PACIFHAN assists people travelling with Home Artificial Nutrition
“To travel is to live” Hans Christian Andersen
Imagine having a complex medical condition and treatment that enables you to live but, when it comes to travelling could pose problems if you find yourself in a medical situation unable to converse in the local language.
PACIFHAN is the International Alliance of Patient Organisations for Chronic Intestinal Failure and Home Artificial Nutrition. Home Artificial Nutrition(HAN), is the term covering both home parenteral nutrition (HPN) and home enteral nutrition (HEN).
Following PACIFHAN’s official introduction to the world at ESPEN Congress 2015 in Lisbon, Portugal last September, it is now ready, and very proud, to launch its home parenteral nutrition (HPN) and home enteral nutrition (HEN) multilingual dictionary (“Dictionary”). A list of HPN and HEN medical words have been collated and translated by PACIFHAN members in seven languages - English (UK & Australasia), English (USA), Czech, Italian, Polish, Swedish and Danish, with French to be added soon.
International travel can be a wonderful and beneficial experience for those living with HAN, even if it requires much greater planning than for the average tourist. Knowing the medical terminology in a foreign country, such as ‘infection’ and ‘hospital’ can be a life-saver!
This Dictionary is being made available on PACIFHAN’s website – www.pacifhan.org – for use by HPN and HEN travellers when communicating with medical staff, should they find themselves needing medical assistance in any countries using these languages.
For more info:PACIFHAN
e-mail: info@pacifhan.org
web: www.pacifhan.org
PACIFHAN believes its Dictionary will be a valuable tool, enabling those living with HAN to be better equipped to deal with medical situations when travelling. As such, it’s a great step in achieving one of its goals – to improve the quality of life of those living with HAN. PACIFHAN plans to expand the Dictionary, the number of words and languages, as more member organisations join PACIFHAN. In time we also hope to develop a smartphone app for even easier access and use by HAN travellers.
Date of issue: 2016-12-07