Community trained to care for terminally ill
Several community members recently underwent training in palliative care presented by the National Caregivers Association.The association trained 104 candidates of whom 57 are from Windhoek. The others were from Gobabis, Mariental, Karibib and further afield. In Otjiwarongo another 83 candidates from Omaruru, Swakopmund, Oshakati, Walvisbay, Grootfontein, and Kamanjab were also trained.
The training is based on caring for terminally ill patients, their family members or members of the society. The idea of a caregivers association was born when nurses at the hospitals realised that they didn’t have enough time to give the terminally ill the care they needed. “We needed assistants to help taking care of and giving proper support to the terminally ill,” they said.
“As a dentist I could not ignore the need after witnessing the suffering and pain of the terminally ill,” said doctor !Aochamus, one of the trainers. “I decided to train members of the society to make a difference by adding value to the lives of palliative patients.”
Ms. Victoria Hangula, head of social work at the Ministry of Veteran Affairs, said: “These are the first groups of trained Namibians to walk the path of caring for others. They are pioneers who have decided to care for their community members.”
Dr. Michael |Ochurub, senior lecturer in human resource management at the Polytechnic of Namibia, administered their oaths.
After training the caregivers can be deployed and employed at all major hospitals throughout the country to assist in patient care in order to improve the quality of life of the patients.
“To care for a loved one is the biggest thing you can ever do, especially if the person is terminally ill,” said a care giver. “The saddest part is not to know what the person is actually going through, so you can just try to help ease the pain. Often it is done without any proper training, so it is good that people can get training to care for their society.”