In a quiet residential area of Brussels, tucked away among the modern and uniform facades of the Forest neighbourhood, sits a house that is giving birth to a unique project which could revolutionise our approach to the start and end of life. Here, expecting mothers and end-of-life patients live side by side, cared for respectively by midwives and volunteers. FRANCE 24’s Alix Le Bourdon reports.
In this house of “pass-ages”, there are no white robes, or hospital rooms. Instead, a comfortable apartment where mums-to-be are welcomed by midwives and can give birth in the same comfort as their own homes.
On the same floor, just opposite, people in the last stages of life are living their final days in a radically different way than is usual for those in palliative care. Within these walls, death is not a medical event, but a part of life.
Volunteers, often residents of the building, are at the heart of the project as they accompany people at the very start, and the very end of their lives. It’s a model that is proving to be a success and is even encouraged in a recent report.
Read moreEuthanasia debate: Does Belgium show the way forward?
Despite legalising euthanasia over 20 years ago, Belgium has an acute shortage of palliative care facilities with only 360 beds available when 880 are needed. This new initiative in Brussels, which has received both European and regional funding, may offer much-needed relief.
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