The National Initiative for the Care of the Elderly’s (NICE) End-of-Life Issues Theme Team, in collaboration with the Bruyère Research Institute’s (BRI) Palliative Care Education and Research program, hosted the 2012 World Hospice and Palliative Care Day Special Lecture at Élisabeth Bruyère Hospital in Ottawa on January 17, 2013.
This lecture was organized to highlight the international hospice and palliative care movements and to raise awareness and understanding of the various medical, social, practical and spiritual needs of people living with a life-limiting illness and their families.
In front of a live audience of more than 40 people and via video conference to 2 further Canadian sites alongside the University of Glasgow, Dumfries Campus in Scotland, Sharon Baxter, Executive Director of the Canadian Hospice Palliative Care Association (CHPCA), provided an overview on current developments in international hospice and palliative care – including activities of the Worldwide Palliative Care Alliance (WPCA) and the International Children’s Palliative Care Network (ICPCN).
Despite the remarkable growth, this presentation, based on a WPCA study on palliative care around the world (), highlighted the need for further enhancement especially in resource-poor settings.
Professor David Clark’s (University of Glasgow, Dumfries Campus) keynote address spoke to his book “Cicely Saunders: Founder of the Hospice Movement, Selected Letters 1959-1999” (Published by Clarendon Press in 2002) and on the Dame Cicely Saunders. The Dame focussed her remarkable life on the start of the current hospice and palliative care movements.
As a world-renowned medical sociologist specializing in hospice and palliative care and founding Director of the International Observatory on End of Life Care at Lancaster University in England, Professor Clark painted a lively picture of her work and continuing legacy.
This lecture, moderated by Dr. José Pereira of the Bruyère Research Institute, will be available as a free podcast via the Ontario Telehealth Network (OTN) within the month. For access, please visit: http://webcast.otn.ca and click ‘Archived Events’, ‘Public’ and ‘24925301 World Hospice and Palliative Care Day Special Lecture (Archived)’.
For further information, please feel free to contact Dr. Christopher Klinger at cklinger@bruyere.org.
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