In Italy there are only 8 functioning pediatric hospices for palliative care for children suffering from incurable diseases, for a total of just over 30 places available.
There are six hospices under construction, 3 regions have activated all the links of the Network (Home-Pediatric Hospice-Hospital).
But in 7 Regions there is no welfare response (Valle D'Aosta, Marche, Umbria, Molise, Abruzzo, Calabria, Sardinia).
Yet, in our country there are an estimated 35 thousand children eligible for palliative care and every year the number of minors who need this type of assistance increases by 5%.
These are the data presented on the occasion of the presentation in the Senate of the New Pediatric Hospice project - Regional Reference Center for Pediatric Palliative Care and Pain Therapy of the Veneto Region.
The meeting, promoted by Senator Antonio De Poli, was attended by, among others, Giuseppe Zaccaria, president of the La Miglior Vita Possibile Association, and Franca Benini, head of the Regional Pediatric Palliative Care Center of the Veneto, and some parents of sick children and young people.
"Making children and young people with pathologies from which they will not be able to recover live in the best possible way is our challenge. Because a patient of this type can live for a long time and has the right to be assisted, followed by qualified personnel, in suitable structures where even families can be supported - said Zaccaria when presenting the project of the New Pediatric Hospice Regional Reference Center for Pediatric Palliative Care and Pain Therapy of the Veneto Region -. The New Pediatric Hospice will be built in 3 thousand square meters in Padua: 10 rooms equipped, instead of the current 4, with larger spaces for girls and boys, for their relatives and for healthcare personnel. The project has a further element. In fact, it envisages, in a subsequent step, the creation of reception facilities for relatives in close proximity to the new hospice.The center will be built partly with funds provided by the Ministry of Health amounting to 9 million euros.
But the objective to be achieved, for the restructuring and construction of the new centre, is 16 million euros".
"Our task must be to implement palliative care, also and above all in the pediatric field, and therefore favor the right to care and assistance, to ensure the best possible life for those who suffer - stated De Poli -.
From today, an appeal by associations and families is being launched in the Senate". With pediatric palliative care "it is possible to offer care at home, and possibly in dedicated residential facilities, which significantly improves the quality of life of the child and his family .
It is possible to respond to the main needs of the sick child and his entire family, also at an organizational and social level.
It is also possible to optimize resources;
the pediatric palliative care network, according to international studies, manages to provide good care and quality of life while reducing costs", underlines Benini, who is also the head of the first and only Italian chair of pediatrics dedicated to teaching pediatric palliative care at the University of Padua. There is also a master's degree dedicated to pediatric palliative care and a specialization school, equally recently established. Also at the starting line, again in Padua, is the first course designed to teach a couple how to help assistance of a young person with a serious pathology. Engaged couples will also have the possibility of using apartments to experience cohabitation.
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