Palliative Care as a Standard in Serious Illness

We welcome the Southeast and Central Massachusetts Palliative Care Workgroups to the Honoring Choices Partner Network! The Workgroups are a subset of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Cancer Prevention and Control Network. This multi-disciplined group of care providers focus on ways to embed palliative care as a standard practice in serious illness care for all - with increased attention to cultural awareness and outreach. The Central and Southeastern MA Palliative Care Workgroups convene quarterly, each in their respective regions, to share information and ideas that strengthen community partnerships and expand understanding of and access to palliative care. The pandemic created challenges for all providers, but members quickly shifted from in-person to online meetings to maintain the collaborative goals of the workgroups. The zoom platform provided opportunities for networking and resource sharing during a time when in-person meetings could not be held.  During the past year, members focused on contributing to a shared digital platform to highlight articles, projects, conferences and news related to palliative care. As the pandemic began to highlight serious issues of health inequity, members explored and discussed methods to outreach more effectively to populations that traditionally have not been reached by palliative care programs.  As a Partner, Honoring Choices  supports their workgroup meetings and posts consumer and care provider educational materials on our website that come from our joint collaboration. The Workgroups invite related providers and interest groups to participate. For more information, please contact Margaret Franckhauser, MS, MPH, RN, Director Aging Services, JSI/CHI, margaret_franckhauser@jsi.com or Christine Bradley,christine_bradley@jsi.com