Chatsworth Hospice

I spent Thursday and Friday at Chatsworth Hospice. Chatsworth is a predominantly Indian area of Durban. Hospices in South Africa are individual non-profit organizations generating funds through philanthropy and fundraising at the community level. Chatsworth has ten beds available for hospice care. Their hospice system differs from the United States. They care for individuals in the community with cancer and track their progress. They follow up on these patients by doing home visits. Some patients they see weekly and others they see less frequently if they are healthy and in remission. These home visits allow them to assess whether that person should come to hospice if they are terminally ill or whether a few days in hospice may improve their pain management so that they can return home. Otherwise the visits are encouraging to patients undergoing chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Many patients in their culture prefer to die at home with the comfort of family care during that difficult time. Hospice provides the opportunity for families to learn how to care for the person during this time and they can help manage their pain better at home. Other patients can choose to stay at hospice and receive the palliation care they require. Chatsworth staff was very compassionate and loving. It is essentially a home away from home for cancer patients. We spent all day Thursday doing home visits. I saw a range of stages of cancer. The first man we visited was terminally ill from prostate cancer. He refused to come in to hospice and was choosing to die at home. His support system was excellent and he was receiving wonderful care from his family. We were there to check on the family to see how they were holding up and whether the man was doing alright. Each visit included a series of questions, blood pressure measurement, and speaking with the patient a while. A lot of love and concern went in to each visit. We saw about a dozen patients that day. On Friday we sat with the three patients receiving care at Chatsworth. Molly and I talked with each patient for a while, asked questions, laughed with some of them, and listened to their story. The rest of the day we went on home visits. Chatsworth was a great experience. They have done a wonderful job of providing such personalized care to their community.