Palliative Care Blog

Taking Flight …

As I step away from the Institute, I want to borrow the academic tradition so beautifully shared by Randy Pausch: The Last Lecture. 

It has been amazing to be part of first hospice and now palliative care, both in the U.S. and Canada, as this important movement has evolved. Once obscure and unknown, today palliative care is growing not only in the health care arena but in consumer awareness as well. Palliative care is poised to take flight and transform health care; first for those with serious or chronic illness but ultimately, if we do it right, for everyone. 

I am honored to have had the opportunity to be part of this evolution. But as I step back from the daily fray, I would like to offer two cautions to those who carry this work forward.  First, those of us in the field have recognized the negative impact of hospice’s association with dying, and the perception it is the last resort when there is “no hope.” Let us be careful not to make the same mistake with palliative care. It is and must remain about living.

It’s About Living Well and …

It is about living well and yes, ultimately, dying well. But in order to die well, we must first live well until we die. What living well means is up to each individual, but as palliative care professionals we must help our patients first and foremost live well. If we can do that, it is far more likely they will also die well. 

Because of the shortage of skilled palliative care teams and practitioners of all disciplines, in many settings palliative care has been defined as care for those with less than a year to live. I understand the workforce issue and the necessity for boundaries, but these limitations set up palliative care to be as negatively perceived as hospice. Which leads to my second caution …

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Innovation, Inspiration Celebrated at National Academic Palliative Care Symposium

Innovation and inspiration took center stage last week at the CSU Institute for Palliative Care’s National Symposium for Academic and Palliative Care Education and Research, where leading experts gathered to share ideas and shape the future of palliative care teaching and practice.

The theme – “Innovate. Investigate. Educate.” – played out across the two-day event in topics ranging from medical aid in dying, to how federal and state policies are impacting palliative care, to the importance of countering stigma faced by LGBTQ patients seeking palliative services.

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5 Inspiring Research Projects Receive $45,000 in Seed Grants from Gary and Mary West Foundation

Awards designed to advance palliative care research

Five innovative and diverse research projects were awarded $45,000 in Seed Grants last week by the Gary and Mary West Foundation, in collaboration with the CSU Institute for Palliative Care.

The winning proposals – aimed at expanding the availability and efficacy of palliative care, in ways that enhance quality of life for seniors and caregivers – were announced Friday, Sept. 29, at the Institute’s National Symposium for Palliative Education and Research, at Cal State San Marcos.

Four proposals were awarded $10,000 grants, and one received a $5,000 grant. They ranged from a project to increase palliative care in the Latino community to one designed to create a more meaningful end-of-life experience for ICU patients at a major metropolitan hospital.

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More Voices, New Research to Emerge at 2017 Symposium

Sharing knowledge and making connections is one of the best things about the National Symposium for Academic Palliative Care Education & Research – and this year that’s truer than ever.

More Opportunities to Engage

For the first time, the Symposium will host Paper Sessions, allowing select educators, researchers and clinicians to present compelling research studies created across multiple disciplines.

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Joy and Opportunity: A Conversation About Growing the Palliative Care Workforce

 Advancing the life-changing benefits of palliative care and equipping health professionals to meet the growing demand is a shared passion of Helen McNeal, Executive Director of the CSU Institute for Palliative Care, and Katy Lanz, Chief Clinical Officer for Aspire Health. The two palliative-care powerhouses spoke recently about the critical need to train a new palliative-care workforce; the joy of treating patients in their own homes; and the unconventional idea that a career in palliative care can be sexy and fun.

HELEN: Katy, I think one of the most exciting things about palliative care is that it focuses on helping patients with chronic illness manage their symptoms and live in the way that’s most meaningful to them. It’s really about maximizing quality of life at any stage in an illness. And it means people are going to be cared for in the setting where they really want it – at home.

KATY: Absolutely! When people hear the words “palliative care” they often think end-of-life, but really palliate means to provide comfort. It’s most effective when applied to patients who are way upstream in the course of a disease and headed toward changes in their illness, versus where we are now as an industry, typically supporting people after a serious health crisis has happened.  

At Aspire we reach those upstream patients; match a treatment plan that fits their life goals; and then support them so they can be at home, in the environment they love, for as long as possible. That’s the beauty of palliative care… and it’s what Aspire is all about.  We’re only four years old, and we’re already the nation’s largest palliative care practice in the community setting.

We’re experts in providing relief from the symptoms, pain or stress that accompany a serious illness. But our ability to do this is dependent on highly skilled professionals who understand palliative care, embrace it and can deliver it to vulnerable patients. That takes good people and effective training.

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