PCI
The Palliative Care Initiative (PCI)
AFF played a big role in establishing Palliative Care Medicine at Hershey Medical Center, Penn State University in 1996 and has supported this program ever since. AFF members who volunteer for the Palliative Care Initiative committee complete a training program accredited by the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization (NHPC ) in addition to the hospital volunteer training program. These volunteers donate their time & energy to help Palliative Care staff, their patients and/or patients’ families.
HISTORY:
The word“ Palliative “comes from the Latin word “Palliate“, which means to ease or to comfort.
The concept of Palliative Care was developed from hospice and has changed significantly over time. Palliative Care is a relatively new specialty compared to the other fields of medicine. The first palliative care service in the United States started in 1987 at the Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center.
In 1990, the World Health Organization (WHO) recognized Palliative Care as a distinct specialty dedicated to relieving suffering and improving quality of life for patients with life limiting illness or serious injuries.
In Hershey, in mid 90s, AFF lost one of its active board members to a brain tumor. She and her family suffered a lot in the process of her illness advancing. A couple months after her death, several AFF board members approached then Dean McAllister Everts with suggestion of having Palliative Care at HMC along with promises of fundraising for it. As a result, in 1997, a Palliative Care service opened at HMC. (Palliative Care is the "baby" of AFF.) It was in a two rooms unit with one nurse, half time physician and bunch of hospice/palliative care trained AFF volunteers. Since then, every year a new group of AFF members has been H/PC trained by a NHPCO accredited organization. Through the years palliative care service in Hershey had changed from in unit service caring for dozens of patients a year to a consultation one caring for >2000 patients a year in the clinic and hospital.
These days the service is staffed by 6 board certified physicians, 4 advance practice clinicians, 2 nurses, a full-time social worker, a full-time chaplain, a part-time pharmacist, a fellow and elective rotating students, residents and fellows from other specialties including hematology/oncology. From the beginning of Palliative Care Service at HMC, for the last 27 years, AFF palliative care volunteers have helped patients and staff any way they could.
AFF Members are welcome to join the PCI Committee. Please contact Behjat Noori via the password protected Member Directory.