Townhalls
Town Halls 2004
Hard Diagnosis, Soft Landings:
New approaches to treating life-limiting illnesses through palliative care
Working with experts in cancer care, NCCS presented two town hall meetings in the fall of 2004. Each community forum, called Hard Diagnosis, Soft Landings: New approaches to treating life-limiting illnesses through palliative care, highlighted the role of palliative care in cancer care. For many patients in cancer treatment, palliative care makes a real difference in their quality of life, by alleviating pain, managing symptoms and putting the concerns of patients and their families first.
NCCS worked closely with the Massey Cancer Center of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, and with Fairview Health Services of Minneapolis, Minnesota, to host these events. Both Massey Cancer Center and Fairview Health Services are leaders in palliative care. They share their expertise by training and mentoring hospitals from across the country in strengthening the delivery of palliative care.
To view a short video about palliative care, please click here. This video features patients and doctors from Massey Cancer Center and Fairview Health Services.
(High-speed connection recommended for optimal viewing.)
To read the full transcript of the Town Hall in Richmond, VA, please click here.
"We always think about what are the tools that we have to treat patients with cancer. We think of radiation, we think about chemotherapy, we think about pain medications, and we think about palliative care…Tools and teams. Because what we are doing… is that we are creating an environment so that patients get the care that they need in a way that helps them."
Sherman Baker, M.D.
Medical Director, Hematology/Oncology Clinics
Massey Cancer Center
Virginia Commonwealth University
To read the full transcript of the Town Hall in Minneapolis, MN, please click here.
"Palliative care is extremely important, not just to me as an individual and to members of my and other leadership teams within Fairview, but to the organization. We take seriously our mission to improve the health of the communities we serve, and we will readily acknowledge that the health industry has not always done the best job of taking care of that either from practicing physician or hospital, and we are committed to making that better."
Gordon Alexander, Jr., M.D.
President
Fairview-University Medical Center
These programs were made possible by a community grant from the Lance Armstrong Foundation, dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for those living with, through, and beyond cancer.
Town Hall 2003
Living & Dying Well With Cancer: A Community Conversation
On April 25, 2003, NCCS traveled to Cleveland, Ohio to explore how one community is coping with palliative and end-of-life issues. This NCCS town hall featured recognized leaders including former National Cancer Institute Director and cancer survivor Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach and author of Dying Well Dr. Ira Byock. Patients, families, community leaders, members of the media, and distinguished guests, including Congressman Ralph Regula (R-OH), who leads the House Appropriations Committee, and a representative of Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH) contributed to this important community conversation.
The Town Hall highlighted the outstanding, pioneering work of Project Safe Conduct, a collaboration of the Ireland Cancer Center at University Hospitals of Cleveland/Case Western Reserve University and Hospice of the Western Reserve. This program integrates palliative care across the lifespan for people with cancer and is considered a model by NCCS for other communities and other cancer centers to emulate.
Living and Dying Well with Cancer: Successfully Integrating Palliative Care and Cancer Treatment, a monograph published by Promoting Excellence in End-of-Life Care reports on the success of Project Safe Conduct and three additional demonstration projects. To view or download the complete monograph, click here.
NCCS thanks everyone who participated in Living and Dying Well with Cancer: A Community Conversation on Friday, April 25. Because we were not able to address all of the questions we received via the Internet during the Town Hall, we've asked some of our panelists to send us their responses and have posted them here.
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