Circle of Life: Gundersen Health System Receives Palliative Care Honor
Today Gundersen Health System, based in Lacrosse Wisconsin, received the Circle of Life Award: Celebrating Innovation in Palliative and End-of-Life Care Citation of Honor.
Rich Umbdenstock, President and CEO of the American Hospital Association, a sponsor of the award, stated that Gundersen’s model can be” viewed as a model for others beginning this journey or well on their way”. He goes on to say that:
When we or a loved one are seriously ill, we want health care that meets our physical, emotional and spiritual needs — and our families’ needs as well. This can include relieving pain and other symptoms, supporting family caregivers and helping to coordinate the work of various doctors, hospitals, nursing homes, and home care providers. This work is part of the mission of palliative care services, which are increasingly playing a greater role in health care (Lacrosse Tribune, 2013.)
The Circle of Life Award celebrates programs across the nation that have made great strides in palliative and end-of-life care. This is the 14th year for the Circle of Life Award. The 2013 awards are supported, in part, by the California HealthCare Foundation, based in Oakland, and the Cambia Health Foundation. Major sponsors are the American Hospital Association, the Catholic Health Association and the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization & National Hospice Foundation. The awards are cosponsored by the Alliance for Excellence in Hospice and Palliative Nursing, the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and the National Association of Social Workers. The Circle of Life Award is a program administered by the Health Research & Educational Trust.
Circle of Life nominations were received and reviewed by a selection committee that included leaders from medicine, nursing, social work and health administration. The committee visited programs that
- provide effective, timely, safe, efficient, equitable patient and family-centered palliative and end-of-life care;
- use innovative approaches to critical needs and serve as sustainable, replicable models for the field;
- seek to address multi-faceted needs of persons living with serious illness; and,
- are actively working with other health care organizations, education and training programs, and the community.
The programs selected serve as innovative models for other communities.
