Home Hospice Service

The Home Care Hospice service was established by the ICA in 1989 as Israel's first ever palliative care service, aimed at providing an optimal solution and enhancing quality of life for advanced-stage cancer patients who prefer to remain at home with their family and in a supportive environment.

• The ICA continues to finance the activity of Home Care Hospices across Israel.

• This service operates through the Home Palliative Care-Home Hospice offices located at the Freedman House Inpatient Cancer Hospice at Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, thanks to financial assistance from the ICA.
  
  

• The home care hospice service provides care to patients who reside in the central region, within a 30 km radius of Sheba Medical Center, and is also tailored to patients who receive active oncology treatment, suffer from acute symptoms and are in need of relief.
  
  

• Patients and their families are referred by different hospital departments or by community physicians, nurses and social workers who are personally acquainted with the patients and their families.
  
  

• All patients undergo an admission procedure after a request for admission has been presented to the Admissions Committee via the HMOs. This service is operated by an interdisciplinary staff trained in coping with the ensuing complexities of cancer and treatment side effects.
  
  
• The Home Care Hospice staff, highly trained in palliative care has been expanded this year and is comprised of: Mrs. Sari Cohen, Head Nurse and Service Director, Dr. Alexander Waller, Medical Director, Associate Clinical Prof. Doron Garfinkel, Deputy Medical Director, Dr. Irit Zeltz, and Dr. Vladimir Chesnin, Psychiatrst Debby Weinstock, oncology nurses Mrs. Malka Dahan, Mrs. Michal Avidan, Mrs. Iris Spivak, Mrs. Natalie Ayeline, Mrs. Hadassah Yehoshua and Mrs. Margalit Dan Ezra, social workers Mrs. Pedut Bir and Mrs. Dalia Stern, and medical secretary Mrs. Hagit Almog.

• Dr. Waller's Second-in-Command, Associate Clinical Prof. Doron Garfinkel, who joined the staff in May 2013, serves an expert on internal diseases and geriatrics, and oversees the improvement of medicinal treatment for adults and elderly patients; Prof. Garfinkel formerly served as Director of the Geriatric-Palliative Department of the Shoham Geriatric Center in Pardes Hanna for many years.
  
  

• Additionally, Prof. Garfinkel is a member of the "TMICHA" Committee - the Israeli Association of Palliative Care, and served as Chairman of several national conferences held by the Association.
  
  

• In early July, a coordination meeting was held at the Central District Administration of Maccabi Healthcare Services in Ramat Gan with the ICA Home Care Hospice staff. The meeting was attended by Maccabi Healthcare Services representatives, M. Riad Abu Rakia, District Nurse, Mrs. Sheli Mashal, District Nutritionist, and Mrs. Reuma Kurtz, Nutritionist of the Home Care Unit. The Home Care Hospice staff was represented by Dr. Alex Waller, Medical Director, Prof. Doron Garfinkel, his Deputy and Head Nurse, Mrs. Sari Cohen. The meeting established that Mrs. Reuma Kurtz, who joined the Home Care Hospice staff in July 2013, would provide nutritional consultation services to patients who are members of Maccabi Healthcare Services and are cared for at the ICA Home Care Hospice. Reuma has provided Home Care Hospice patients and staff with better coping strategies to tackle complex issues involving enhanced appetite, which are common among end of life patients.
  
  
• The Home Care Hospice staff continues training palliative care professionals in all stages of the specialization program, and actively guiding and lecturing in courses for community nurses who engage in palliative care as well as in a course for palliative care nurses.

• Some of the staff is actively involved in the steering committee of a research study on "Sexuality among End of Life Patients".
  
  

• The Medical Director of the Home Care Hospice, Dr. Alexander Waller, delivers lectures to medical staff undergoing training in palliative care in various academic settings. He is a regular lecturer in a palliative medicine course as part of the the Sackler Faculty of Medicine's continuing education program at Tel Aviv University, in INPACT courses (International Palliative Care Training Program) under the direction of Prof. Pesach Schwartzman of Ben Gurion University, and in palliative care courses organized by the ICA.
  
  

• The "Palliative Care and Relaxation Techniques" workshop was successfully presented at the Annual Conference of the Israeli Association of Palliative Care and at the ICA Forum of Palliative Care Nurses by the Home Care Hospice interdisciplinary staff.

Marking the 30^th anniversary of the Freedman House Inpatient Cancer Hospice established with ICA assistance, the interdisciplinary staff of the Home Care Hospice convened for a group photo, along with Mrs. Miri Ziv, ICA Vice Chairman and former Director General.

• The ICA Home Care Hospice continues to be a key player in palliative home care in Israel. Excellence is the ultimate goal of the Home Care Hospice, and it is achieved through optimal standards for professional health care provided to cancer patients and their families, both at home and during the staff's training sessions, and it is also evident in the enrichment activities and continuing education provided for the professional entities across healthcare disciplines, who display an interest in expanding their knowledge in palliative care.

Home Hospice for Children:

• ICA assists in operating the Home Hospice Service for Children, at different centers across Israel.
  
  
• This service is designed to facilitate treatment at the child patients' home in the final stages of life.
  
  
• The families receive round-the-clock assistance from a skilled and professional staff, even at the most difficult moments, in their home.
  
  
• ICA has also assisted in establishing a Pediatric In-Patient Hospice for children who cannot be cured.
  
  

 Help funding of a professional nurse or social worker per patient, per month - US$ 120 or US$ 320,000 p.a. Kindly contact us, should you wish to contribute to this project. Please note that all donations received are transferred in full (no overhead is taken).

 Lili Biller Lev 

Committees and Projects Manager

Telephone: +972-3-571.95.74

E-Mail: lilib@cancer.org.il