Support Shirati
The Shirati Palliative Care Partnership
In 2012, members of the UPMC Hospice and Palliative Care team in Williamsport, Pennsylvania partnered with the Shirati team, and have worked together to support the needs of the work in rural Tanzania. This partnership involves members of each team traveling to the other site to learn from and support each other, sharing of real-time difficult clinical cases online for discussion and clinical support, emotional and spiritual support, and financial support. Funds raised from community members in the Williamsport region are sent to purchase medications, finance the purchase of motorcycles and bicycles, support and training for clinicians, and other expenses. All of the funding for this program come from the generous donations of supporters through the partnership.
What is Palliative Care?
Palliative care is a special kind of supportive care for people with advanced, progressive, or terminal illness. It is provided by a team which includes doctors, nurses, social worker, chaplain, volunteers, and others. Team members work together to treat physical suffering, provide emotional, spiritual, psychologic, and relational support, and assist the patient and family as they go through their difficult illness. In Shirati, the care is provided for patients in the hospital, in the clinic, and in the villages for those who are unable to get to the hospital.
The need in Shirati is immense
It is an isolated area near Lake Victoria which is very rural. Most people in this area have no running water or electricity and live by subsistence farming or fishing. Very few have medical insurance or any financial means. It is a region that has been afflicted by a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, cancer and various infectious diseases, with average life expectancy around 50. Initially started as a missionary clinic, the hospital has grown to 180 beds and serves a region of more than 100,000 people. The staff of physicians, nurses and others are extraordinarily busy caring for those who are ill.
In the face of an immense volume of patients ill with treatable and curable injuries or diseases, members of the medical team felt called to do more to serve those with advanced, progressive, or incurable disease. These individuals have pursued and received specific education and training in providing palliative care and worked to provide this care in addition to their other responsibilities.
Take Action
The people of Shirati need your support. Even a small donation can help to add value to someone’s life.
Click the link below to donate to the partnership - please note “Shirati” in the partnership box so your donation goes to our partners in Tanzania.