Presentation
The SPAMA association
Created in April 2006, the association brings health professionals and parents together in order to help parents faced with a prenatal or postnatal diagnosis of a serious and incurable illness or any situation which sooner or later will lead to the death of the child.
Referring to the definition of palliative gave given by the French Society for Accompanying Support and Palliative Care (SFAP), the association’s objective is to make known and develop the approach of accompanying a baby to his or her natural death, and to do so, from the pregnancy in the case of a prenatal diagnosis and in neonatals units.
In many aspects, this attitude constitutes a palliative care approach with the characteristics specific to the world of maternity and neonatology, from the care of the mother during the pregnancy and then that of the child at birth. It offers to accompany parents who so desire to enable them to live through this drama as peacefully as possible.
The association has fixed its objectives:
- with the medical profession, to make the idea of treating fatal illness diagnosis or extreme premature situations as end of life situations emerge, to provoke reflection and concrete exchanges of experiences in order to develop a practice of this care and to create a network of carers aware of this approach ;
- with parents concerned, to offer reliable medical information, to give them the means and time to discuss with other parents having known similar situations and, as much as is possible, to put them in contact with a medical team aware of the approach of accompanying their expected or new born child and with volunteers who can support them ;
- with the general public and institutional powers, to interest them in this approach and to make them understand the difficulty of neonatal mourning as well as the importance of support from family and friends in end of life situations.
The SPAMA association is apolitical and non religious.
It is financially supported by private donors and for training it’s volunteers by the SFAP and the Notre-Dame Foundation.
The association is presided by Isabelle de MEZERAC, author of the book "Un enfant pour l'éternité" (A child for Eternity - Ed. du Rocher, February 2004)
