Rural Palliative Care Community Development Project

Stratis Health will provide one-on-one foundational support and technical assistance for rural communities looking to start or strengthen their community-based palliative care services. Stratis Health currently is recruiting six rural communities from around Minnesota for this 10-month project. To be eligible, a community must be served by a hospital with 100 or less licensed beds.

This project brings together a combined focus on rural health care, palliative care standards and processes, and facilitated action planning for participating communities. Participants will receive a variety of services and resources free of charge, including:

• Training and consultation to develop an action plan for implementing/enhancing palliative care services in their community.
• Facilitated educational and visioning workshop conducted with community stakeholders to develop a plan for palliative care services in their community.
• A primary contact person to connect the community team with program resources and expertise
• Individual follow-up and support

The National Priority Partnership recently identified palliative and end of life care as one of six priorities for the American health care system. Stratis Health wants to assist rural communities in meeting the challenge of providing appropriate and compassionate care for patients with life-limiting illness.

A community must designate one organization to submit an application on behalf of the community team. Community teams will vary in composition but will include some combination of members of a health care interdisciplinary team. This initiative requires each team to consist of a multi-site team—representing more than one provider setting and interdisciplinary professionals. The application must indicate commitment from all key, participating health care providers and organizations in your community, such as hospitals, clinics, home health agencies, nursing homes, and hospice programs.

While there is no fee to participate in the collaborative, participating organizations must to commit resources and staff to the initiative. Community selection will be announced in early June. UCare is sponsoring this effort along with development of a rural palliative care resource center. 

Application materials

Carefully review all application materials before completing and submitting your application.

• Benefits, expectations, and commitment
• Community application instructions
• Community application

Application deadline      

Application materials must be received by 5:00 p.m. Friday, May 28, 2010.

Overview of palliative care

Palliative Care. This presentation defines the components and importance of palliative care, discusses approaches and interventions to help patients and families identify and communicate goals for care, especially in the home care setting, and discusses ways professional staff can support patients and families who are "not ready" for hospice. Presented by Shiri Etzioni, MD, Lyn Ceronsky, APRN, MS, and Virginia Bender, RN, BS of Transitions and Life Choices, University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview Health Services. (57-minute recorded Webinar) Handout (42-page PowerPoint PDF)

Questions

Questions regarding Rural Palliative Care Community Development can be directed to Karla Weng at 952-853-8570 or Janelle Shearer at 952-853-8553.

Success in rural palliative care

This project follows on the success of the Stratis Health led Minnesota Rural Palliative Care Initiative through which 10 rural Minnesota communities participated in an 18-month initiative to establish or strengthen palliative care programs in their communities. UCare funded the initiative and Fairview Health Services’ Palliative Care Program provided clinical and operational expertise. Project description fact sheet (2-page PDF)

Stratis Health also led a rural health quality technical assistance pilot project, in conjunction with the National Rural Health Association, with three communities across the country. National Rural Health Association, Rural Palliative Care Pilot Project, Final Report, September 29, 2009 (40-page PDF)