PORTLAND, Ore. — The Regence Foundation recently awarded $98,400 to Sacred Heart Medical Center to expand access to palliative care services in Lane County. Palliative care is a medical specialty geared toward helping seriously ill patients find relief from the symptoms of their disease.

Sacred Heart already offers inpatient palliative care at its hospitals, and will use the grant to help educate primary care providers about palliative care options and connect community members to palliative care resources. The hospital estimates approximately 1,072 patients annually will benefit from the care provided by this program; currently, the capacity is about 650 people.

“Most people associate palliative care with hospice, but palliative care extends well beyond hospice to anyone who needs help managing the pain and symptoms of a serious disease,” said Michael Alexander, Regence Foundation board chair. “Hospitals are a critical resource for patients who need help with symptom management, and ensuring palliative care is available to patients earlier in the disease process is a priority for The Regence Foundation. We’d like to recognize Sacred Heart for their work in this important area, and for making this a priority in the community.”

Research shows that most doctors avoid talking to their patients about palliative care until the last few months of life. To increase the number of patients who receive palliative care services earlier in the disease process, the hospital is hiring a palliative care coordinator to provide seminars for area primary care providers and clinicians and connect patients to those who practice palliative care. The coordinator will also help launch a community volunteer program to support palliative care for patients and their families.

“The PeaceHealth mission commits all caregivers to promote personal and community health, relieve pain and suffering, and treat each person in a loving and caring way,” said Mel Pyne, PeaceHealth Oregon Region CEO. “Through the Regence Foundation’s support of palliative care coordination, we will be able to reach more people in need of respite from pain and suffering and extend palliative care services to the wider community.”

The grant to Sacred Heart is part of The Regence Foundation’s Sojourns™ grantmaking program to promote hospital- and community-based palliative care services. Through Sojourns™, The Foundation aims 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.