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28
SUMMER
2012
what to expect, what to do, and making
them feel comfortable in what they are
doing. Most of them are lost and scared
of doing the wrong thing.There’s nothing
out there to guide them. I tell them we are
here and just a phone call away.”
A 2010 study of 151 patients published
in
The New England Journal of Medicine
demonstrated that getting early palliative
care helped people with lung cancer live
three months longer, compared with those
given standard care.
Balsam currently boasts a team of Osman,
two part-time nurses, one full-time nurse,
one psychologist, and a pharmacist. Once
a week the team meets and discusses each
patient. At the moment, the small team
can only cover Beirut but Osman’s ulti-
mate goal is to train medical staff all over
the country in palliative care. “Everyone
should have a right to this care,” she said.
“In Beirut, in Akkar, in Baalbeck, in the
south, everyone.”
Taking it a step further, Osman has been
lobbying to change laws and policies for
palliative care to be recognized in Leba-
non (currently, there are major restrictions
on medication).
Last May, Balsam and the Lebanese Can-
cer Society established a committee, un-
der the Ministry of Public Health, to set a
strategy for palliative care in Lebanon.
“This is a huge accomplishment,” said
Osman proudly.
In class, Osman repeatedly tells her medi-
cal students that their job ultimately goes
well beyond physical care. “Hold their
hand,” she advises. “Talk to them. Listen
to them. Empathize. Put them at ease.”
Just a few weeks earlier, Balsam was called
in during the last stages of cancer. As
soon as the medical team walked in, the
patient began to cry. “Look what I’ve been
reduced to,” she said. “My children carry
me to the bathroom. I feel so humiliated”.
The Balsam team controlled her pain.
They arranged for the patient to have a
portable toilet right next to the woman’s
bed - making her more independent. An
air mattress was placed under her, eas-
ing the bed sores creeping up her body.
Two days later, the patient died. “You
have no idea what you have done for us,”
her daughter told Osman. “My mother
became so much happier and actually got
up to have a meal with us.”
Sometimes that’s all it takes.
“This is the most rewarding thing I have
ever done,” said Osman. “Yes, I lose my
patients. I feel their loss and I cry over
them. But at the same time, I know that
what we have done for the patients and
their families is so immense. We are
giving them back their dignity and their
families are in peace.”
For more information or donations to
Balsam, go to www.balsam-lb.org or call
9611748574.