Esther Pfeiffer describes the work of the children’s and youth hospice Balthasar in Olpe, where children and young people with incurable and life-shortening illnesses, together with their families, have been accompanied for almost twenty years.
The article explains that the central task is medical and nursing care: preserving remaining abilities, relieving distressing symptoms such as pain or fear and making the remaining lifetime as comfortable and meaningful as possible. Just as important is psychosocial support for parents and siblings, who are deeply affected by the illness of the child.
The hospice offers age-appropriate conversations, creative activities, role play and grief support. Its “threefold path of grief” includes anticipatory, accompanying and subsequent grief support from diagnosis through death and beyond into the year of mourning.
The article also explains the theoretical basis of paediatric palliative care. It is not only end-of-life care, but begins early in the disease process and is guided by the needs of the child and family. Professionals from nursing, psychosocial care, medicine, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, music therapy and animal-assisted therapy work together.
A case study of “Josephine” shows how symptom control, careful nursing, minimal handling, basal communication, psychosocial support and Spiritual Care can work together. By recognizing her need for safety, her fear of being alone and her personal memories of the sea and horses, the team helped her become calmer and more trusting. After a month in the hospice, Josephine died peacefully, and her relatives continued to receive grief support.
