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Collective Strength: Building Communities

This past summer, my husband and I spent some time in Ireland, researching our respective family ancestors. One night, in a hotel in Belfast, we were having difficulty sleeping. Our room was right over two hotel ballrooms, where both had large and spirited parties underway.

One was a young couple’s celebration of the beginning of their married life. The other was a celebration of life for a husband who had passed, marking the end of married life for his wife.

As the vibrations from the music pounded the floor and engulfed us into the early morning hours, I thought about all of the people who had come out to commemorate life and death as communities, and how difficult it actually was to distinguish between the two celebrations.

I thought about how, at both the most joyous and the most devastating times of our lives, the support of loved ones influences our journeys. I reflected on the end of life, and on the gift of community that healthcare professionals and family caregivers provide to patients whose serious illnesses have put them on the path to their final days. And I considered how much more difficult those paths are when communities aren’t there.

Palliative care, at its core, epitomizes community. It brings together healthcare professionals from a myriad of backgrounds and creates partnerships with patients and their families in some of the most challenging times of their lives. The CSU Shiley Haynes Institute for Palliative Care is proud to serve as a community builder, and we invite all who wish to become part of the palliative care community to join us.

Palliative Care Communities

We are delighted to welcome you to one of our new on-line communities:

  • Palliative Care Community in Interprofessional Education, moderated by Katie Robinson, PhD, RN-BC, CHPN, Assistant Professor of Nursing at CSU San Marcos, Second Tuesday of every month at 11 am PST.
  • Palliative Care Community in Pediatric Palliative Care, moderated by Christy Torkildson, PhD, RN, PHN, FPCN, HEC-C, Executive Director, Children’s Hospice and Palliative Care Coalition of California and Professor/Program Lead, College of Nursing and Healthcare Professions, Grand Canyon University, Third Thursday of every month at 1 pm PST.
  • Palliative Care Community in Spirituality, to be launched November 14th.

Join Now!

Share Your Expertise at the 2025 Symposium

We encourage you to share your expertise in-person, with other healthcare professionals:

Join an Upcoming Webinar

We invite you to join one of our Webinar Communities:

Enroll in a Palliative Care Course

We hope you continue to build your palliative care education and provide support for this goal through our self-paced and instructor-led courses:

And importantly, be sure to reach out to your own communities for the good of your patients and their families, as well as for your own well-being. We firmly believe that joys are amplified and sorrows are made bearable when shared with others who care.