Barbados is in line to get a hospice as a gift.
Minister of Health Donville Inniss disclosed this yesterday while opening a conference on palliative care, organised by Adventist Laypersons’ Services and Industries (ASI).
While lauding the Adventists for their health care initiatives, Inniss said the Government was in discussion with Barbadians living abroad who were anxious to donate a hospice to the people of Barbados.
“It is my belief that these initiatives will go a long away to improve the quality of life of patients, providing a supportive environment of caregivers and medical services which will also ameliorate the psychological experiences that are involved.”
Explaining the ASI project, consultant Dr Natalie Greaves said a needs assessment process was “poised to get off the ground” as they had a further two weeks to complete the model.
Completion of the model would not result in initiating the service as there would still be a need for training and funding.
 “In 2008, the Ministry of Health initiated the project in recognition that palliative care is an integral need in our health care system,” she recalled.
 “The project has gone through in two phases: a systematic review of all the existing models of palliative care and a look at our disease profile,” she said.
 Greaves, who works with the Adventists Laypersons’ Services and Industries, told the DAILY NATION that about 76 per cent of people who die in Barbados every year, would be in need of palliative care.
 She said it was impossible to form a design service without knowing what people needed, which was what the conference was about.
Organizer Deiann Sobers, the acting director of the National Assistance Board, said several Government and private organizations had been invited to the conference as well as law enforcement and military personnel.
The conference at Grand Barbados Beach Resort, Aquatic Gap, Christ Church, ends today.
