Translated, PALLIUM (Latin) means ‘cloak’. This single word marks both our origin from today’s Clinic for Palliative Medicine at the Evangelical Huyssens-Stiftung Essen-Huttrop, and our mission and self-conception, from which our services are derived. We aim to offer people our support like a cloak (pallium) that warms and protects without restricting, and that is tailored to the needs and situations of individuals in their final phase of life, and their families and relatives.
Our Scope of Action
- We accompany individuals with a serious illness associated with a significantly reduced life expectancy, wherever we are requested and desired within the city of Essen. This includes KEM, as well as other hospitals in Essen that request our services and/or cooperate with us.
- Furthermore, our support extends to facilities for elderly care and disability assistance, as well as inpatient hospices.
- We place a special focus on supporting and assisting affected individuals in their private home environment, which aligns with the wish of many people to be able to die in their familiar surroundings.
- All in all, the following applies: There are as many places for our support as there are people, situations, and needs.
- An important decision criterion for taking on support is always the individual situation and needs of a person and their environment, not the order of inquiries.
Our Spectrum of Services
- We support people in their final phase of life with a responsive and non-prescriptive internal approach. This means that the needs and wishes of the affected individuals determine our actions and the manner of our support.
- Our support is not provided unilaterally, but in close consultation with the affected individuals and the involved professionals, and taking into account available resources.
- We dedicate our time and attention to you by making ourselves available as discussion partners for all questions and topics important to you.
- Practical everyday questions and topics are just as much a part of our support as pastoral and spiritual-existential issues, which also include the grief of individuals during and after a life-limiting illness.
- We support your independence in daily life (shopping, doctor’s appointments, administrative errands, etc.).
- We assist with leisure activities (excursions, concerts, walks, and more).
- Within our capabilities, we are happy to help fulfill ‘last wishes’.
- If possible, we relieve relatives and friends by taking over bedside and night vigils.
- Through our collaboration with the Essen Palliative Medicine Network and our broad networking with various palliative services, we can quickly and unbureaucratically arrange help even in particularly stressful situations.
Bereavement Support
Our understanding of care and aftercare for affected individuals who must cope with their own dying or with the impending or already experienced loss of a loved one also includes grief support services.
All services are carried out by certified grief counselors.
Our grief support services include:
- Individual counseling by prior arrangement
- Grief support group
- Grief café
- Grief walks
The grief services are supported by Carpe Diem – Association for the Promotion of the Clinic for Palliative Medicine e.V. at the Evangelical Clinics Essen-Mitte.
The Essen Grief Network offers various services for people with experiences of loss. The Grief Network is an association of various institutions in the Essen urban area. You can find more information here.
Important Notes
- Due to the structure and staffing of outpatient hospice services, we do not make medical or nursing decisions. Here, the full-time and volunteer staff of PALLIUM merely have a receptive, mediating, and facilitating function.
- In crises and emergencies, responsible professionals from our network are consulted for intervention during our office hours. As an outpatient hospice service, PALLIUM does not have a 24-hour emergency hotline.
- Our service is free of charge and unbureaucratic, as it is funded by health insurance associations and supported by qualified volunteers under the direction of full-time coordinators.
- As an outpatient hospice service, PALLIUM is subject to the “non-profit rule”. This means there are no profits that we generate or can dispose of. Since not all costs can be covered by funding from health insurance associations, we rely on donations.
Our Approach
Our services are committed to the principles of hospice work. This means: We view dying as an existential, profound, and individual life process for every human being, which should be accompanied with human compassion.
Our view of humanity is holistic. This means: We see people as a unity of body, soul, and spirit, which mutually influence each other and simultaneously constitute the dimensions of our life and dying. Therefore, in our accompaniment, we aim to be open and attentive to all the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the affected individuals.
We are convinced of the value and dignity of every human being at every stage of life and support you regardless of worldview, religion, origin, and social status. Furthermore, maintaining confidentiality and respecting your privacy and personal decisions are a matter of course for us.
Based on our approach and the knowledge of the advanced possibilities of palliative medicine and palliative care, we reject active euthanasia as well as unjustified prolongation of life and dying.
