Fundació d'Oncologia Infantil
enriqueta villavecchia

The center, which will be a space for care and support in pediatric palliative care, modeling itself after an international hospice, will become the first medical center with these services in the country (there are still none operating in Spain), and aims to guarantee bettering the quality of life in gravely ill children and their family throughout this difficult time, offering respite care spaces and providing any necessary support for the end of life, in all aspects of grief. The center, which is a project from the Villavecchia Foundation in conjunction with the Fundación Privada del Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau and the Fundación de Gestión Sanitaria del Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, will be located in the current pavilion of Santa Victoria, in historical precinct of Sant Pau, declared as a Heritage of Humanity by the UNESCO. 

It is estimated that in Cataluña there are more than 1,500 children in need of pediatric palliative care and another 1,500 children with complex chronic illnesses. 

When this center starts operation in 2026, the center will give services in line with hospitals integrated in the Red de Atención Paliative Integral de Cataluña (Paliative Care Network of Cataluña), while the Sant Pau hospital will assume leadership. Subsequently, public healthcare regulations will be incorporated with the help of the Departments of Health, Social Rights, and Education from the Guild of Catalunya.

In its first phase, the developments will center on the restoration of the facade and cover of the pavilion. The building was built a century ago thanks to the donation of the family of a young girl, the young Victoria Girona, who died in the end of the 19th century due to an illness, and was originally dedicated to care for children with illness. 

The architect Carme Pinós and their team will lead the rehabilitation and transformation of this historic building. 

In the start of these developments, Hugo and Petra, two siblings of children who have suffered grave illnesses, read the manifesto “Caring for the lives of gravely ill children, a ‘Victoria’ for all”, in defense of the right of ill children and their families to have a better quality of life during their illness, during the final days of life, and the after. 

Hugo, brother of a young girl who died at only 1 year of age, read, ¨We know that no one likes to talk about illness and death, especially if it concerns children. But we must talk about it, because it is part of life. If we hide it, you hide us, and you leave us all alone.¨

In this context, children affected by various grave illnesses, their parents, and their siblings have written out messages in small starts that have been saved in a symbolic time capsule.

An Advice to Families, coordinated by the Villavecchia Foundation, oversees the project, guaranteeing that the future center offers an adequate response to their needs and those of their children, contributing feedback and observations to the architectural project during the period meetings that are held to such effect. 

The project has received support from professionals of more than 20 international hospices, who have also collaborated on its design. 

The Pabellon de la Victoria (Victoria Pavilion) will not be a hospital, it aims to be an amiable space where families can enjoy their visit in healthcare and wellbeing, be able to access support therapy and opportunities for family fun, receive any necessary support throughout their child´s illness as well as the hardest moments, like the last days of the child´s life and the grief that comes with it. 

The center will also include communal and care spaces for the professionals, in which the knowledge and research surrounding pediatric palliative care will be shared, as well as growing a consciousness about sickness and death in children, promoting the idea of community and the importance of helping education centers.