Professor dr. Daniela Moșoiu, Chairman of PALIAŢIA
Etymologically, palliative care comes from the Latin Pallium which means blanket; a protective blanket or protective circle against suffering caused by chronic progressive diseases for patients and their families. To be real, this circle must unify professionals and multiple competences from
- the clinical field with the interdisciplinary palliative team working alongside the curative team, continuing with
- education and research staff ensuring that the most updated scientific evidence-based outcomes are integrated into current clinical practice and that the concept of palliative care is widely advocated and last but not least
- reaching out to everyone in our communities, as each of us could offer support as volunteers, donors, opinion leaders and have something to say in how our communities respond to maintain the dignity of vulnerable ones.
Palliative care is where medical specialties join, but also different professions come together, trying to find answers not just to “What is the best way to treat physical pain?”, but also to the existential questions of humanity that become our personal questions: “Why this suffering?”, “What was my meaning and purpose in this world?”, “Is it an end or a new beginning?”, “Have I left a mark on the souls of my loved ones?”, “Will they cope?”
I am honored to take over the leadership of the scientific committee of PALIAŢIA – Journal of palliative care. It has a history of 15 years and is the outgrowth of the work of two visionary people, Marinela and Wim van den Heuvel, who understood that palliative care, to be a discipline equal to other medical specialties, needs to do research, to publish and to be visible. At that time, in Eastern Europe, we were struggling to develop services, to educate professionals and authorities, and to convince governments that palliative care should be integrated into the health care system and we thought there was no time to write and be visible. But they were persistent and developed this journal, made it known, they indexed it. And today, when we have the maturity to recognize that we need to talk to the scientific community in its language – the language of publications – that is accepted and recognized, we have PALIAŢIA – Journal of palliative care to make this possible. It is a gift for which I thank you, Marinela and Wim, and I hope to have you as mentors in this new journey that I and the HOSPICE Casa Sperantei team are starting with old and new members of the scientific committee.
The vision for the years to come is that the journal will become bilingual Romanian-English, that it will be an instrument through which the voices of those in this region of Europe will be heard, that cultural and organizational problems and particularities will be presented to the world together with the work, struggles, solutions and innovations found. We want this journal to become an ISI journal, that allows the development of the discipline of palliative care and other related disciplines. We also hope to use it as an educational tool presenting cases, exercises and reflections, that will allow us to improve our practice and write about events and news in the region.
May God help us to do useful work that serves the good of as many of our fellow human beings as possible!