The Villavecchia Foundation presents the creation of the first pediatric hospice in the country
The center will be located in the historic enclosure of Sant Pau and will be available to all children with life-threatening illnesses who live in Cataluña.
Coinciding with the World Child Cancer Day, the Fundación de Oncología Infantil Enriqueta Villavecchia (Villavecchia Foundation) presented in Barcelona, alongside the Fundación Privada del Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau and in collaboration with the Fundació de Gestió Sanitària del Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, the project in creating the first pediatric hospice in the country. The Pavelló de le Victòria (Victoria Pavilion)—which will be the name of the center—is located in the historic enclosure of Sant Pau. This space is being born out of the necessity of being ‘a space to care for life’, a unique and pioneering center which will begin the integral care for families and their children with complex chronic illnesses, both in their advanced states or in situations of final days of life.
These efforts have counted with the help of Health Counselor, Hble. Dr. Manel Balcells; Mr. Luis Torrens, secretary of Asuntos Sociales y Familias, delegated by the Consejero de Derechos Sociales, and Dr. Ester Cabanes, General Director of Atención a la Infancia y la Adolescencia; alongside the Pediatric and Pediatric Palliative Care team of Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, unit representatives of the Red de Atención Integral de Cuidados Paliativos Pediátricos de Cataluña and the team from Estudio de Arquitectura Carme Pinós, responsible for the architectural project and rehabilitation of Pavelló de Santa Victòria and the creation of our new center.
The first pediatric hospice of our country aims to guarantee the best quality of life, support for the sick child and their family during the process of illness, and the necessary support for the final moments of life, in the farewell and grief. It is a space in which families will be able to rest as well as live adequately with their children in their final moments of life. Health advisor Hble. Dr. Manuel Balcells explains that “although medicine has advanced significantly, today, unfortunately, despite these advances there exists 400 annual deaths of children aged 0 to 9 from illnesses like cancer. Because of this, the focus on how to orient pediatric palliative care is transcendent for the finality of life, and above all the care for families. This space is necessary to accompany, care, and fill with life the whole process of illness and the final instances of children’s lives.”
Anna Vaderi presents on the architectural project.
This initiative represents a step further on the project ‘Cuneta conmigo’, begun 8 years ago by the Enriqueta Villavecchia Foundation, in collaboration with five pediatric reference hospitals in Cataluña: Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Hospital Vall d’Hebrón, Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, Hospital Germans Trías i Pujol and Hospital Universtari Parc Taulí, in order to achieve the best quality of life possible for children and youth with grave illnesses.
The project ‘Cuenta conmigo’ (‘Count on me’) has helped develop the Red de Atención Paliativa Pediatrica Integral de Cataluña, which provides specialized care for children and youth with grave illnesses that limit their lives. “The moment has come for another step forward and to create an integral space that offers residential units and daily support, and facilitators rest spaces that include therapies, sensory stimulation, aquatic activities, support groups and activities…and of course fun and play alongside family support in a comfortable and accommodative environment of professionals during the final days of life for the patients, in the farewell and in grief,” explains Anna Varderi, director of the Villavecchia Foundation. “Our objective is to help and give support throughout the process, from an innovative perspective complimentary of existing resources, not focused on the treatment of the illness but instead the process of caring for life,” she declared.
The center, named the Pavelló de la Victòria (Victoria Pavilion), will be located in the historic enclosure of Sant Pau, an emblematic space of Barcelona’s long tradition and social compromise in caring for the most vulnerable. The building was constructed in 1921 to care for ill children. Today, after 100 years, we regain that history in opening the first pediatric hospice in Cataluña.
The installations, which will be rehabilitated by a multidisciplinary team led by renowned catalan architect Carme Pinós, will have a surface area of 1.500 m2 and 1.300 m2 of gardens. It is estimated that the center will be operational in 2025 with an expected amount of 400 families assisted annually.
According to official data, there are currently an estimated minimum of 1.535 children with pediatric palliative care needs in Catlauña, which would still need to be added to the total pediatric population of patients with complex chronic illnesses. The president of the Enriqueta Villavecchia Foundation, Dr. Núria Pardo, emphasizes “the importance of providing a center prepared to help and assist in an integral manner the child and their family in the most critical of moments, and during the final days of life. We want a pediatric hospice in Cataluña, a more prominent resource in other countries in Europe and the world.”
The Victoria Pavilion is not only thought to become a reference center providing help, orientation, advice, and companionship to families, but will also serve as a space of meeting and care for medical professionals, where the expansion of knowledge and research in pediatric palliative care will be fostered, as well as promoting the roles that community and educational entities and centers play.
The first pediatric hospice in the country is an initiative driven in conjunction by the Villavecchia Foundation and the Fundación Privada del Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, with the collaboration of the Fundación de Gestión Sanitaria del Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau.
This pavilion aims to be a space that cares for life and has come to life in order to guarantee a right that all children in society should have. And so, it will offer care centered in bettering the quality of life of the child with a life-limiting illness (not just cancer) and family support, taking into account the necessities from a physical, emotional, social, spiritual, and educational perspective.
From this center, we will provide a new view of illness, life, and death of children, integrating this reality into a more visible state in our society. To do so, we will work closely with the patients’ families. In this sense, we have created the Council of Families that will advocate for the response to their and their children’s needs.
► You can learn more and help support the project at www.unavictoriadetodos.com