COVID Crisis Underscores Gaps in Serious Illness Workforce  Need for Palliative Care Education and Training Has Never Been Greater, Experts Say

By Larry Beresford 

The COVID-19 crisis has underscored serious gaps in the U.S. healthcare system – among them, the nation’s shortage of hospice and palliative care specialists and the need for healthcare professionals in every setting to have some level of palliative care education and training, experts say.

The workforce issue was one of several topics related to the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted at a recent National Policy Forum hosted by the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care.

Speakers on the workforce panel discussion – “Caring for those with Serious Illness by Supporting Our Workforce During COVID-19 and Beyond” – pointed out that palliative care has been key to responding to the pandemic.

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A Grieving Mother Finds Healing Through Art Lessons from Institute’s Instructor-Led Course Were a Turning Point

When Linda Kallas’ youngest son died in a car accident 10 years ago, she thought the grief might swallow her. Instead, she found a way to keep moving through the pain, learning to process her emotions by expressing herself through art. 

“It was devastating; it changed me,” Kallas said about her son’s death at age 26. “I don’t think you ever get over it, you just learn your new normal. There are still days when it’s overwhelming, like it just happened yesterday, but thankfully those days are getting further apart.” 

A turning point, she said, was taking the online Healing Through Art course offered by the CSU Shiley Institute for Palliative Care. The course helped her identify triggers that could send her spiraling into grief and then “gave me a way to work through them.”

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Hospice House Gives Homeless a Place of Their Own Welcome Home Marks 5 Years Caring for People Who Are Housing Insecure

By Larry Beresford

A hospice house in Tennessee is celebrating its fifth year of providing a safe and comforting space for homeless or housing-insecure people who are nearing end of life. 

Welcome Home of Chattanooga, Tenn., opened in March 2015 with funding from nonprofits, grants, and philanthropists. It was founded by two social workers concerned about the increasing number of homeless people in the community who were dying alone on the streets.

In the years since, Welcome Home has cared for more than 61 residents with serious or life-limiting illnesses who have found solace and support in the five-bedroom house and the team members who staff it.

The program has weathered its share of storms, including the one currently facing other healthcare providers: the COVID pandemic.

“But we’re still here,” said Sherry Campbell, LMSW, co-founder and executive director of Welcome Home. “We haven’t skipped a beat, and that’s because of the support we get from our community.”

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Palliative Care Physician Confronts Pandemic with Information, Perspective C-TAC’s Dr. Brad Stuart Shares Thoughts on COVID-19, Intrinsic Hope

By Larry Beresford

When COVID-19 began to spread across the United States four months ago, hospice and palliative care pioneer Brad Stuart, MD, retreated to his home in Forestville in Sonoma County, Calif., and started studying the virus online.

Stuart was eager to read everything he could about how to slow the spread of disease and minimize the risk of infection. He planned to share what he learned with a group of long-time friends who, like him, are around 70 years old and thus at higher risk for COVID complications.

Soon, however, Stuart, who is Chief Medical Officer for the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care (C-TAC), was sharing his thoughts with a wider audience. He created a lively and informative blog, Coronavirus and COVID-19 News & Views, and updated it regularly, summarizing new studies and offering reflections on the country’s COVID-19 response.

Inevitably, threads of palliative care became part of the conversation. Treatment for COVID-19 is all about managing symptoms and the ongoing crisis has underscored the importance of palliative care across settings and disciplines.

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Palliative Care Fully Deployed in Era of COVID-19 Hospital’s Palliative Care Chief Says Telemedicine, Advance Care Planning Are Key

By Larry Beresford

Palliative care physician Martha Twaddle recently helped a primary care colleague conduct a telemedicine visit with two patients in their 80s, both of whom had multiple health problems. The visit was to talk about advance care planning, specifically what kind of treatment the pair would want should they become seriously ill with COVID-19.  

Twaddle, Medical Director for Palliative Medicine & Supportive Care at Northwestern Medicine—Lake Forest Hospital in suburban Chicago, said she felt like the wingman for the primary care practitioner (PCP), who was leading the goals-of-care conversation.

The PCP explained that a COVID infection could easily lead to crisis decision-making, placement in the ICU, and insertion of a ventilator for breathing support, which often has bad outcomes, particularly for older patients with comorbidities.
He then asked, “if you got sick, what would you want?’” Twaddle said. “They decided that if they got COVID, they would not want to be hospitalized.”

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