CREATING A HOME
Kimbilio Hospice (Kiswahili for Refuge) is a 24 bed, inpatient hospice that provides quality palliative care services to adults and children living with life-threatening illnesses. Our services include:
- Pain management
- Symptom management
- Psychological support
- Social support
- Spiritual support
- Nutritional support
- Physical therapy
- Bereavement support for families
Currently, all of the care given at Kimbilio Hospice is free of charge. For information regarding admitting a patient, please contact Kimbilio Hospice at 0707643662 or email at infokenya@livingroominternational.org
COMMUNITY-BASED CARE
Tumaini na Afya (Kiswahili for Hope and Health) was a program created in response to the needs of the community surrounding HIV in October 2004. The nature and vision of Tumaini na Afya originally focused on the prevention of HIV/AIDS, mobilizing those who are already infected with the virus for treatment services, as well as continued follow-up and care within the community. While these are still aspects of the program, currently the focus of Tumaini na Afya is shifting more towards providing community based palliative care services to people in their homes who are living with HIV/AIDS, cancers, and other life-threatening illnesses. Tumaini na Afya also offers care for orphans and vulnerable children.
WHY PALLIATIVE CARE
In 2010, the Human Rights Watch released a report entitled, “Needles Pain: Government Failure to Provide Palliative Care for Children in Kenya.” The report exposed, what is already well known to us on the ground, that Kenyan children and adults with diseases such as cancer or HIV/AIDS are unable to get palliative care or pain medication. Julianne Kippenberg, Senior Children’s Rights Researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: “Kenyan children with cancer or AIDS are living, and dying, in horrible agony. Pain medicines are cheap, safe, and effective, and the government should make sure that children who need them get them.”
A daily dose of oral morphine can cost as little as a few cents, but the Kenyan government does not procure oral morphine for public health facilities as it does other essential medicines. Therefore, morphine is available in only seven of Kenya’s approximately 250 public hospitals. Of the more than 1.5 million Kenyans living with HIV/AIDS, 150,000 are children. While 250,000 people in Kenya are on HIV treatment, this report showed that “all the morphine in the country can treat pain in only 1,500 terminal cancer or AIDS patients.”
Kippenberg writes, “The Kenyan government, and donors, should be working to improve pain treatment for everyone, and they should make sure that the youngest and most vulnerable sufferers, sick children, are not left out. They should not be suffering needlessly.” Through advocacy and direct patient care, Living Room is working to be a part of the solution to relieving this needless pain.
FUNERAL HOME SERVICES
In 2011, God placed an unusual but much needed vision in the hearts of the Living Room management—to create a funeral home that would meet the needs of Kimbilio Hospice as well as of the surrounding community. A needs assessment was conducted in which it was concluded that due to the fact that the nearest funeral home services are one hour away, the poor infrastructure of our roads and lack of reliable transportation, the services of a funeral home are a great need. Also, a discussion among key informants and leaders in the community was facilitated in which the overall feeling from the community was very positive. In fact, there was great excitement that came out of the meeting and all were in full agreement for such a service to be offered in their midst. The doors of Kimbilio Funeral Home were officially opened in September 2012. It provides both mortuary and funeral services to the desperately needy communities of Western Kenya including: body embalming, body preservation, flowers, caskets, tents, chairs, and transportation. Our prayer is that Living Room’s vision of creating a community of compassion that honors life and offers hope will continue to shine through in this new endeavor.
