Providing a safe place for hepatic patients

A liver transplant is a major surgery that can give a sick person a second chance at life. Although transplant activity has decreased during the covid19 pandemic, urgent liver transplants have continued during these difficult times we are living. Family support has been shown to be necessary for the complete recovery of these patients, and providing a safe place for family members is a major problem for AETHA (Aragon Liver Transplant Patients Association).

The Transitional Accommodation Project – Shelter homes of AETHA, is born from the need to offer a resource to those families who have to travel to Zaragoza, capital of Aragon, due to their medical situation from their habitual residence, generally municipalities and rural areas throughout Aragon. Therefore, AETHA offers these shelters to meet and respond to these demands, always free for families. Donations to projects like these have a huge impact on society and specifically for patients who need a liver transplant. Now more than ever it becomes more important given the pandemic situation we are living in.

Zaragoza is one of the regions of Spain with the most cases of Covid-19, and the decrease of hospitalization is going slowly. In this first quarter of 2021 the occupancy of AETHA's reception flats has been constant. 
 
At one of the shelter home's 6 families have stayed since the begging of 2021. And on the other, one of which continues living there since February 10. We have to have in mind that currently, due to the health crisis caused by Covid-19, only one family can be housed per shelter home, which is limiting a lot because there are families who would have used the resources of AEATHA and cannot access it.

There is currently a family with three young children at one of the shelter home, who have stayed there for two months. They are from Portugal and were transferred to a hospital in Aragón because of a traffic accident. The father of the family is in the ICU. On the other flat there is now a lonely old lady.

AETHA volunteers monitor users by phone and, if necessary, accompaniment of people staying in the flats. Because of the pandemic, there is little or no face-to-face monitoring of the situation. AETHA volunteers are people with liver transplants and, as the floors are full of people who come and go from hospitals, the less they approach the shelter homes, the better.

The shelter homes are a continuous project in which we try to keep the flats maintained and we are always thinking about how to improve them so that the stay of the people is as comfortable as possible. 
This year AETHA has set a goal: to buy household items for the shelter homes (bed linen, towels, blankets, new duvets) and kitchen equipment/utensils that have suffered some kind of wear. In addition, one entire flat will be painted. 
 
All these improvements will help to improve the quality of families' stay. Thanks to the support of donations received through GlobalGiving, it will be possible to continue supporting these projects that help so many families in need. 

Links:

• https://aetha.org/pisos-de-acogida/

A liver transplant is a major surgery that can give a sick person a second chance in life. Although the transplant activity has decreased during the covid19 pandemic, Urgent liver transplantations have continued during these difficult times that we are living. Family support is proven necessary for the full recovery of these patients, and Providing a safe place for their relatives is a primary issue for AETHA (Liver Transplant Patient Association of Aragon).

The project of Transitional Accommodation - Shelter homes of AETHA., was born from the need to offer a resource to those families who have to travel to Zaragoza, capital of Aragon, due to their medical situation from their habitual residence, generally municipalities and rural areas throughout Aragon. That is why, AETHA offers these shelter homes to cover and give answers to these demands, always free of charge for the families. Donations to projects like these have a huge impact on the society and specifically to the patients in need of a liver transplant.  Now more than ever it becomes more important given the pandemic situation that we are living.

Zaragoza is one of Spain’s region with more Covid-19  cases, and the decerease of hospitalization is going slowly. Most of Spain is living the second wave of the COVID19 but Aragon is in its third. The situation remains critical, despite the fact that the number of incidences of contagion is falling day by day due to the high level of restrictions. Aragon, which is a quite small region, has a dramatic average of 25 deaths per day, surpassing 10,000 infections since the beginning of the pandemic. 

During the past months, most of the occupation of the shelter homes has been due to hospital visits and medical revisions of some AETHA members. This is because the pandemic situation allows only the emergency 0 transplants , patients who are in critical condition and who, if they do not receive an urgent transplant, are at risk of dying. A patient in "emergency 0" has absolute priority throughout the national territory. In these cases, they go to the top of the transplant waiting list. The first organ that is generated in any Spanish hospital is allocated to the patient who is in this situation.

The apartments are equipped with everything the families might need. There is central heating as well as lift, appliances and everything to make their stay as pleasant as possible. A lot of families have stayed in AETHA's shelter homes over the past five years. And, as every place that is habited and used, over time, it needs to be reconditioned. That’s why the AETHA’s team has got down to work with the bathrooms and the power failures.

We installed a new ceramic stove in the kitchen, a new oven and a new refrigerator, and a new microwave shelf as well. The ceilings and walls of the apartment have been painted, the doors have been varnished and we have placed brand new LED lights on the wall. Likewise, the old toilet has been changed for a new one and the bathtub for a new shower plate.

All these enhancements will contribute to improve the quality of the stay of the families. Thanks to the support of donations received through GlobalGiving, it will be possible to continue supporting these projects that help so many families in need.

• REFORMAS_Y_MANTENIMIENTO_DEL_PISO_DE_ACOGIDA_DE_EDUARDO_IBARRA.pdf (PDF)