Yayasan Rumah Rachel ('Rachel House')

Rachel House was registered in November 2006 as a charitable organization under the name of Yayasan Rumah Rachel in Indonesia with the purpose of providing palliative care to children from poor and needy families living with life-threatening diseases, such as cancer and HIV. It is the first pediatric palliative care service in Indonesia, providing pain and symptom management for children in the final stages of their illness at free of charge. Without the service, many of these children from poor families would spend their last days in horrific pain without medical assistance. Rachel House was founded in the hope that no child would ever have to die in pain, without love and care. It is built on the principle that "we are not here to add days to the children's lives, but to add life to their remaining days". Its mission is to provide palliative care for children with life-threatening conditions allowing them to live their remaining days with joy and dignity in a non-discriminatory, safe and loving environment. Rachel House's goals are: To advocate and raise awareness of the need for palliative care in Indonesia To assemble and train multi-disciplinary staff in pediatric palliative care To train and develop home care teams to provide support and education to families to allow children with life-threatening conditions to be cared for at home To reinforce local community's capacity to care for children in need through education To partner other organisations that add value to our mission To secure long-term financial sustainability Being the first pediatric palliative care service in Indonesia where palliative care is not taught in medical schools, Rachel House's pioneering team of nurses were trained by palliative care professionals from neighboring countries such as Singapore, Australia and New Zealand. In every training opportunity, Rachel House has ensured the participation of medical professionals (doctors, nurses& pharmacists) from the large government-owned hospitals and public clinics, nursing schools and health volunteers and social workers in the hope of building the capacity in palliative care. A significant outcome of this targeted training has been the establishment of the first pediatric palliative care unit in Indonesia at the Dharmais Cancer Hospital in late 2010. In the 3 years since the first patient was admitted to Rachel House in December 2008, the service has reached more than 150 children in the final stages of cancer and HIV, providing them with pain and symptom management and empowered their caregivers with the essential education.