Café Pallia: the Clariane Foundation’s “Enjoy Caring” event provides end-of-life care information

Caring to the end for people who are near death. How do you talk about it? How do you do it? As part of its “Enjoy Caring” mission, the Clariane Foundation is organising a new series of ten monthly digital cafés called “Café Pallia” to support caregivers who are regularly confronted with death. The aim is to provide a taboo-free response to the needs and questions of carers in the broadest sense of the term on the essential issue of end-of-life support for patients or relatives. The event can be found on replay and is accessible to all.

Discussing death without the taboo; caring until the end

How do you distinguish futile medical care from unreasonable obstinacy? What is the difference between euthanasia and assisted suicide? How do carers describe palliative care?

‘End of life’ seems to be a term with several meanings and a subject that remains difficult to address, even for carers.

With its new Café Pallia series, the Clariane Foundation wishes to raise awareness of end-of-life care for all the medical and care teams in the Clariane community and anyone else who is interested.

Led by Marie-Anne Fourrier, Managing Director of the Clariane Foundation and Director of Medical Strategy and Health Innovation for the Clariane Group, Dr. Claude Grange, Palliative Care Physician and author of the book Le dernier souffle (The Last Breath), and a different Clariane Group guest speaker for each episode, the Café Pallia series tackles end-of-life issues based on ten different themes.

End-of-life care is at the very heart of our mission: to care for the humanity of each person in times of fragility.

Episode 1 | What is palliative care?

Many sometimes technical terms make it difficult to understand end-of-life issues. To build on a common language and give “meaning to words”, this first Café Pallia is devoted to the end-of-life glossary and the definition of the six following concepts:

• Futile medical care
• Unreasonable obstinacy
• Euthanasia
• Suicide
• Assisted suicide
• Palliative care

Guest speaker: Prof. Antoine Piau, Medical, Ethics and Health Innovation Director for the Clariane Group

Episode 2 | End of life: what does the law say in France?

The various existing texts will be discussed during this second Café Pallia:

• the law of 9 June 1999, aims to guarantee the right of access for all to pain relief and palliative care at the end of life;
• the law of 4 March 2002, known as the Kouchner law, is the first law relating to patients’ rights
• the law of 22 April 2005, known as the Leonetti law, is the first specific end-of-life law and introduced a ban on unreasonable obstinacy;
• the law of 2 February 2016, known as the Claeys-Leonetti Act, creates new rights for patients and people at the end of life;
• the draft law on the end of life in France.

Guest speaker: Nadine Escanilla, Chief Legal Officer Clariane France

Episode 3 | What do you know about advance directives and the trusted person?

How do you deal with Advance Directives (AD) and Trusted Persons (TP)? These topics, crucial to building a personalised care plan for each individual, will be discussed at this third Café Pallia.

Guest speaker: Priscilla Clot-Faybesse, Territorial Medical Director of the Clariane Group

Episode 4 | Should we tell the truth?

Guest speaker: Dr Didier Armaingaud, Director of “Clariane Compétences”

Episode 5 | Why and when should we initiate palliative care?

What is palliative care? Who can benefit from palliative care? Who ultimately decides? The fifth Café Pallia addresses these fundamental questions.

Guest speaker: Priscilla Clot-Faybesse, Territorial Medical Director of the Clariane Group

Episode 6 | How do you manage pain?

• Is it everyone’s priority?
• How is pain assessed?
• Where and how is it tracked?
• How is it passed on to the doctor?
• What is the reticence about using morphine?

Guest speaker: Dr Fariba Kabirian, Clariane France Medical Director

Episode 7 | How do you deal with suffering?

What is suffering? How is it assessed and treated? How can we build a relationship of trust with patients so that they can talk about it? After covering the subject of pain, the seventh Café Pallia is devoted to mental suffering.

Guest speaker: Mathilde Tro, Psychologist and Clariane France Non-Medicated Care Director

Episode 7 | How do you deal with suffering?

What is suffering? How is it assessed and treated? How can we build a relationship of trust with patients so that they can talk about it? After covering the subject of pain, the seventh Café Pallia is devoted to mental suffering.

Guest speaker: Mathilde Tro, Psychologist and Clariane France Non-Medicated Care Director

Episode 8 | What kind of nutrition and hydration is possible at the end of life?

In the terminal phase, should they be continued? For what purpose? How should the issue be discussed with families?
Guest speaker: Dr Sébastien Colas, Clariane France Medical Department

Episode 9 | What place for the family?

Where does the family fit in? Who decides? Is the family considered as a partner in care?
Guest speaker: David Foulon, Director of the Care Division, Clariane France Medical Department