Host a Screening!

Short Film 36 of 50 in the LIFE Before Death documentary series about the global crisis in untreated pain and the dramatic life changing affect palliative care services can deliver to patients and their families around the world.

In “Poetry in Motion” we hear the personal story of Bernard Ng, a former police officer turned poet when his cancer patient pain became so debilitating he considered suicide.

Bernard shares the story of how his life was resurrected through pain management, palliative care and hospice.

“I think they have done wonders for me. From a person who is very suicidal, today I look forward to living — so there is a dramatic change. I once gave up living. I once told my wife, and myself ‘I don’t have quality of life — what is the use of living?’ But today I see it the other way — I want to go on living. With medication and the doctor’s help — I’m OK.”

Featuring: Bernard (Singapore).

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If you’ve missed previous episodes, catch up on the LIFE Before Death website…

HOST A SCREENING!

The LIFE Before Death feature film was premiered on 1 February 2012 in Singapore. Pallium India will be screening the film on February 3 in Trivandrum.

Why not organise a screening in your community? GET MORE INFORMATION HERE…

Supporters handing out “syringe” pens to passers-by at the financial district of Raffles Place in Singapore on February 1, 2012 ahead of the World Cancer Day. GETTY IMAGES

You can’t have missed the “Stop the Pain” banner at the top of the site, which takes you to our special Stop the Pain donation page.

To coincide with the premiere of the LIFE Before Death feature film and World Cancer Day, the Lien foundation organised a wonderful initiative in Singapore. 70 volunteers took to the streets of the City to distribute more than 20,000 syringe-shaped pens and information about the crisis in untreated pain. This from the Gabriel at Lien:

Stop the Pain Volunteer in Singapore

On 1 Feb, we have volunteers in Singapore to distribute pens with an insert, which says:

“Go to palliumindia.org and find out how just US$20 can provide a month’s pain relief to patients at the remarkable Pallium India – an organisation that’s changing the way people view palliative care.”

This will also be provided on the media releases.”

20,000+ syringe-pens distributed!

Why not donate?

Remember, just US$20 = one month of pain relief.

We’ve also been given the wonderful news that in addition to the donations from supporters in Singapore, the Lien Foundation has pledged US$100,000 to Pallium India. Half of the funds will go to buying pain relief medicine for the poor and the other half to train doctors and nurses in pain treatment.

Thank you Lien Foundation, Volunteers and Donors!

Watch the interview with Assoc Prof Cynthia Goh and Dr Rajagopal on Channel News Asia’s AMLive:

News report in TODAY: The need for better pain management

Host a Screening

The World Premiere of the LIFE Before Death feature film took place yesterday in Singapore.

It was well attended by media and featuring stars of the film, including Pallium India’s Dr Rajagopal.

The event was a terrific launch for the upcoming screenings taking place in 160+ locations in 40+ countries over the coming month.

Watch an interview about the film with Mike Hill, Assoc Prof Cynthia Goh and Dr Rajagopal on Channel News Asia’s AMLive:

Don’t forget! Pallium India is screening the film at the Museum Hall, in the heart of Trivandrum, on Friday, February 3, 2012.

Why not host a screening in your area? Find out how here…

G. Krishnappa at Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology (KMIS)

A young man with non-Hodgkin lymphoma went from being unable to get up and go to the toilet, to taking a “sprightly” walk. Others patients report similar changes when taking this treatment.

The miracle cure? Oral morphine.

This essential medicine is inexpensive and has relatively few side effects. Yet for over a million people in India who need it, it’s out of reach.

A package of articles in The Hindu have taken on the subject in detail, showing that morphine, despite the misconceptions and myths surrounding it, is a highly effective pain reliever for those suffering from serious illness such as cancer and AIDS.

Outdated notions and continued bureaucratic holdups have stood in the way of its dissemination through most of India.

Of course, we at Pallium India are fully aware of this, and our commitment is to bring appropriate and complete palliative care to all who need it.

A powerful palliative under lock and key

Journalist Mohit M. Rao investigates the issue in an article headlined “A Powerful Palliative Under Lock and Key.” In it, Rao shows that partly because of their usage for illicit purposes, there is unnecessary fear in both patients and doctors of opioids.

The article quotes Dr. Nagesh Simha, Medical Director of Karunashraya and chairperson of Bangalore Hospice Trust, who says some doctors are ill-informed about the effects of morphine for pain relief.

