential facilities (Hospice Care 1). Those who provide care to the affected children are with them most of the time. They are supposed to ensure that the symptoms of the children are under control and that they are given the necessary care. Whether the hospice care is provided in hospitals on at home, the cost is low because no much technology is used. However, the situation in most of the underdeveloped areas is pathetic. There are no centres for these services, and most of the children receive the care from their family members who may not be trained on the effective hospice care services. The hospice care services to children in underdeveloped areas need to be availed in a way that meets the specific needs of the society (Alexandria 5). In this regard the care should be (Cannon) 5 provided by an organization that has the potential to provide excellent services to the large population they are supposed to serve. The choices of the hospice care facilities are determined by choice made by the parents or guardians of the children as well as the availability of the resources. In conclusion, hospice care for children in underprivileged areas has a special role, especially to those with terminal diseases. However, there is the number of challenges, such as the lack of education, inappropriate government policies, and inaccessibility of essential medicine makes hospice care almost impossible despite the high need. The entire situation in different underdeveloped areas may differ, there is need to develop a system where hospice care services are available to the children. In this regard, the authorities need to establish hospice care programmes as a way of improving the quality of life for the children with life-threatening illness. The challenges which are making it difficult for this to be achieved need to be addressed. There is also need for the authorities and different organizations to partner to expand the coverage. Works cited "The History of Hospice." National Hospice Foundation. Matrix Group International, Inc. Web. Alexandria, VA. NHPCO Facts and Figures: Hospice Care in America: National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, 2015. (Cannon) 6 Corr, C. A., and D. M. Corr. "What is pediatric hospice care?." Children's health care: journal of the Association for the Care of Children's Health 17.1 (1988): 1-11. Hale, Beth Ann. "Beth Ann Hale." HOSPICE INTERDISCIPLINARY TEAM PROCESSES AND EFFECTIVENESS (2007): 1-189. 'Home - George Mark Children's House' (George Mark Children's House, 2018) accessed August 2018 Naierman, Naomi, and Johanna Turner. "Debunking the myths of hospice." American Hospice Foundation (2013).
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