CSU Shiley Institute for Palliative Care honored with 2020 Compassionate Care Leadership Award
AUG. 25, 2020 (SAN MARCOS, CA) – The CSU Shiley Institute for Palliative Care has been awarded the 2020 Compassionate Care Leadership Award for Organizations, presented today by the Coalition of Compassionate Care of California.
The annual Leadership Awards recognize individuals and organizations that are changing how people with serious illnesses or those approaching end of life are cared for in California.
In presenting the award, coalition CEO Judy Thomas said it’s designed to honor organizations like the institute whose “contributions and passion for change are transforming people’s lives.”
The institute’s Executive Director Jennifer Moore Ballentine accepted the award during a ceremony at the coalition’s Annual Summit, held virtually due to COVID-19. The institute’s mission is to increase access to and awareness of palliative care by educating current and future healthcare professionals, and building community awareness and advocacy for palliative care, Ballentine said.
Palliative care is specialized whole-person care designed to manage the physical, emotional, and spiritual symptoms of serious illness and help patients and families get care that reflects their own health care wishes.
“I’m incredibly proud of the work my team does every day and never more so than in the past several months, not only pivoting with agility to remote work, but standing up seven new courses, keeping half-a-dozen more running smoothly, and managing overwhelming demand for 21 courses we offered for free between March and June,” Ballentine said.
Since 2012, the institute, headquartered at Cal State San Marcos, has educated more than 20,000 clinicians, primarily through 200 online courses that equip them with the skills they need to deliver high-quality palliative care to patients and families in any setting, she said.
“Before, throughout, and after the current crisis, our goal is to develop a workforce of skilled, compassionate clinicians who care for those who are seriously ill and those who love them, and in the process, transform healthcare in California, the United States, and the world,” Ballentine said.
The coalition also recognized Jeanine Ellinwood, MD, of Snowline Hospice in Diamond Springs, CA, with the 2020 Compassionate Care Leadership Award for Individuals, and Joan Fisher, MD, of George Mark Children’s House in San Leandro, CA, with the 2020 Pediatric Palliative Care Leadership Award.
For more information on the institute, visit csupalliativecare.org.
