Yayasan Rumah Rachel ('Rachel House')

Rachel House was registered in October 2006 as a charitable organization under the name of Yayasan Rumah Rachel in Indonesia with the purpose of providing palliative care to children from marginalised and vulnerable families living with life-threatening illnesses, such as cancer and HIV. It is the first pediatric palliative care service in Indonesia, providing pain and symptom management for children in the final stages of their illness at free of charge. Without the service, many of these children from poor families would spend their last days in horrific pain without medical assistance. Rachel House was founded in the hope that no child would ever have to live or die in pain. It is buil... read more Rachel House was registered in October 2006 as a charitable organization under the name of Yayasan Rumah Rachel in Indonesia with the purpose of providing palliative care to children from marginalised and vulnerable families living with life-threatening illnesses, such as cancer and HIV. It is the first pediatric palliative care service in Indonesia, providing pain and symptom management for children in the final stages of their illness at free of charge. Without the service, many of these children from poor families would spend their last days in horrific pain without medical assistance. Rachel House was founded in the hope that no child would ever have to live or die in pain. It is built on the principle that "we are not here to add days to the children's lives, but to add life to their remaining days". Its mission is to ensure access to palliative care for all seriously ill children allowing them to live their remaining days with joy and dignity in a non-discriminatory, safe and loving environment. Rachel House's main goal is to ensure better access to pain and symptom management for all seriously ill children in Indonesia in all healthcare settings, through the following activities: 1) Advocacy to raise awareness of the role of and the need for palliative care in Indonesia. 2) Palliative care training for healthcare professionals across Indonesia. 3) Developing compassionate and clinically excellent home care teams to deliver the much-needed care for seriously ill children at home. 4) Building and reinforcing local community capacity to care for seriously ill children in need. 5) Working with local NGO and institutions to ensure the most efficient way of delivering and accomplishing the mission. 6) Securing long-term sustainability. Being the first pediatric palliative care service in Indonesia where palliative care is not taught in medical schools, Rachel House's pioneering team of nurses were trained by international palliative care experts from the United States, South Africa, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. At every training opportunity, Rachel House has ensured the participation of medical professionals (doctors, nurses & pharmacists) from government-owned hospitals and public clinics, nursing schools and health volunteers and social workers, aiming to build the capacity in palliative care. A significant outcome of this targeted training has been the establishment of the first pediatric palliative care unit in Indonesia at the Dharmais Cancer Hospital in late 2010, as well as successful rolling out of palliative care training for all public hospitals in Jakarta in 2014 - 2018. In the 20 years since the first patient was admitted to Rachel House, the service has reached more than 6188 lives (seriously ill children and families), providing these children (majority of whom were living with end-staged cancer and HIV) with pain and symptom management, while empowering their parents and caregivers with the essential skills and information in order to provide the best care for the children.