“Doctors are hesitant to prescribe oral morphine to even those in severe pain as they are misinformed of the side-effects…”.

And there is an ever-present, often unrealistic fear of addiction.

Please read the entire series of articles at The Hindu:

• Crafting a future with hope
• Leading gently into that good night (mentioned in our post: Shattering Myths About Morphine)
• What is needed is a policy

Throw out opium, which the Creator himself seems to prescribe, for we often see the scarlet poppy growing in the cornfields, as if it were foreseen that wherever there is hunger to be fed there must also be a pain to be soothed; throw out a few specifics which our art did not discover, and it is hardly needed to apply; throw out wine, which is a food, and the vapors which produce the miracle of anaesthesia, and I firmly believe that if the whole materia medica [medical drugs], as now used, could be sunk to the bottom of the sea, it would be all the better for mankind,—and all the worse for the fishes. — Oliver Wendell Holmes, ‘Currents and Counter-Currents in Medical Science’, Address to Massachusetts Medical Society (30 May 1860).

Morphine is in the “Essential Medicine list” of the World Health Organization.  And, it’s importance is even understood in the art world, see this design by Dan Golden:

Each one of us is a potential patient; it is very likely that we shall need it some time in our lives. 

Is it not time we stood up and asked our hospitals,

“Does your pharmacy have oral morphine?  If not, what kind of a hospital are you running, without even essential medicines?”

On Saturday, January 28, Pallium India-USA and the community of Silicon Valley, California were honored with a special guest.

Pallium India chairman Dr. M.R. Rajagopal gave a talk to a full house at the private home of Dr. Jyoti Lulla, a well known and respected Saratoga physician and community member.

The event, organized by Pallium India-USA, was well attended by many physicians, healthcare workers, Silicon Valley executives and engineers, and others who wished to learn more about the work Pallium is doing in India.

Pallium India-USA Volunteers

Dr. Jerina Kapoor, chair of Pallium India-USA introduced Dr. Rajagopal.

Dr. Rajagopal’s hard hitting and at times emotionally intense talk took on the serious problem of suffering and pain relief in India.

He told two stories: one of a poor woman, Sangeeta, whose mother was dying of cancer. Her own future was foreclosed on as a result of the impoverishment created by the absence of an adequate medical and social system. The second story was of a wealthy man, Mr. Das, who nonetheless was traumatized by his doctors’ insistence he undergo needless life-extending treatments.

Dr. Rajagopal challenged the audience to think about and plan for their own future.

“Most of us won’t have the good fortune of an instant death,” he said. “The majority will have a prolonged decline.”

A lively and passionate discussion followed his presentation. The quality of the talk was a sure sign that positive change is possible when it comes to caring for the seriously ill and dying around the globe.

In all a very successful event.

Stories of end-of-life are often poignant, occasionally dramatic, and sometimes humorous.

This week, we spotted an article in the New York Times that encompassed all three.

Comedian Mike DeStefano, who died recently of a heart attack, told a story from his younger years that brought both tears and a smile to our faces.

His wife at the time was HIV+ (as was he) and was living out her final days at a hospice, connected to a morphine drip.

DeStefano himself was still healthy, and bought himself a Harley motorcycle. To his surprise, his wife wanted a ride on his new machine. At first, he hesitated. But when she insisted, he gave in.

[Dying] people, they feel ‘I’m alive.’ They pass away at one moment.
Until that moment, they are alive…

So he put her on the back of the motorcycle, first for a trip around the parking lot, and then onto the road. What happened next couldn’t be imagined.

And then I pass the front door, and all these nurses
are standing out front, and they’re all crying.

They’re watching us, and they’re crying.

And I didn’t know why they were crying. I was like, Why are they crying?

I didn’t get what they were seeing. I didn’t know.

Because I was just in it; I was living it.

We won’t spoil the story any further, just go ahead and read it yourself:

The Lives They Lived: Uneasy Rider

• This story originally came from an audio podcast – for those who can tolerate the salty language – click here to listen…

Dates: March 17 – 18, 2012

The proposed venue will be CanKids‘ Training Center at J-161 A, Gautam Nagar, Near Green Park Metro Station, New Delhi.

It is intended for practicing palliative care physicians for updating their knowledge and skills with stress on recent developments in this field.

The areas that would be covered during this course include,

• discussions on difficult pain management
• difficult clinical situations like delirium
• role and scope of palliative sedation
• dealing with our limitations

Other issues and areas that will be covered: organizing palliative care units, media advocacy and self learning thru e-resources.

