Thanks to an investment of 6.7 million euros, Barcelona will have the first pediatric “Hospice”. It will be located in the Santa Victoria pavilion of the former Hospital de Sant Pau.
The Enriqueta Villavecchia Foundation is the driving force behind the project. Its objective is to create a space of respite and integral support for families with sick children, with six rooms and two homes dedicated to care for the last days of life.
An adequate space so that dying in infancy can be done sweetly and in close company.
The objective is to provide human comfort and professional support to the children, their parents and siblings, especially in the last days of the infant’s life.
The pediatric “Hospice” project in Barcelona
The Enriqueta Villavecchia Foundation, with the support of the Fundació Privada del Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau and the Fundació de Gestió Sanitària of the same hospital, presented the project.
The “Hospice” will be a place of respite and comprehensive support for families with adolescents or children suffering from chronic and/or serious illnesses, where they will be cared for and accompanied in their last days.
Likewise, it will be a reference center in pedagogy oriented to the social inclusion of death and illness as part of life.
The Villavecchia Foundation in its work seeks to make life easier for sick children and their families, in order to accompany them in the disease process until the last moment.
A safe space for the care of sick children and their families
In the pediatric “Hospice” in Barcelona, sick children and their families will be cared for through the development of various activities and companionship.
The goal is to make your treatment time more comfortable in a space that will become your second home while living with tough illnesses.
The pediatric hospice of Barcelona seeks to bring emotions and life to the Santa Victoria pavilion, where the Enriqueta Villavecchia Foundation has its headquarters.
The rehabilitation of the pavilion will be carried out throughout 2024 by the architectural firm of Carme Pinós.
It will have a surface area of more than 1,500 m², which will directly benefit 1,600 people annually, offering 600 respite stays and global attention to some 400 families.
The project includes the construction of six rooms for the respite program and two homes where the patient children can stay with their families and live in privacy, togetherness and tranquility during their last days of life.
According to official data, there are currently around 1,535 children in need of pediatric palliative care in Catalonia, in addition to the pediatric population suffering from complex or terminal chronic diseases.
