The Regence Foundation awarded a $52,000 grant to the Doernbecher Children’s Hospital Foundation in support of the hospital’s Bridges pediatric palliative care program. The grant will be used to survey pediatric palliative care training needs among community hospice nurses throughout Oregon and Southwest Washington and develop a pediatric hospice training curriculum and DVD.
Palliative care is a holistic approach that treats the whole person, including management of pain and other discomfort at any stage of disease, while supporting caregivers and families. Depending on a patient’s needs and goals for care, palliative care may be combined with or supplant curative therapies.
“With only two dedicated pediatric hospice programs in Oregon, the need for pediatric palliative care education in hospice settings is compelling,” said Bridges Program Director, Kathy Perko, P.N.P. “This grant from The Regence Foundation will mean that hospices throughout Oregon and SW Washington will have more tools to better care for and support dying children and their families.”
OHSU Doernbecher, a part of Oregon Health & Science University and a regional leader in pediatric care, created Bridges in 2005 as a pediatric palliative care consult service for providers in Oregon and Southwest Washington who are caring for a child with a life-limiting illness. Bridges also partners with St. Luke’s Health System in Boise, Idaho.
The Regence Foundation unveiled its signature philanthropic program, Sojourns, to foster best practices, leadership and collaboration that help people with life-threatening and incurable illness to access quality palliative care in their own community. The Bridges program at OHSU Doernbecher was the first to receive a Sojourns grant.
The Doernbecher Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization that exists to secure private philanthropic support for Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. The foundation raises funds from individuals, companies, foundations and organizations, and invests and manages gifts in accordance with donors’ wishes.