Patients were the stars…
People receiving care from the palliative care unit at Pain and Palliative Care Society, which functions in Pushpagiri Medical College Hospital, Thiruvalla, in Kerala, were the stars, during the 12th annual day meeting of Pain and Palliative Care Society.
Smt. Valsala is a young woman who has been living with cancer in her bones, which have spread to “practically everywhere”, according to her doctor. The secondaries in her brain have made her almost completely blind. Yet, she walked up the dais unaided and rendered a beautiful song praising God, touching everyone’s heart.
A young man, who developed paraplegia following a fall from a height, sat and smiled. “I am happy now,” he said.
“I don’t worry about my body any more,” declared another young man on a wheelchair. “I know they will look after it.” He had become paraplegic following a fall from a construction site in a Gulf country. He continues to work as an electrician.
The shy, young amputee who sat next to him did not speak up, but her mother did. “One thing the girl insists on,” said the mother, “is that she gets a periodic call, enquiring after her welfare, from the palliative care worker, Rev. A. C. Kurian.”
It was Dr P. T. Thampi’s initiative which started the palliative care unit twelve years back, thus making that institution one of the few in our country which provide pain relief.
As often happens in palliative care meetings, the hall overflowed. There was not even standing room in the back. Congratulations, Dr Thampi and all his colleagues and friends in Thiruvalla, on your achievements.
Pallium India is proud to be associated with you.
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