Archives for 2009

There are now many little patients who are living longer and better because of our advances in medical technology  but they do live with very complicated medical problems, and many will unfortunately still die at a young age. As you can imagine, this is a very difficult journey for these little children and their families.

A new specialty has emerged in Pediatrics to help these most special patients called Palliative Care. The Palliative Care team would like to provide support for a family at the initial diagnosis, then all along the course of that child's life, and finally, help the family prepare for their child's death.

    The Palliative Care team helps the child with symptom and pain relief, and also provides much needed psychological and spiritual support for the child, their siblings and parents during these very difficult times. The team consists of physicians, nurses, social workers, child life specialists, psychologists, and spiritual leaders, such as ministers, priests, and rabbis. The Palliative Care team wants to help a little child live as well as possible for as long as possible, and then help make the end of that child's life be as pain-free and peaceful as possible.

As you can imagine, it takes very special people to be able to practice Palliative Care.  This kind of treatment requires hours and hours with each patient and family, and is not adequately funded by insurance companies.  We rely on wonderful charity organizations such as the Careity Foundation here in Ft Worth to provide this much needed care.  The Careity Foundation has an amazing charity event, a Western-themed Gala called "Branded" here every August to raise money for our new Palliative Care program here at Cook Childrens Medical Center, and they have provided us with immeasurable support.