POWER FOR SMALL HEROES

POWER FOR SMALL HEROES
In April 2016, the Peter family was faced with the tragic loss of their youngest daughter, Valentina, aged 13. She was unable to live out her final moments at home with her family, as no mobile pediatric palliative care was available. Unfortunately, outpatient palliative care for seriously ill children and adolescents is extremely poorly funded in Germany.
After Valentina’s death, her family set up a German foundation, Stiftung Valentina, with the aim of closing the funding gap for palliative and intensive outpatient care for terminally ill children. Their partner is PalliKJUR, a highly qualified medical team from Ulm University Hospital in southern Germany. 50 children a year affected by this tragedy currently benefit from this mobile pediatric palliative care, but a total of 250 children could be cared for.
The ultimate goal of their foundation is to offer seriously ill children the best possible quality of life until the end of their lives.
The Comgest Foundation supports the Stiftung Valentina and the activities of the PalliKJUR mobile pediatric palliative care team.

Main objectives:
• Quality of life for terminally ill children and their families is maintained, improved and enhanced.
• Hospital stays are shortened or avoided.
• The child stays integrated into his or her family environment.
• Individual adaptation to illness is encouraged (« self-help »).
• A dignified life until death is made possible in the familiar environment.
• Mobile palliative and intensive outpatient care for terminally ill children needs additional specialists, whose financing is not covered by the health system.
• Due to the donation of Comgest Foundation Stiftung Valentina could finance an additional specialized part time doctor (Nicole Strugala), for whom € 60 000,- had to be granted to the University hospital