2021; Volume 22, No 3, March
10 IAHPC Scholarships for Online EAPC World Congress
Thanks to a generous donation by the European Association for Palliative Care, the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care has 10 complimentary scholarships for the 17th World Congress of the European Association for Palliative Care being held online October 6-8, 2021.
The scholarships will be awarded to IAHPC members from low-income or lower-middle-income countries; the deadline to apply is June 30, 2021. To find out if you are eligible, check your country’s income status (as defined by World Bank income classification data) here.
The winners of the scholarships will be announced mid-July.
Preference will be given to applicants who:
- Have not received a grant from IAHPC in the past three years.
- Have been IAHPC active members for two or more consecutive years, and be a current member at the time of the congress.
- Whose institution is an IAHPC active member. (Our institutional members
- Are dedicated full-time to palliative care in their current work.
- Graduated less than 10 years ago from university.
- Have an accepted abstract for poster/oral presentation. (Proof of acceptance is required.)
- Describe in their application long-term goals that lead to improvements in any or all of the following areas: service provision, education, availability of and access to medicines, and public policy.
For more information on how to apply for the scholarship please contact Genevieve Napier, IAHPC Programs Officer.
To learn more about European Association for Palliative Care visit the IAHPC Global Directory of Palliative Care Institutions and Organizations
Save the Date! Members-Only Screening of New Film
The IAHPC will host a virtual screening of the new film Caregiver: A love story on March 26, 2021 at 9 a.m. CST followed by an interactive discussion with Dr. Jessica Zitter, palliative care doctor, author, producer and director, Ms. Harmala Gupta, advocate for cancer patients and IAHPC Board member, and Dr. Katherine Pettus, IAHPC Advocacy Officer.
Caregiver: A love story documents the journey of 60-year-old Bambi Fass who, after four years of unsuccessful cancer treatment, decides to focus on maximizing her quality of life. The film follows Bambi’s decision to go into palliative/hospice care at home and highlights the complex and unexpected challenges for Rick, her caregiver husband. It also focuses on the need for palliative care teams to attend more closely to the support needs of family caregivers, including through advocacy.
If you are not a member, you can sign up here. Paid memberships start as low as $20; undergraduates in any discipline and post-graduates in a palliative care program can join for free.
An announcement with further details will be emailed closer to the date. If you are not on our mailing list, you can sign up here.
News from IAHPC institutional members
This enthusiastic, and appropriately masked, group of nurses took part in the virtual Walk for Life. A variety of joyful activities included a powerful drum performance from the Djembe Circle, yoga, and Zumba dancing. Photo courtesy of CanSupport. Used with permission.
CanSupport Walk for Life Turned Virtual,
but Participants’ Enthusiasm Was Real!
Participants from the US: a virtual event meant more global walkers! Photo courtesy of CanSupport. Used with permission.
CanSupport’s annual Walk for Life—Stride against Cancer went virtual this year for the first time since it was launched in 2008. On February 7, more than 2,500 people marked the event by walking, running, or cycling on their own or in small groups. Unlike the usual event, where thousands gather to walk Rajpath boulevard in New Delhi, the walk this year was truly global, says Harmala Gupta, founder and president of CanSupport.
“Being our first ‘virtual’ walk we did not know what to expect,” says Ms. Gupta. “We were pleasantly surprised to see the enthusiasm of the participants, which made up for the expected fall in numbers.
“Thanks to the ingenuity of our organising team, we did hold a ‘Lap of Honour’ for our day care patients and families. Without this, our walk would have been incomplete,” she added. “The photos and videos were heartwarming and came from all corners of India and the world.”
The walk is held to commemorate World Cancer Day, raise public awareness, express solidarity with people living with cancer, and mobilize funds for CanSupport’s services.
Makers Lab, the R&D unit of Tech Mahindra, helped CanSupport create an app for the walk that enabled participants to track and record their activities. To build momentum, throughout January CanSupport released awareness talks on Facebook, covering different types of cancers and shared self-care tips.
CanSupport is already planning next year’s walk, on Sunday, February 6, 2022!
Great idea! Nyeri Deputy Governor Dr. Caroline Karugu has been named Kenya’s Palliative Care Ambassador by the Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association. “We need to advocate for persons living with palliative care needs in our society,” says Dr. Karugu, who has worked with people living with non-communicable diseases, particularly those with cancer. There are an estimated 1 million people in Kenya who require palliative care, but few have access.
In other news
Join Eminent Researchers across the World:
Apply for a 2021 EAPC Researcher Award
The European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) invites palliative care researchers to apply for its 2021 EAPC Researcher Awards. Initiated in 2009, the EAPC Researcher Awards honour researchers who have recently made, or are currently making, an outstanding contribution to research and clinical practice in palliative care.
