The Enriqueta Villavecchia Foundation, which has celebrated its 35th anniversary, has just obtained the building permit that will allow the construction of the first children’s hospice in Spain, a center dedicated to children with incurable diseases, in the Victòria building of modernist complex of Sant Pau, in Barcelona.
A year after the presentation of the project, the organization has obtained private donations and the support of numerous companies that will provide much of the materials and services needed for the construction. On the other hand, the Departments of Health and Social Rights have consolidated their commitment to take over its management and incorporate the pediatric palliative care center into the public portfolio of health and social services. The City Council, the Diputació de Barcelona and the La Caixa Foundation have also confirmed their participation in a project in which the Department of Culture collaborates, in charge of restoring the modernist facade of the building.
Anna Varderi, manager of the Villavecchia Foundation, dedicated to offering the best quality of life to children and young people with serious illnesses and their families, hopes to be able to start work between September and October this year. In this way, the center, designed by the architect Carme Pinós, could start operating at the beginning of 2026. It is necessary, says Varderi, because the resources do not reach all the patients who need them. In Catalonia there are 1,500 children in need of pediatric palliative care and 150 in a situation of complex chronicity. “When we are faced with a child, from infants to young adults, with a serious illness, we tend to see only the illness and assume and advocate that the child has the right to the best possible health care. It’s true, but it’s not just that: they also have to have fun, socialize and learn like any other child, and we also have to help the family throughout this process. We don’t work with illness and death, we work with life and children. Despite the situation, they are children and we must take care of their lives in all phases”.
In this sense, the center is different from a pediatric palliative care unit and responds to a very widespread concept in countries such as the United Kingdom, where there are 54 hospices. “Small centers to be like home, close, deeply rooted in each community, which support families”, describes Varderi. Vilavecchia hopes that this pioneering experience in Spain will spread.
