LivHealth advocates for quality home care

Co-founder of the recently launched LivHealth Charitable Foundation Dr Chelsea Costelloe Garcia believes everyone in TT should have access to high-quality home palliative medicine and hospice care, which she said is one of the objectives of the foundation.

"The LivHealth Charitable Foundation (LCF) was created with the term 'equitable' as our main focus," Garcia told Sunday Newsday.

It was formally launched at the Brix Hotel, St Ann's, on September 27.

Garcia, an internal medicine, palliative medicine and hospice specialist, is CEO of LivHealth, a company that provides home palliative medicine services.

She did her internal medicine speciality at Cleveland Clinic in Florida, and her palliative medicine and hospice specialities at Jackson Memorial Hospital and the University of Miami, Florida.

She said over the years she and other members of staff have witnessed the vast number of people who are left suffering because they can't afford to pay for the palliative care they need, even though in 2014 the World Health Organization listed standardised access to palliative care “a basic human right.”

"The foundation is a separate entity from LivHealth, and although we've tried to help as many people as we can through the company, it's not sustainable because home health care is very expensive."

She said that was when she and co-founder Oliver Bose got the idea for LCF.

The foundation provides treatment for patients diagnosed with cancer, lung disease, heart failure and dementia, among others.

She said with the launch of LCF, they will be able to help those in dire need of palliative medicine and a variety of medical services including at-home doctor visits, grief counselling sessions, physical rehabilitation, wound care, crisis care, covid care for the elderly and more. And while the majority of the recipients tend to be seniors, sometimes children become the focus because "families and caregivers are affected too."

Garcia said the term "palliative medicine” is very often confused with hospice care, with even some medical practitioners thinking they are one and the same.

"Palliative medicine is not hospice care; it is a form of specialised medical care provided to any one, at any age, or at any stage of a serious illness, and focuses on quality of life...Hospice care is for anyone with an illness who may pass in the next six months."

For example, she said, from the moment someone is diagnosed with cancer they should see a palliative specialist to arm them with tools to face what lies ahead. "When you undergo chemo, for instance, palliative medicine can help you eliminate the side effects such as nausea and vomiting. Sometimes some people with treatable cancer choose not to go forward with treatment because of the side effects. But by getting to someone early and supporting them through the journey you can make a huge difference in the quality of their care because palliative medicine focusses on the medical, emotional, spiritual and social domains. Cancer patients need 24/7 support and they don't have to feel that they have to have a terrible course in their cancer journey."

The foundation is based at Petra Street in Port of Spain and will begin training volunteers from early next year in different areas of palliative medicine.

"We are looking for volunteers of any age and skilled in a variety of areas, but they will have to do a LivHealth Charitable Foundation certificate consisting of modules that deal with patient care. Things like how to recognise if someone is ill, how to help emotionally etc."

She said the LCF's mission is palliative medicine advocacy, and it will lend support to all the pioneering entities in the palliative field that have laid the groundwork over the years.

"Organisations such as the Palliative Care Society of TT, Living Water Community, Vitas House and the Caura Palliative Unit are all part of a common mission and we will support in any way we can."

She said LCF's services are available in north and central Trinidad, and along the east-west corridor. Eventually, it will be extended to south and east Trinidad, and Tobago.

LFC funding comes from "generous donations" which Garcia can go to specific areas if the donors make those requests.

"If a donor says, 'hey, I would like to put my donation toward covid in the elderly, or physical and speech rehab, or occupational therapy,' that's where it will go."

For anyone interested in volunteering or to make a donation, visit thelivehousecharitablefoundation@livehousett.com