The awards are open to researchers from all professions, clinical and non-clinical, and from anywhere in the world, who are working in palliative care. Award winners will be invited to give a plenary lecture and will receive free registration for 17th EAPC World Congress, being held online October 6-8, 2021.
You can apply (or nominate a colleague) for one of three categories: Early Research Award, Post-Doctoral Award, or Clinical Impact Award. The deadline for submissions is 5 p.m. CET, March 31, 2021.
For more information, full eligibility criteria, and to apply, go here. Read inspiring accounts from former EAPC Researcher Award winners here.
Launch of Children's Palliative Care
Education Standards Framework
The good news is that there is an increasing understanding that children and their families across the globe need access to palliative care and support. As such, the Children's Palliative Care Education and Training action group launched a set of standards on February 25, 2021. Available here, it aims to support—not limit or regulate—educators across all learning delivery settings and disciplines.
The standards framework covers four levels of care (public health, universal, core, and specialist), and has been developed for use across all learning delivery settings and disciplines. It is intended to be used by educators to coordinate and assure the quality of their programs; a self-audit tool enables program leads to evaluate their course.
WHO Guide on Management of Chronic Pain in Children
In February, the World Health Organization released its Guidelines on Management of Chronic Pain in Children. The International Children’s Palliative Care Network is helping to disseminate news of the guidance document. [Read IAHPC’s reaction to the new guidelines in the February issue.]
In its press release, the WHO states that the guidelines “provide recommended physical, psychological, and pharmacological interventions for pain relief in children aged 0-19 years. The guideline supports Member States and their partners to develop and implement national and local policies, regulations, pain management protocols and best practices for pain relief.” You can download the guidance document here.
WHO’s future planning includes:
- Translation of the Executive Summary of the guideline document in the WHO official languages: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish
- Publications including one publication by WHO in a high impact peer-reviewed journal
- Facilitation of webinars in different languages
- Submission of abstracts and participation in regional and global conferences
- Learning tools to facilitate implementation of the guideline
Helping Paramedics in Palliative Care Situations
Paramedics and grief experts collaborated to develop a series of MyGriefToolbox.ca modules to help paramedics during interactions that can have an impact on a person’s grief or ability to recover.
Eight free, online modules, available in French and English, cover such common questions as: What do I say to a family member in distress? How do I deal with a family who is resisting my clinical advice? What is there to learn when a call didn’t go as I’d hoped? How do I tell an unprepared family that death is imminent?
The modules are:
- Understanding PC calls, grief, and the paramedic’s role
- Assessment and building trust
- Strategies for difficult conversations and clinical explanations
- Decision-making skills
- Strategies for challenging situations
- Way to support the patients and family
- Techniques to understand work-related grief, stress, and personal growth
- Suggestions for family and friends of paramedics
If you are interested in this resource, you may also want to read this month’s book review of Palliative and End of Life Care for Paramedics.
To learn more about CanSupport, the Kenya Hospices and Palliative Care Association , and the European Association for Palliative Care visit the IAHPC Global Directory of Palliative Care Institutions and Organizations.
Each month, we publish items that may be of interest to our global readership. Contributions are welcomed.
- Content should describe opportunities to advance palliative care and improve knowledge, skills, and networking, e.g., education and training, travel grants, access to online resources, etc.
- 150 words maximum.
- Copy deadline: 20th of each month.
- Please submit your copy to the editor together with any JPEG images. We reserve the right to edit content.
Please also consider promoting your education and training events in the IAHPC Global Directory of Education in Palliative Care. It’s quick and easy — just submit your content online.
What’s New in the IAHPC Calendar
Asia-Pacific region
The Hong Kong Society of Children’s Palliative Care Annual Symposium. Virtual. March 13, 2021.
Palliative Care Course for Community Nurses (Basic). Online course. March 11-12, 2021.
Australia
Palliative Care Perspectives. Course. April 20, 2021. Darlinghurst.
Symptom Management in Advanced Illness. Course. May 20-21, 2021. Darlinghurst.
Advance Care Planning. Course. June 23, 2021. Darlinghurst.
Spain
How to Transform our Healthcare Systems. Course (in English and Spanish), mainly online. May to June, 2021. Barcelona.
USA
Addressing Critical Gaps in Global Health and Development. Online. March 12-14, 2021.
Third Annual Doulagivers World Training Day. Webinar. April 20, 2021.
Find a workshop, seminar, congress, or conference to interest you in the IAHPC Calendar of Events, updated monthly, that lists activities of special interest to those who work in palliative care. Or submit an event for consideration; it’s free!
