On 28th January the Cudeca Hospice signed an agreement with the construction company COMPAC for the construction of the new Cudeca Institute for Studies and Research in Palliative Care which will be built next to the current Palliative Care Centre in Benalmádena.

The Institute's objectives are to train future health professionals in palliative care through teaching and research, an activity that has been part of our mission since its inception in 1992, and to finance our care work. This centre will be a source of complementary income conteibuting to face the increase of patients cared (doubled in the last five years).

Ricardo Urdiales, President of Cudeca, commented that "this project has been made possible thanks to the extraordinary generosity of our benefactor Dr. Yusuf Hamied. His donation will be destined to build the Cudeca Institute for Studies and Research in Palliative Care providing a foundational vision to train profesional on how to add life to days.”

María Luisa Martín, Cudeca's Chief Executive and medical Director, explained that "the main objective of the centre is to house the training that Cudeca offers to professionals of all levels and branches in order to improve the quality of care in palliative care, sharing our special way of caring with people in advanced and terminal illness".

Present at the event on behalf of the Hospice were Ricardo Urdiales, President; Marisa Martín, Chief Executive and Medical Director; Manuel Mora-Figueroa, Technical Architect of the COMPAC construction company;

and Graciela Waen, Architect of the Cudeca Institute for Training and Research.

A special way of teaching

Since their beginnings in 1992, the Cudeca Hospice has participated in the training of more than 3,000 professionals from all the care branches in palliative care (MIR, EIR, PIR, doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, social workers, psychologists, pharmacists, etc.). Every year different postgraduate students and professionals take on internships or training stays in the Cudeca Center located in Benalmádena (Málaga). In the last year alone, 91 professionals from different countries such as Sweden, Norway, Portugal, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, Colombia as well as several cities in Spain have gone through the In-Patient Unit, Day Care Unit & Rehabilitation and Home Care teams working in the field with the Cudeca staff. The Hospice also carries out a specific training on palliative care for different health institutions such as Nursing and Retirement Homes and Hospitals, etc.