Caring for a seriously ill child can be a heartbreaking burden to carry alone. Ronald McDonald House Charities Curaçao aims to alleviate some of the strain on the families of these young patients, by addressing their needs and advocating for care that is centered around pediatric patients and their families.
Family-Centered Care (FCC) is an approach in health care that provides an expanded and enhanced view of how care should be provided to patients, in the context of the strengths and needs of their families and communities. FCC is often described as optimal health care from the families’ perspective and experience. It’s viewed as critically important in providing care to children, especially those with serious medical conditions.
In the FCC approach to healthcare, the patient and their family members are fully involved with healthcare professionals in order to make informed decisions about the medical care and support services the child and family receives. While FCC is the standard in pediatric healthcare and is widely endorsed, it continues to be insufficiently implemented and prioritized into clinical practice. The RMHC system supports access to quality health care for families around the world and enables, facilitates and supports family-centered care. RMHC programs around the world are essential to enabling parents to be physically and emotionally involved in the well-being and health care of their child.
Our goal is to improve this crucial aspect of quality medical care that supports families throughout their healthcare journeys. As advocates for and experts in the needs of these young patients and their families, we started a series of annual conferences in 2019 on FCC. So far, we have organized three consecutive conferences to introduce the philosophy and importance of FCC, the impact of COVID-19 on FCC and the ongoing effects of COVID-19. During these conferences, we gathered stakeholders and partners and opened a collaborative dialogue around the current state.
"RMHC Curaçao aims to empower, support, and facilitate the adoption of the role that family-centered care can play in Curaçao's healthcare delivery system. We work collaboratively for and with families and children's healthcare partners locally and abroad - wherever else patients are sent for treatment -in order to advance families' proximity and reduce often commutes to care facilities, involvement, education and partners."
Some loving encouragement to keep going!
