Global Partnership

Our Lady’s Hospice of Kenya Partners with Caring Circle

Located thousands of miles from southwest Michigan is a small city outside the suburb of Nairobi, Kenya called Thigio. It is in this small town where local men and women are changing the perceptions about end of life, pain, and palliative care.

Caring Circle is excited to announce a new global partnership with Our Lady’s Hospice in Kenya.

Our Lady’s Hospice, led by Hospice Manager, Sister Eileen, is a nine-bed inpatient facility started by the Daughters of Charity in 2010 in response to the suffering of the dying, a majority of whom had difficulty in accessing health care as a result of financial constraints.

Services offered to patients at Our Lady’s Hospice include pain management, counseling, and spiritual support, along with food and housing. Most patients are suffering from cancer and HIV but other conditions that merit palliative care are supported at the facility.

“We have a clinical officer, four nurses, eight carers, a cook and two cleaners- a team that over the years has helped the facility care for more than 260 patients to date,” said Sister Eileen.

The primary goal of this partnership is to provide an opportunity for Caring Circle staff to share their expertise and assist in the professional development and growth of Our Lady’s Hospices staff and services. This collaboration will allow Caring Circle staff members to engage in monthly engagements with the staff of Our Lady’s Hospice to identify areas of need and develop opportunities for individuals in southwest Michigan to better understand and support the organization’s mission in Kenya. As part of this alliance, Caring Circle and Our Lady’s Hospice plan to develop staff member exchanges to promote cultural awareness and learning opportunities for both hospice groups.