2018; Volume 19, No 9, September
Message from the Chair and Executive Director
Dear Readers,
Exceptionally heavy rainfall this monsoon season and other factors have resulted in severe flooding in Kerala, India. Devastating floods have killed around 400 people since June, and more than a million others have been displaced, with many of them taking shelter in thousands of relief camps across the state. We are deeply sorry for the loss of life and property of the millions of people who are now suffering; many of those now displaced and living in refugee camps are persons with palliative care needs. Our colleagues and friends at Pallium India have launched a campaign, 'Let us not leave them adrift’, seeking health care volunteers and cash donations for flood victims. We hope that many of our readers find a way to help our brothers and sisters in Kerala.
On the positive side, we have a few initiatives to highlight:
Next month is IAHPC Members’ Recognition Month. IAHPC benefits every day from the hard work of our members, who are devoted to the advancement of hospice and palliative care worldwide. Members exemplify a continuing commitment to patient care, improving education, and developing favorable policies consistent with our mission. To celebrate Members’ Month, IAHPC will award a prize (a Traveling Scholarship or Traveling Fellowship of up to $2,000) for each of two categories: a) Recognizing member loyalty, and b) Increasing our membership. Keep an eye out for the announcement in the next few weeks.
Last month, we performed a thorough review of our list of subscribers, testing all the email addresses of our members, and found that many of you have a spam filter system, such as Boxbe or SpamBully. We agree that there is a lot of junk and spam out there and that these systems are useful, but an unintentional result is that you may be regularly missing out on important news and information about the international palliative care movement. Anti-spam programs may be blocking the IAHPC newsletter and our regular announcements, such as ‘Did You Know?’ To ensure that you are receiving all email communications from IAHPC, please add the IAHPC email address ([email protected]) to your contacts. And check your spam folder for what you may have missed. Happy reading!
Until next month,
Lukas Radbruch, MD
Chair, Board of Directors
Liliana De Lima, MHA
Executive Director