Date:26/02/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/02/26/stories/2008022656960200.htm

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Making a difference to the needy

R. Sujatha

Dean foundation provides care based on the patient’s need

Deepa Muthaiya

Chennai: The Dean (Dignify and Empower the Ailing and the Needy) Foundation is the second palliative care institution to be set up in Tamil Nadu. Since then, half-a-dozen more have come up across the city, and that is very encouraging, but there is a need for more, says Deepa Muthaiya.

The organisation offers home care for people suffering from all kinds of terminal illnesses.

“It is stressful taking care of such people. Our home-based care filled a niche, but till date a lot of people don’t know where to go.”

“According to palliative care discipline, care should start at diagnosis. But, we generally get people who are at the end of their life,” she says.

The foundation, instrumental in amending the narcotic rules of the State, provides care based on the patient’s need.

“People are faced with their own mortality. We have over 30 volunteers and most of them are on the administrative side.”

It is not an enviable work and very few volunteer to be part of the team, says Ms. Muthaiya. “If they are actively dying patients, our visits are more frequent.”

Palliative care should be available at rural primary health centres, and they should also store oral morphine tablets, she says. Palliative care is needed not only for the dying but also for the significant partner, who needs help to cope with the eventuality.

The foundation has rehabilitated some pets also.

Working with the poor

Much of the foundation’s work is with the poor, who live in thatched huts and lack money for food.

It also offers food kits for the terminally ill.

“It is a basic human right that no one should die in pain. We have the right to die with dignity, not in fear and alone.”

The foundation is building a centre near Coimbatore, but is facing a funds crunch.

“We want it to be a research centre. We need sponsors for vehicles that will pitch a tent in villages and provide procedures for people in the surrounding areas.”

The foundation now offers counselling, besides a range of therapies, for caregivers. Ms. Muthaiya envisages a future where “The Dean Foundation would be a nucleus where we use complementary therapy that will calm the mind.”