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We provide hospice care, a home for mothers and children, AIDS homecare within Bangkok's poorest communities, and comprehensive education programs tailored to high-risk groups.
Moms and Children's Home
Mandate
To create a loving, nurturing, and caring home environment for helpless and abandoned mothers and their children and orphans infected with HIV/AIDS. In addition, to provide a high level of homecare for infected mothers and children who are able to live at home.
Number of Home Residents - 2006
51 children, 3 mothers
Geographic Coverage
Over 30 slum communities in Bangkok with a concentration in Klong Toey, Bangkok's largest slum community.
Program Director
Chutima Jongjet
Contact
Chutima@mercycentre.org
Phone: (662) 671-5313, ext. 232
How We Care
- All mothers and children in our family are ensured of the following:
- A loving home environment in Mercy Centre.
- Dedicated teams of nurses and auxiliary health care staff on duty 24 hours a day.
- Emotional support and special training to help mothers care for their own infected children.
- Educating the children. Our children are able to attend kindergarten and primary school. A computer training center, art school, and playground are also on the premises of Mercy.
- Safety, security, a place where they need not fear shame and discrimination.
- Day-to-day provisions, from a steady nutritional diet to clothing, bedding, washing, etc.
- Field trips, cultural explorations, and holidays for the children.
- An opportunity for the children to play and develop as normal children, equal to their peers.
Additional Program Parameters
- Providing homecare in cases where mothers and children with HIV/AIDS live with family outside of Mercy Centre.
- Job assistance, counsel, and other means of support to the mothers in our home.
- Educating the surrounding community and other slum neighborhoods on various AIDS issues, including prevention, compassion, and care.
- Ensuring access to government hospitals and additional medical care, whenever required, by providing transportation, logistics, documentation, and paperwork.
- Funeral and other family and emergency arrangements.
Origins/History
In 1993 the HDF opened an Adult AIDS hospice and began its AIDS educational programs to the poor throughout Bangkok. In 1997, we opened our Mothers and Children's Home and began a comprehensive homecare program.
Challenges
To reach poor infected mothers before they become homeless and to begin medical treatment for them and their children as early as possible. To educate the greater community in prevention, compassion, and acceptance to prevent abandonment.
Our Growing Family
Our doors are always open, and our family is always growing. Mothers learn specialized care-giving skills for their children. Children go to school and are treated as equals among their peers. The home itself fosters acceptance and empowerment. Our children have experienced a sense of loss and suffering that often defies comprehension, yet their joy in life and love of friendship are truly extraordinary.
Mandate
To improve the quality of life of poor people living with HIV/AIDS - to provide counsel, support, and help strengthen family bonds. Whenever possible, to help our patients move forward and return to productive and fulfilling lives at home. To teach and practice love and compassion for all people living with AIDS.
Location
Mercy Centre
Klong Toey, Bangkok
Patients/year
120
Program Director
Chutima Jongjet
Contact
Chutima@mercycentre.org
Phone: (662) 671-5313, ext. 232
A Partnership
The HDF operates the hospice as a partnership - a three-way agreement - between the patients, their families, and the HDF: The families agree to share in the bedside and daily care of their family members while in the hospice. The patients, when they are able, agree to provide assistance for our foundation in our AIDS efforts. And HDF agrees to teach the families homecare skills and provide follow-up visits when patients are able to return home.
Activities
- Nursing and palliative care
- Providing a healthy diet and a clean, safe shelter
- Counseling and support for patient and family
- Preparing paperwork and providing transportation for hospital visits
- Teaching the family homecare skills
Origins/History
The HDF has operated the city's first and largest free AIDS hospice since 1993. The Mercy Centre hospice was originally a final shelter for late-stage patients, and until 2001, cared for over 250 patients per year. As drug treatment evolved and became accessible, the hospice has increasingly become a place of respite for patients in their return to home; and our primary hospice efforts are in helping our patients return to home and family. The hospice also continues as a final shelter for those we are destitute or without family.
Success Story
Apiwat first came to Mercy Centre with late-stage AIDS in 2000. His doctors had told him he had only two months to live. In spite of their predictions, two months passed and Apiwat's health improved. With proper medical attention and support from family, Apiwat gained strength, returned home, and today remains strong and healthy as he leads and trains our HIV/AIDS Homecare, Outreach, and Education staff.
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