Presentation of the WeCare Chair

International Experts to Analyze the Needs of People with Advanced Illnesses at the End of Their Lives in a Symposium

Barcelona, November 25, 2013. - The Health Minister of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Honorable Mr. Boi Ruiz, will officially present the WeCare Chair: End of Life Care on Friday, November 29 at 10:30 a.m. at the Aula Magna of the International University of Catalonia (UIC). The Chair was established in May at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the University with the support of the funeral services company Àltima and the ICO. The new Chair, directed by Dr. Josep Porta, UIC Professor of Medicine and Head of the Research Service in Palliative Care at the Catalan Institute of Oncology (ICO), and co-directed by Dr. Cristina Monforte, Director of Nursing at UIC, promotes applied research of an interdisciplinary and multidimensional nature related to end-of-life care.

Following the official inauguration, the 1st International Workshop on End of Life Care will commence, a symposium (see the program) that will bring together about fifteen speakers, mostly from an international scope, who will provide their respective viewpoints on the topic of the meeting: Desire to Advance Death: Clinical View of a New-Old Syndrome?

This symposium aims to contribute to the dissemination of the concept and current knowledge about the desire to advance death, as well as to foster the creation of a network of physicians and researchers interested in the clinical aspects of end-of-life care, debate and share current knowledge about suffering in patients with advanced illness, and explore the possibilities and opportunities for European studies on this topic with international alliances.

ABOUT THE WECARE CHAIR

The goal of the new WeCare Chair is to generate knowledge about the needs and care of people with advanced illnesses at the end of life and their families, with the aim of contributing to the prevention and treatment of patient problems.

Dr. Cristina Monforte emphasizes that "the realm of end-of-life care is a sensitive area where physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs emerge, both for patients and their families." She highlights the relevance of this Chair, whose purpose is to disseminate knowledge and raise societal awareness of end-of-life care needs.

For his part, Josep Ventura, General Director of Àltima, has commented that "the WeCare university Chair is the best way to channel the creation and transfer of knowledge to society to improve the care of people in the final stages of life. At Àltima, we know that personalized and appropriate care for people who are approaching death is key to initiating a proper grieving process."

According to Dr. Josep Porta, "the Chair ultimately aims to help patients with advanced pathological processes, who will benefit from the knowledge provided by research lines. It will also benefit the families and caregivers of these patients, health science professionals who can be professionally trained to care for them, and young researchers who will be able to carry out their projects and doctoral theses."

RESEARCH LINES AND ACTIVITIES

Among the Chair's research lines, four stand out: patient care (prevention, early detection, and treatment of problems related to the direct care of patients), ethics (decision-making at the end of life: factors influencing different clinical aspects), social (the socio-cultural impact governing decision-making in the family realm, the experience of loss in the face of death, grief, etc.), and clinical hematology-oncology, which specifically studies the physical and psychosocial aspects related to patients with hematological malignancies.

Within the framework of the Chair, studies, dissemination conferences, and lectures with the participation of national and international researchers are promoted. The 1st International Workshop on End of Life Care thus becomes the official presentation of the Chair to civil society.