Published on September 29, 2011

National Expert in Palliative Care to Speak in Medford

Palliative Care talk will focus on medical, emotional, and spiritual care for the seriously ill

Steven Pantilat, MD, FACP, a nationally known specialist in palliative care, will present a lecture, “State of the Art of Palliative Care,” on Wed. Oct. 5 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Smullin Health Education Center on the Rogue Valley Medical Center Campus in Medford, Oregon.

The event will be ushered in with inspired music by the certified music thanatologists James Excell and Elizabeth Markell. Refreshments will be served.

Sponsored by the Palliative Care Service at Rogue Valley Medical Center, Dr. Pantilat’s talk will help both healthcare workers and the public understand the concepts of palliative care and how they are applied in hospitals and other medical settings to improve the quality of life for those facing serious, life-threatening illnesses.

The talk is free and open to the public. Healthcare professionals who care for patients with chronic or life-threatening illnesses are encouraged to attend.

A dynamic speaker, Dr. Pantilat is a professor of clinical medicine at University of California San Francisco; Alan M. Kates and John M. Burnard Endowed Chair in Palliative Care; Director, Palliative Care Leadership Center; and Medical Director, Palliative Care Service, Department of Medicine, UCSF.

What is Palliative Care?

The concept of humane medicine, where we treat the person as well as the disease, is gaining strong support from both patient advocates and the medical community. Palliative care helps people cope with serious, life-threatening or long-term illness, both medically and emotionally, and helps patients and families make their own decisions about the course of treatment for their illness.

Oregon is a leader in this new kind of medical, emotional and spiritual care, and Rogue Valley Medical Center has recently launched a palliative care program thanks to a grant from the Regence Foundation.

Palliative medicine puts together physicians, nurses, chaplains, social workers, and other health professionals to create a plan of care to relieve suffering in all areas of a patient's life. They treat the whole patient, not just the illness, and that means listening to them, respecting them, and helping them live life as fully as possible.

Palliative care reduces suffering and improves quality of life for individuals and their families. It is provided at any stage of an illness and may be provided simultaneously alongside curative treatment.