VISION & GOALS
Our Vision of Ganga Prem Hospice
The Ganga Prem Hospice is a spiritually oriented, non-profit hospice for terminally ill cancer patients. Our vision is to help alleviate the physical and psychological discomfort associated with progressive and incurable cancer.

Death is more than just a physical event. Care at Ganga Prem Hospice will touch every aspect of a patient's life: physical, emotional, spiritual and social.
The hospice will create a caring and supportive environment in which patients can pass through this transition with a minimum of distress.

The Physical Aspect
At the Ganga Prem Hospice first-class medical facilities will ensure maximum control over pain and other symptoms. We will offer allopathic as well as complementary and alternative therapies. We will have a team of both professional healthcare workers and trained volunteers to care for our patients.

The Emotional Aspect
Ganga Prem Hospice will provide a sympathetic atmosphere in which people at the end of their lives can review how they are living and dying. For many, death is a time of memories and regrets. Patients and families will be helped to face, understand and finally let go of emotional problems that they have been carrying for years.

The Spiritual Aspect
Death is a time when the transitory nature of the physical self becomes starkly evident. It is therefore often a time of questioning and learning. For some, it will be a time to reconcile the limited time and space of their own lives with vast concepts like Eternity and Infinity. As death approaches, people often feel the need to acknowledge a Higher Power in which they can take refuge. Ganga Prem Hospice will provide spiritual support for its patients and families to journey through this challenging time.

The Social Aspect
Ganga Prem Hospice will also pay close attention to the social needs of our patients and their families. It is particularly evident in less developed countries that practical needs e.g. food, clothing, housing, childcare etc can be a source of deep anxiety and suffering to the patient and family. We will endeavour to relieve such distress through liaison with other local bodies e.g. NGO's, government departments, orphanages, elderly residential homes etc.

The Goals of Ganga Prem Hospice
The main goal of Ganga Prem Hospice is to provide palliative care and to improve the quality of life for terminally ill cancer patients in the last days of their journey. We will provide medical, social, emotional and spiritual support for individuals and their loved ones as they face life threatening cancer, and in their ongoing grief.

We intend to build a hospice for terminally ill cancer patients on the bank of the river Ganga at the foot of the Himalaya. It will be situated between the towns of Rishikesh and Haridwar. We will start the hospice with a simple infrastructure, basic equipment and a patient capacity of 10-15 beds. Our final goal, however, is a fully equipped hospice with a capacity of serving 50 terminally ill cancer patients. At that time we hope that the hospice will be furnished with all necessary modern facilities for dealing with every aspect of medical care and nursing of the terminally ill. Whenever appropriate, Ganga Prem Hospice will also offer the option of holistic approaches (such as Ayurveda, Homeopathy, Aromatherapy and meditation techniques etc.) for the relief of pain and other symptoms. The hospice will have aesthetically designed areas for the cultural and spiritual care and support of the patients and their families.

We hope that our hospice will become an ideal example of palliative care and support for the terminally ill and as such will inspire others to open similar, much needed centres throughout India.

Summary of the Hospice Goals:
1. To provide excellent medical and holistic care to terminally ill cancer patients
2. To provide counselling and support for patients and relatives as they face the social and emotional challenges surrounding the impending death
3. To provide cultural and spiritual support for patients and relatives in the form of counselling and spiritual activities
4. To enable the patient to die a dignified death with the minimum of distress
5. To provide support for relatives and friends during their bereavement