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Peace, comfort and care in the final weeks of life

At Nazareth House, we accept that death is inevitable. Our goal is to make whatever remains of life as peaceful and painless as possible, by providing palliative nursing care, and emotional and spiritual support.

St Michael's Hospice admits patients from local hospitals and clinics, most of whom are from informal settlements or live on the streets of Cape Town.

Owing to the huge demand for bed space, hospitals can only accommodate terminally ill patients for four to five days at most, after which they are discharged home. But many of the patients admitted to our hospice have no homes – they have either been ostracized by their families for being infected with HIV or are refugees with nowhere to go.

Without facilities such as ours, these people would probably die on the streets. They are literally the poor, the destitute and the homeless of Cape Town. There is no other institution offering a longer term care plan for patients who fall into these categories.

Road to Recovery
In 2004, the hospice began working with clinics and hospitals to provide support for medically vulnerable patients during their first month of Anti-Retroviral treatment. This is a time when distressing side effects are most likely and medication has to be carefully managed and monitored to establish routines.

Discharge planning starts on admission, so that we assist in ensuring that they have the relevant support structures in place once they leave Nazareth House.

Support
The hospice receives no guaranteed or Government funding and volunteers are used as much as possible to escort patients to and from their medical appointments and other tasks that help reduce the running costs of the facility.

Local doctors give an hour a week pro bono to come in and attend to patients. We have also been blessed by a volunteer counsellor who visits twice a week to help patients and their families cope with illness and bereavement. Salesian Brothers take care of the pastoral and spiritual side of their care.