One of the alternatives to palliative and hospice care is telehospice. The service unites consulting psychologists, medical workers, social workers aming to support people at home using telecommunication equipment.

Thanks to the Charitable Foundation "Territory of Opportunities" (chairman - Artem Rudometkin) in Odessa, it became possible to implement an innovative service "Multidisciplinary Telehospice". This is for the first time in the city and Ukraine that such service is being provided. The project is realized by charitable organization Association of palliative and hospice care.

The aim of the project is to continuously improve the quality of life and services to around 130 families of palliative patients. Multidisciplinary communication and psychosocial and spiritual support was organized. Appropriate communication equipment (tablets, laptops) have been purchased. Foundation "Territory of Opportunities" from Odessa financed this purchase.

The project target group is 132 palliative critically ill patients suffering from the following diseases: oncology, senile dementia, severe epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, post-stroke conditions, etc.) in the Kyiv district of Odessa, aged 23 to 80+, as well as family members of these patients (about 300 more people), aged 30 to 60+.

In the frameworks of the project, each seriously ill person receives more services (advanced psychological and social support for seriously ill patients) from more providers as usual. Special stress is paid to psychosocial support. Usually, psychosocial aspects (depression, fear of death, loss of meaning in life, etc.) receive less attention than needed. Services in Odessa become more efficient, cheaper, and population coverage increases.

Volunteers can also be involved in providing services. The introduction of the service in Odessa can also become a model for other settlements in Ukraine. 

Aleksandr Wolf, Shupyk NMAPE Department of palliative and hospice medicine, charitable organization Association of palliative and hospice care