AIL, home care for elderly patients

For patients suffering from leukemia and other hemopathies and their families, social and health care and home care are a key support in improving health and quality of life. This is even more true for elderly patients, who feel more of a need to be cared for at home, surrounded by their loved ones. The pandemic situation, then, has made this need even more stringent: leukemia patients, in fact, are particularly at risk for both morbidity and lethality related to possible COVID-19 infection.

This is the context for the project for Home Care for Elderly Patients of AIL - Italian Association against Leukemia-lymphoma and Myeloma, which we have decided to support, guaranteeing specific support to the 8 AIL Sections in southern Italy that deliver this care, thus providing services centered on the needs of patients and their caregivers, in the cities of Benevento, Caserta, Potenza, Catania, Naples, Palermo, Reggio Calabria and Taranto.

For more than 50 years, AIL has been committed to the fight against blood diseases, to the development and scientific research in this field, and to the care of patients at all stages. To do this, AIL acts on the ground through 82 provincial sections that work alongside the Hematology Centers and thanks to more than 25,000 volunteers.

This project aims to provide concrete support to frail elderly patients and their caregivers through medical, nursing, rehabilitation and psychological home care in 8 AIL sections in the south of the country.  

We will help a large number of patients over 65, and in particular patients with chronic and non-self-sufficient hematological diseases, advanced and terminal disease, patients undergoing active chemotherapy treatment and post hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

The goal is to improve the quality of life of the elderly patient and his or her family members, ensuring the comfort of being cared for in their own homes to better cope with the discomforts of treatment, including qualified psychological support.

Details

Location: Benevento, Caserta, Potenza, Catania, Naples, Palermo, Reggio Calabria and Taranto

Association: AIL - Italian Association against leukemia-lymphoma and myeloma

Beneficiaries: Patients over 65

Total contributions to the organization: 150,000 euros

Duration: June 2021 - June 2022