The delegate of the Government Area of Urban Planning, Environment and Mobility of the Madrid City Council, Borja Carabante, visits the construction works of the first pediatric palliative care center to be built in Spain.  The CAPPI is a pioneering socio-health infrastructure in our country aimed at improving the lives of children with incurable diseases and that of their families, reinforcing well-being and the reconciliation of care at home. The visit highlights the public-private collaboration that makes this project of high social impact in the city possible, promoted by the Foundation porque Live

The future Comprehensive Pediatric Palliative Care Center (CAPPI) – the first of its kind in Spain – is making steady progress in the Madrid district of San Blas-Canillejas. This Wednesday, the delegate of the Government Area of Urban Planning, Environment and Mobility of the Madrid City Council, Borja Carabante , accompanied by the district councilor, Almudena Maíllo , visited the construction site to learn about the progress of a pioneering project that will transform the care of children with incurable diseases and their families.

The CAPPI will open its doors in September 2026 and it will make Madrid the first city in the country to have a social and health centre specifically designed for the comprehensive care and accompaniment of families with children who are experiencing extremely complex processes.

The institutional visit is a milestone in the process of development of the CAPPI and confirms the support of the Madrid City Council to a unique project in the country, which will cover a historic need for hundreds of families with children suffering from incurable diseases.

The visit highlights the commitment of the city of Madrid to a pioneering initiative that seeks to ensure that No child and no family go through a process of advanced disease alone , offering specific care, comprehensive care and specialised support.

A project that makes Madrid a benchmark in paediatric palliative care

The visit of the delegate of the Government Area of Urban Planning, Environment and Mobility of the Madrid City Council It has allowed us to learn first-hand about the progress of the work and the architectural and functional details of a center designed to offer comprehensive, humanized and specialized care to children and adolescents with incurable diseases. The CAPPI will be the first social and health resource of its kind in Spain , equivalent to the "children's hospices" that have existed for decades in countries such as the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada or the United States.

While hospitals are oriented to the acute phase and high clinical complexity, CAPPI was born as a complementary social and health resource , designed for those times when the home is not enough, but the hospital is no longer the most suitable place.

The fact that this project was born in Madrid is no coincidence. The city has one of the most renowned paediatric palliative care units in Europe – the Niño Jesús University Children's Hospital — and has a network of social entities that have historically promoted innovation projects in child health. The CAPPI is integrated into this tradition and expands it, building a model that will be a reference for other autonomous communities.

A pioneering project thanks to public-private collaboration

The new centre is built on a municipal plot of land 15,000 square meters , ceded by the Madrid City Council for 75 years to the Foundation porque Live , the entity that will manage the future equipment. The construction is financed entirely by the Amancio Ortega Foundation , which has made it possible to shape a modern, bright and thoughtful infrastructure to offer well-being, support and relief to children and their primary caregivers.

 

 

During the institutional visit, Carabante and Maíllo toured the different spaces of the building under construction, located on the street Aquitaine, 2 , where they were able to check the pace of works that began in July and are expected to be completed by the end of 2026.

The delegate highlighted the value of this project and the importance of Madrid promoting resources that improve the lives of those who need the most support. A vision that the Foundation porque Live it has been shared since its origin.

What is CAPPI and how will it be organized?

The CAPPI will be a social and health center , conceived as a living, warm and non-hospitable space, organized into different areas that respond to the real needs of families. Its functional structure will be articulated in several levels of care:

Day Center

One Day Center for children with incurable diseases who need continuous support, therapies and specialized accompaniment. This resource will allow:

• Facilitate work-life balance
• Maintain activity, and socialization
• Avoid continuous travel and hospital visits

Families will be able to drop off their children during certain time slots, knowing that they will be cared for by a specialized team.

