DEAN Foundation
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Mission Statement
Vision: To create a robust environment that facilitates, nurtures and assists those with core competencies, in the provision of Hospice and Palliative Care services; to address unique challenges and opportunities; and to develop and sustain outstanding research and academic activity, political engagement and service delivery. Mission: - To care for those who are suffering from irreversible diseases like Cancer, AIDS, Diabetes and Neurological and End-stage Kidney diseases irrespective of age, sex, religion or economic background - To relieve “Total Pain” by anticipating, preventing and treating suffering - To help find meaning in the midst of life's struggles in an unconditional, non-judgmental environment - To enhance the quality of life - To support the family during illness and in their bereavement
About This Cause
DEAN Foundation Hospice & Palliative Care Centre, Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu in India, has crossed a milestone of 25 years of serving those in the community with Palliative Care needs; with medical treatment and supportive care. This has been achieved only because of the generosity in kind and spirit of philanthropists and well-wishers, who believed in wiping away tears of suffering and bringing smiles of relief and comfort on the faces we serve. DEAN Foundation was registered as a non-profit Medical Charitable Trust in the year 1998. A team of trained professionals from DEAN Foundation provide an oasis for the very sick and suffering who need medical advice, who need to be understood, cared for, listened to and be treated as special. DEAN Foundation has been dedicated to the care and management of people with progressive incurable diseases since March 1998. DEAN treats patients suffering from a wide-range of irreversible, incurable, life-limiting, progressive and advanced diseases such as Cancer, end-stage diabetes, muscular dystrophy, multiple co-morbidities, dementia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, multi-organ failure, end-stage renal disease, heart diseases, neurological problems, HIV/AIDS, those who are bedridden/house-bound due to stroke, fall, etc and the frail elderly, with special emphasis on the poor and the marginalized. No mandatory fee is levied. In India, around 1 million new cancer cases are reported out of which 80% are beyond curative treatment. At present Palliative Care reaches only 1% of those requiring end-of-life care. Patients (children, adults and the elderly) suffer from all kinds of distressing symptoms like pain, fatigue, breathlessness, loss of appetite, nausea, vomiting, constipation, insomnia, bedsores, convulsions, urinary dysfunction, noisy breathing, restlessness, fungating lesions, diarrhoea, etc. Patients also suffer from psychological factors such as anxiety, fear and apprehension, depression, loss of role & identity, loss of dignity, loneliness, sense of being a burden on others, no longer being valued as a person. Patients sometimes feel that their suffering is not always recognised or taken seriously by their family. They also have innumerable spiritual questions which includes questions on meaning - of life, death and suffering, forgiveness, questions about religion with its relevance to them, the place of rituals and so on. Through Out-patient care at DEAN’s various centres and Home based care, DEAN Foundation offers emotional and spiritual support and state-of-the-art medical care, tailored to the patient's wishes to remain at home, as pain free and comfortable as possible. The aim of the institution is to be sensitive and responsive to the unique requirements of each individual and family, and to ensure the highest quality of treatment available through Hospice and Palliative Care. A plan of care, unique to the patient's diagnosis is developed. In addition, DEAN Foundation provides all medications, services and equipment related to the terminal illness. Medicines, medical consumables and non-consumables are dispensed free of cost, as also medical procedures to relieve physical suffering. We continue after the death of a patient, with bereavement counselling for the family and loved ones. Beneficiaries to whom we provide free treatment are the following : • Patients suffering from terminal illness, chronic disease • Bedridden and unable to step out of the house • Unacceptable level of pain or other distress symptoms like vomiting, sleeplessness, fatigue, bleeding ulcers etc. for more than 24 hours • Geriatric related illness DEAN Foundation’s Goal : To fulfill a basic human rights issue in reducing the impact of critical, terminal, chronic, life limiting, illness Objectives would be to: 1) reduce suffering and improve the quality of life 2) build improved accessibility to medical treatment, right at the doorstep 3) deliver Community-based and patient-centered care 4) create increased awareness of the availability of speciality service 5) develop, strengthen and enable the efficient, safe and effective running of the community based Home Care Model that can be replicated Benefits of palliative care service: • Free treatment by a multidisciplinary team right at their doorstep whether a plastic shack, a hut or the pavement - a place they call their "home." • Causes patients to spend more time at home and reduces the number of hospital inpatients days • Improves symptom management • Support the Elderly to deal with advancing illness, frailty and death itself • Reduces overall cost of disease • Prolongs survival • Improves quality of life of patients and family Since inception in 1998, our teams of doctors and nurses have reached out to 18,464 patients (Adults, Children & the Elderly) as on 30 November 2023 through 79,326 Outpatient Services and 68,723 Home Care visits; 14,490 have been Cancer patients. In our Paediatric Palliative Care Project, we have treated 3,635 children between the ages 0 to 12 years of whom 2,299 have been afflicted by Cancer. Currently, approx. 969 patients are under our care. About 85% of our patients are from very low socioeconomic backgrounds; unable to cope with the negative impacts of adverse health events, and 50% are geriatric patients. DEAN Foundation works in the state of Tamil Nadu, India, from four locations: (i) the Head Office in Kilpauk, Chennai District since 1998 (ii) the Government Children's Hospital, Egmore, Chennai District and (iii) the upgraded Primary Health Centre in Thiruppukuzhy, Kancheepuram District since 2010 and (iv) the Karamadai Centre, near Mettupalayam, Coimbatore District since May 2017. We offer Outpatient services also at : (i) the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (IOG) ward attached to the Children's Hospital, Egmore, Chennai (ii) the Arignar Anna Memorial Cancer Centre in Karapettai, Kancheepuram and (iii) the Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Speciality Hospital, Omandurar, Chennai Families living with advanced diseases have unique problems, including geographic isolation, financial responsibilities and added care giving. When the disease advances to the point of disability, the entire family structure feels the strain of increased responsibilities. DEAN Foundation’s Home Care teams visits patients at their doorsteps to address their dilemma, at this distressing phase of their lives. Palliative Care has not yet received the significance it merits in our state’s Health Care system and as a result poor patients suffer silently in the isolation of their homes. DEAN an acronym for “To Dignify and Empower the Ailing and the Needy” steps in to fill the void by reaching out to reduce suffering and improve end-of-life quality of patients during this stage of their lives. DEAN Foundation believes that "the end-of-life deserves as much beauty, care and respect as the beginning". Join us in reaching out to the underserved with ‘quality end of life care’.