The iLIVE Project, 'Live well, die well', the international research project on best care for people with advanced and terminal illnesses, has launched its new website to mark International Volunteer Day on the 5th of December.
One of the aims of the iLIVE Project is to have an impact on how people cope with dying and death, integrating their views and expectations to create effective and compassionate interventions that ensure the well-being of all people in their last days of life. Volunteers play a key role in these actions, they help generate a society in which death and dying is a recognized part of life.
The ultimate goal of iLIVE is to develop tools and best practices that improve the well-being of patients and their families and help healthcare professionals to take better care of patients. This project is fully funded by the European Union and has been running since the beginning of 2019.
It has therefore launched this new website to raise awareness of its work, and also to create a space for debate on how we deal with death and dying in today's society. The website, with a very interactive spirit, encourages visitors to share their ideas and experiences, to enable an increased involvement of the community in end of life care, in support of a good dying experience, diminishing the societal and individual silence that surrounds dying, death and bereavement.
Under the slogan "I want to decide", this new website includes several sections: a section for the direct participation of visitors with questions and surveys about their opinions regarding the end of life care; a detailed explanation of the main studies that are part of the iLIVE project, in which 14 Palliative Care centres and Universities located in thirteen countries in Europe, America and Oceania participate; and a news section and calendar of activities both in person and online for people to engage with. The link is www.iliveproject.eu/iwanttodecide
Only through people's participation can professionals improve their care: providing the right information at the right time, safeguarding the dignity of each person, and helping them to be prepared to die.