Island Hospice & Healthcare

Island Global Giving report: July-September 2019

Between July and September 2019, Island Hospice and Healthcare continued its mission of providing palliative care services to individuals faced with life-threatening illnesses and to the bereaved. This has been delivered through various models, customised to meet the unique needs of clients and patients, through home visits, walk-ins, clinic visits, hospital visits, ward rounds and through telephone contacts.

Island Hospice and Healthcare saw 1,126 patients and clients during the quarter. This comprised 628 clinic visit contacts, 542 telephone contacts, 398 walk-ins and 538 home visit contacts. Most of Island’s contacts came from clinic visits arising from the roadside clinics, which reach out to people in peripheral communities, where patients live far away from primary healthcare institutions. Hospital visits provided 120 contacts, while ward rounds accounted for 193 contacts and single consultations, for 288. Principles applied to all models of care are: a holistic approach (physical, emotional, social, and spiritual) to care.

These 2 stories of change demonstrate the impact of our work during the reporting period.

                                                Story of change1: Hope restored

Story collected by:           Tanaka Mudadada

 Date collected:  August 2019

 Edited by:                           Lovemore Mupaza

 “I am a woman who resides in Mufakose suburb. I was diagnosed with HIV and this overwhelmed me to the extent that I lost hope in life. As a woman, I expected to bear children but having HIV cast a shadow over those wishes – or so I thought. I was dumbfounded and dead inside. I then happened to attended the Sexual Reproductive Health and HIV education from Island. The training helped me view life from a different perspective. The key lesson I learnt was of prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT). This gave me the hope I had lost, of not having a child. PMTCT programmes provide a range of services which include providing women living with HIV, with lifelong ART to maintain their health and to prevent transmission during pregnancy, labour and breastfeeding.”

“Today, I am dealing with the situation much better, I adhere to my treatment plan and look forward to my future. SRH/HIV education from Island empowered me to make choices about my right to health. My wish was fulfilled, I now have a child that is HIV negative. Fear of HIV-related stigma and discrimination, and in some cases, the possibility of violence, can deter people from being tested or revealing that they are HIV positive, but I am not afraid to disclose the condition I have, all because of the support I received.”

                                              Story of Change 2

 Date collected                                    30 July 2019

Collected by                                       Lovemore and Tanaka

Project                                                OAK

Venue                                                 Marondera

 In one of the middle-class suburbs of Marondera, a female traditional healer narrates how Island Hospice and Healthcare helped her. Life dealt her a bad hand with the passing of her mother and husband, within a short period. As a result, she wallowed into excessive intake, to avoid dealing with the grief she was experiencing. This placed her health at high risk as her blood pressure. Advise and encouragement, from friends and family, proved to be futile.

Island conducted training with traditional and faith healers, and she was part of the group that was trained. The training proved to be more important than she had anticipated. Topics such as bereavement and the death process were discussed.

This helped her to accept her situation and she was made aware that it is allowable and that it was normal to grieve. As a result of the training, she stopped drinking and her blood pressure has since returned to normal. Because of her encounter with Island, this traditional healer is now able to function proficiently, incorporating bereavement counselling and other ideas into her consultations and referring patients to hospitals and discussing, with them, the importance of palliative care.