WATERVILLE — The Maine Hospice Council and Center for End-of-Life Care will host a “Community-Based Palliative Care for ME: Statewide Educational Conference” at Thomas College on March 27-28.
Maine palliative care enhances quality of life through physical, emotional, spiritual and psycho-social interdisciplinary team management of pain and other symptoms. Palliative care services are a high quality, cost-effective approach to helping individuals deal with serious illness.
Market research data, compiled by Hospice Analytics in 2015, reveals only 10 of 34 Maine hospitals report having a palliative care program. In addition, those programs may have varying structures, staffing, and services.
The March 27-28 Educational Conference at Thomas College, will bring together a number of palliative care experts to share current data analytics, messaging, education and other relevant information to providers and consumers in Maine. They will underscore the value of offering palliative care statewide, as well as developing palliative care programs in all Maine hospitals.
The Conference Keynote Speakers and their topics are:
1. Marian Grant, DNP, ACNP-BC, ACHPN, FPCN, FAAN, RN “Using Evidence-based Principles to Strengthen Public/Provider Engagement with Palliative Care”
2. Constance Dahlin, MSN, ANP- BC, ACHPN, FPCN, FAAN “National Consensus Guidelines: Framing Quality Palliative Care”
3. Torrie Fields, Founder/CEO TFA Analytics; Strategic Advisor to the Coalition to Transform Care “Developing a Statewide Medicaid Palliative Care Benefit for Maine: Focusing on Value-based Analytics”
“When individuals are living with serious illnesses and their pain and symptoms are not managed effectively, quality of life is often compromised, resulting in poor healthcare outcomes. Palliative care is a team approach to effectively managing pain and symptoms for a patient at any age and any stage of a serious illness. The goal is to enhance the individual’s quality of life, help them remain at home for as long as possible and generate higher quality healthcare outcomes for all Maine people.” says Kandyce Powell, Maine Hospice Council executive director.
Complete information, including details on the conference speakers and presenters and conference registration, is available on the Maine Hospice Council website: https://mainehospicecouncil.org/.
