Oasis

THE INTERVENTION

NEED FOR A SOCIAL COMPONENT

IPM has been around providing crucial healthcare services for about 30 years and despite significant advancements in understanding and delivering palliative care, stigma continues to surround it. Palliative care is often misunderstood as the point of giving up hope or as a sign that death is imminent, leading to reluctance in seeking or accepting its services. There’s a prevailing misconception that palliative care is solely for end-of-life situations, overlooking its role in enhancing quality of life for patients facing serious illnesses at any stage. This stigma can result in delayed access to crucial supportive services, unnecessary suffering, and diminished quality of life for patients and their families.

The existing IPM campus lacks a converging point that can bring the people of IPM, people inside IPM and the people outside IPM together. A place, where the members of IPM can spread their message, the residents can share their experiences and the public can extend their helping hands. The implementation of such a social plug-in as a component of the masterplan can broaden IPM’s reach significantly, allowing patients to share their stories with a larger audience, and easing the challenge for volunteers to engage the public onto the campus. By providing a platform for sharing experiences, insights, and support, the space could host educational workshops, awareness campaigns, and community events, thereby expanding IPM’s outreach and impact beyond its physical confines. Furthermore, by promoting dialogue, empathy, and social interaction, the social space would contribute to destigmatizing palliative care and raising awareness about the importance of holistic support for serious illnesses.

As per the new masterplan proposed by IIA, the IPM campus was divided into three zones, with the social zone positioned between the vegetation zone and the campus blocks. The concept aimed to ensure that the social spaces act as a beaconof public engagement without disrupting the dense vegetation or interfering with the functional aspects between the campus blocks. The designated area for the social intervention encompassed the current entry road to the campus, the old porch, old building entrance, existing parking facilities, a ground area in front of the palliative building, and the auditorium block and its surroundings, totalling approximately 3 acres.

The Vision

IIA envisions transforming IPM into a more socially engaging campus where the institute can translate its philosophy of care as a culture to the public. The major intentions of the masterplan proposed by IIA are:

1. Inculcating a larger vision to promote care as a culture.
2. Enhance the experience and facilities for the stakeholders.
3. Foster social gathering and opportunities through informal urbanism.
4. Instilling compassion through activities, interactive learning and incite thoughtful reflections.
5. Developing a centre of excellence in palliative care research, compassion and care with better public involvement.

IPM provides an opportunity and space for caregivers and patients together to make the place feel belonged. Inside the campus everyone is part of an extended family, constantly reminding each other that it’s alright, we are here. Moreover, IPM enables the patients to think about three major questions:

• How would I want to remember the life ahead?

• How would I want to be remembered by others?

• How would I like to greet death when it arrives?

And IPM trains their volunteers to help them find the answer to these questions. IPM occupies a very special position in the heart of the patients and their families as a place that was there to hold on to in a time of uncertainty and as a place that hold on to them in a time of need. IPM is collection of several stories of courage, compassion and care; and stories of a place that became an entity that embraced everyone, an environment that dissolved all worries and the people who made everyone feel at home.