Faculty includes Dr Odette Spruyt, Dr Sushma Bhatnagar, Dr V Nandini , Dr Anjum Khan Joad, Dr Charu Singh and Dr M.R.Rajagopal.

The proposed venue will be CanKids‘ Training Center at J-161 A, Gautam Nagar, Near Green Park Metro Station, New Delhi.

Registration fee for the Course is Rs.1,000. (Registration is free for centers funded by JDF and IACA and for centers supported by Pallium India.)

Those interested may apply with a draft made out to “Pallium India” payable at Trivandrum and sent to:

Mr V.Jayprakashan
CEO, Pallium India
S10, Vrindavan Housing Colony,
Opposite Traffic Police Station,
Pattom, Trivandrum – 695 004
Kerala, India
Email: info@palliumindia.org

The proposed venue will be CanKids‘ Training Center at J-161 A, Gautam Nagar, Near Green Park Metro Station, New Delhi.

There are many misconceptions about opioids and their use in palliative care.

A recent article in The Hindu about a palliative care unit in Bangalore goes a long way towards debunking many of them.

The article, headlined “Leading gently into that good night,” starts off with a story of a female patient in the Palliative Care Unit of the Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology, who is dying of cancer.

“I want to live to see my daughters married. Who will take care of my children if I die?,” asks Gowramma Amaresh even as she chokes on the last few words, overcome by emotion.

She is one of the thousands of patients seen at this State-run institution, and, like so many others in India, is at a point where cure for her disease is no longer possible. Unlike 99% of the Indian population in need, however, she has access to appropriate pain care.

As Dr. Nagesh Simha, Medical Director of Karunashraya and chairperson of Bangalore Hospice Trust that runs the centre explains in the article, the lack of access is “because of bureaucratic red tape in the procurement of morphine.”

The article goes on to explain: “Palliative care starts with managing severe pain and the most effective method is administration of oral morphine. Only a few hospitals and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Bangalore have palliative care units.”

Perhaps most notable, the article includes a graphic that illustrates some of the most common myths about morphine, such as that it is addictive, or that it should only be used for terminally ill patients.

In all, a good addition to the media’s increasingly positive coverage of palliative care and opioid use.

Read the full article at The Hindu…

Host a Screening on Feb 1st!

Short Film 35* of 50 in the LIFE Before Death documentary series about the global crisis in untreated pain and the dramatic life changing affect palliative care services can deliver to patients and their families around the world.

In “David Suchet – A Humanitarian Cause” we hear a stirring personal statement from the narrator of LIFE Before Death, David Suchet.

“My interest in pain control and palliative care comes from my own personal life experiences. Experiences I’m certain many of you also share. It is concerns me deeply that four out of every five people do not have adequate access to essential pain medicines, or to the palliative care services that transform the end of our life experience for patients and families alike. I was fortunate enough to watch both my mother and father die ‘well’. And if that is well, it’s not good enough.”

“We’re all going die and I believe that each and every one of us deserves the utmost respect and professional care at the end of life. This includes the universal human right to pain control. I encourage you to spread the word about this critically important humanitarian cause so that we can, each and every one of us, one day, be confident of living well and dying better.”

Popular British screen, stage and radio actor David Suchet is a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE), an associate artist and governor of the Royal Shakespeare Company and a Doctor of Letters of the University of Kent. He was awarded an OBE in The Queen’s 2002 Birthday Honours for services to drama. David is perhaps best known for his portrayals of Agatha Christie’s Poirot (Best actor nomination, BAFTA) and Maxwell (Emmy Award Best Actor). David’s other popular film and television credits include The Bank Job, A Perfect Murder, Sunday (Sundance Best Actor nomination), Executive Decision, Song for Europe (Best Actor, RTS Awards), A World Apart (Best Actor nomination, BAFTA), Going Postal, Diverted, NCS: The Series, The Way We Live Now (Best Actor nomination, BAFTA), Blott on the Landscape (Best Actor, BAFTA) and The Life of Freud (Best Actor, RTS Awards).

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* For the eagle-eyed: Don’t worry, you haven’t missed #32, #33 & #34, they were the trailers and teasers for the Feature Film.

If you’ve missed previous episodes, catch up on the LIFE Before Death website…

HOST A SCREENING!

The LIFE Before Death feature film will be released in February 2012. Pallium India will be screening the film on February 3 in Trivandrum.

Why not organise a screening in your community? GET MORE INFORMATION HERE…