Two Catholic health care providers were among the six organizations that received Circle of Life Awards or Citations of Honor this summer for their offerings in palliative and end-of-life care. Calvary Hospital of Bronx, N.Y., was one of three recipients of the top award; and St. Joseph Hospital of Orange, Calif., was among the three that received citations.
The American Hospital Association annually presents the recognitions — the Circle of Life Award: Celebrating Innovation in Palliative and End-of-Life Care — and citations to organizations with superior programs delivered with compassion, dedication and in collaboration with others. This year's awards ceremony was July 20 in San Francisco. CHA is among the Circle of Life Award's sponsors.
In recognizing Calvary, AHA noted that 200-bed specialty hospital began providing palliative care — that is its singular focus — long before such care became part of mainstream medicine. Established in 1899 for mortally ill and abandoned widows, the hospital now sees about one-third of people who die of cancer in New York City. It provides inpatient treatment, home care, ambulatory care, home hospice and nursing home hospice for patients; intensive training programs in palliative care for clinicians; and support programs for patients and families.
The hospital's staff and social workers — many of whom are bilingual — help both patients and families adjust to the patients' diagnosis and prepare for what's ahead. Calvary encourages its staff to acknowledge the sacredness of their encounters with patients, being present to them, touching them and holding them. This is a central part of the culture at Calvary, its administrators say.
In recognizing the 525-bed St. Joseph with a citation, AHA called out the facility's success in integrating palliative care services across multiple care settings. The hospital has a palliative care team that includes physicians, nurse practitioners, a social worker and a chaplain and interacts with St. Joseph's staff in both inpatient and outpatient care. That team has trained nurses across the facility in palliative care, so the nurses can make patients and others aware — early in the patient's disease process — that these services are available.
A goal of the palliative care team is to ease the transitions that patients make between care settings. They do this by coordinating patient care plans with St. Joseph's inpatient and home care staff. This coordination also helps reduce unnecessary hospital admissions, the team has found. The program's administrators say the palliative care team's work is grounded in a respect for the dignity of the patient and the family.