Integration classrooms

The CAPPI will have Educational Integration Classrooms , designed so that children who cannot attend their usual school maintain links with learning, cognitive stimulation and school life. These classrooms:

• They will facilitate educational continuity adapted to each situation
• They will offer a safe space to learn, play and interact

Respite beds

One of the key elements of the CAPPI will be the Respite beds , intended for temporary stays of children so that families can rest, reorganize or face moments of special physical and emotional exhaustion. This resource will allow:

• Give scheduled respite to primary caregivers, usually mothers
• Avoiding unnecessary hospital admissions
• To better accompany in times of crisis, without uprooting the family

Therapy Wing

The centre will have a Therapy Wing with specific spaces for:

• Physical and occupational therapy
• music therapy
• Aquatic Therapy in the Pool
• psychological, social and spiritual support

This wing will be designed to work on the comprehensive well-being of the child and the family, reinforcing the quality of life and day-to-day management.

Common and outdoor spaces

The CAPPI will also include:

• Play and meeting areas for children and siblings
• Rest spaces for parents
• Outdoor landscaped areas, accessible and designed for family enjoyment.

The central idea is simple: create a place to live, be together and care calmly , even in the midst of illness.

Farewell rooms and mourning accompaniment

The project contemplates Farewell rooms and spaces for bereavement accompaniment for those families who are going through the end of their children's lives. They are particularly cared for, intimate and respectful environments, where:

• privacy and professional accompaniment are guaranteed
• A dignified environment is provided in the last moments
• Specific support is offered in the farewell process

Training Center

The CAPPI will also integrate a Training Center aimed at professionals, families and volunteers. From here, training programs in pediatric palliative care, accompaniment and comprehensive care will be promoted, contributing to improving training throughout Spain and extending the model to other territories.

Fundación porqueViven : 15 years accompanying families in pediatric palliative care

The Foundation porque Live is the driving force behind CAPPI. It was born in 2009 with a clear purpose: that no child with an incurable disease or their family face the process alone. Since then, it has worked in coordination with the public system to guarantee optimal comprehensive care for Families in need of pediatric palliative care .

Its lines of action include:

• Home Care in coordination with public teams
• Psychological and social support to families before, during and after the death of their children
• Training for professionals health and social
• Volunteer programs Structured
• Social awareness About Pediatric Palliative Care

The CAPPI represents the natural evolution of this journey: to go from accompanying mainly in homes to also offering its own space, stable and designed to care with more resources, more equipment and more possibilities for support.

Commitment of the Madrid City Council

The Madrid City Council has ceded the land on which the CAPPI is built and has accompanied the necessary procedures for the work to progress within the planned deadlines. The visit of the Delegate of the Government Area of Urban Planning, Environment and Mobility of the Madrid City Council reinforces this institutional commitment and makes visible the city's support for a resource that will benefit families throughout Spain.

This project exemplifies a model of collaboration in which:

• the public administration –the Madrid City Council – Provides land and urban framework
• the Private philanthropy —in this case, the Amancio Ortega Foundation— finances the construction
• one Specialized social entity —The Foundation porque Live — designs the care model and will manage the centre.

A model to be replicable

Although the CAPPI is being built in Madrid, its vocation is to inspire similar projects in other regions. Its model combines social and health care, humanized architecture, family accompaniment, training and continuous evaluation, becoming a national reference.

Although the construction of the building has been assumed by the Amancio Ortega Foundation, the sustainability of the CAPPI It will depend on the involvement of many people and entities:

• individual donors
• Companies with social responsibility programs
• Foundations and Boards of Trustees
• solidarity initiatives and awareness campaigns

The Foundation porque Live  It is already working on a fundraising strategy that will sustain the operation of the center in the medium and long term, guaranteeing that families do not have to assume the cost of care.

A center to take better care of

The visit of the mayor of Madrid to the CAPPI works is not only an institutional image: it is a gesture that confirms the city's will to take better care of the most vulnerable children.

With this centre, Madrid will be the first city in Spain to have a specific resource for Pediatric Palliative Care , a space where:

• Attention and tenderness coexist
• families are accompanied
• Care is organized with professionalism, calm, and respect

The CAPPI is, in short, a commitment to a different way of understanding health and accompaniment: more humane, closer and fairer.

Join the pledge: your support counts

In order for no child in need of palliative care to go unattended, we need a society that understands, supports, and engages. If you want to contribute to this mission moving forward, we invite you to collaborate and be part of the change

Join us in improving the lives of those who need it most.
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