In the following she shares what hospice care looks like here and why its programs are so needed in Mongolia.
"Some people may ask why we need hospice care in outer Mongolia when there are so many other pressing health needs. I questioned that myself at times during the last 8 years, but over time the need has become very clear to me.
We need “end of life care” just as we need better beginning of life, middle-life and elder care. As a Christian community, we believe it is a right of all people to be well cared for from birth to death. We can’t meet all of those many needs, but we can do our best to serve Mongolians who want end of life care and support in their homes for whatever time they have to live, thus helping to provide an improved quality of life during this period.
This then is the very reason we started a project within the partnership of the UMC, the GBGM of Mongolia (our NGO umbrella), and the official connection with the government of Mongolia. The GBGM of Mongolia has a variety of projects, but Grace Hospice is our primary health project. As an individual hospice program we are also a part of the Palliative Care Association of Mongolia, as well as the Asia–Pacific Hospice Network (APHN).
The Grace Hospice home care program consists of supportive care for individuals who wish to have our services and is free to those in need.
Our salaried staff consists of two doctors, three nurses, one spiritual care counselor, one part-time pharmacist and a bookkeeper. In addition to these care providers, we have 10 trained volunteers who generously give care and support to the patients, knowing it is with no remuneration.
Our care consists of four components- spiritual (sharing the Good News to patients who are open to receiving it); physical (relief of pain, nausea, skin issues and other physical symptoms), emotional (being attentive to mood changes and grief); and social support (relationships with family and friends, as well as assistance with services they need within the social system) to the patient and their family members.
We visit regularly as well as it is needed outside of normal visitations. All care is shaped by the patient’s needs and desires.
We have no facility for 24 hour care and refer to other hospice programs when a patient needs that type of care.
In addition to home support we have caregiver and volunteer support groups which meet regularly, as well as a bereavement group which meets monthly.
The staff works out of the Chingeltei UMC Mission Center.
When we receive a referral for care (which may come from a doctor, hospital, relative, friend, or the patient himself) and after an assessment is made by the hospice staff, we continue to care for the individual for as long as he or she needs our care OR until they decide they no longer want our assistance.
Care is given free of charge, so we are always seeking donations from patients and families as well as from friends in the UMC and KUMC communities.
Grace Hospice started in Ulaanbaatar on July 1, 2005 when we split off from Hope Hospice.
We usually offer care to about 30 patients at one time and have had as many as 60 patients at one time in the past. Due to financial constraints we have down-sized , but are hopeful of expansion in the future. With few exceptions the patients we serve have advanced cancer. The few individuals whom we have cared for with other diagnoses have had cirrhosis of the liver, hydrocephalus, and tuberculosis.
Grace Hospice is a Christian organization and therefore seeks to give care with the compassion and love which we have experienced from God."
