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Message from the Chair
and Executive Director
Roberto Wenk, MD (Argentina)
Liliana De Lima, MHA (USA)
Dear readers:
Hello to all. We have several announcements.
We are currently developing a strategic plan for the next five years. We have within the IAHPC website an online forum for access by IAHPC board members and a few invited external experts in order to discuss selected topics.
There are eleven groups working in two main areas:
1. Evaluation of:
- the current IAHPC mission and vision
- our sustainability strategy
- the activity of the board of directors
- our current programs and their effectiveness
- the content and performance of the IAHPC website
- the IAHPC Newsletter, other publications and our ability to respond to requests for information
2. Consider new initiatives:
- to affiliate with palliative care publications
- to produce an on-line palliative care encyclopedia – Pallipedia
- to develop a consensus based method to identify levels of palliative care practices
- to provide a platform for mentoring and distance education
- to develop a method to evaluate palliative care knowledge globally
This process will result in important and significant changes but is one that requires time. We hope to complete our tasks within the next three months and we will keep you informed of the outcomes.
As part of this strategic plan, we have been reviewing the utilization data for some sections in our website, including two of our free online publications from the IAHPC Press: Getting Started Guidelines and the IAHPC Manual of Palliative Care (2nd Ed).
The Guidelines were viewed more than 20,000 times during 2007 and more than 9,000 times so far this year. To see the Guidelines, click on http://www.hospicecare.com/gs/
The Manual was viewed more than 36,000 times last year and more than 14,000 times so far this year. To see the Manual click on http://www.hospicecare.com/manual/
Based on these numbers, we assume that readers find both publications useful and we plan to update them this year. If you have any suggestions about any of our publications, please feel free to forward them to us.
Last month we had a record number of new members join IAHPC! More than half were from developing countries and we are very proud to be increasing participation in IAHPC from all regions of the world.
This month we awarded two Traveling Scholarship grants to Dr. Ed Marie Tongonon from Ilolo City, Philippines and Dr. Nirmala Sreekumar from Kerala, India. They will attend the Asia Pacific Hospice Network (APHN) Palliative Care Fellowship Graduate Certificate in conjunction with Flinders University (Australia). Congratulations to both for receiving this award! We hope that this program will empower and strengthen them to advance palliative care in their countries - we look forward to their reports.
In addition to these two new awards, in 2008, we have awarded eight additional Traveling Scholarships to palliative care workers from developing countries to enable them to travel to seminars and congresses. If you are interested in donating to this program, or learning more about it, click on http://www.hospicecare.com/Travellscholars/
Best wishes to all and until next month,
Roberto Wenk, MD
Chair, Board of Directors
Liliana De Lima, MHA
Executive Director
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