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Dear Readers:
Membership is very important to IAHPC. We have established a system so that membership is affordable to almost all palliative and hospice care workers in the World: the lowest fee is as little
as ten dollars per year, which the majority of people can afford. This has been a determinant to the geographical mix of our members, and we are proud to know that they come from all regions of
the world. Our membership is quite different from the one offered by other scientific associations: we don't have a journal and we don't have an annual meeting. In keeping faith with our mission,
our funds are used to promote the development of palliative and hospice care in the world and as you know, we have several programs to make this happen. In this regard, your membership payment
is a way to support these efforts and in this process, interest others - donors, individuals, and private companies to also contribute.
However, many of our members do not renew their membership and we have discussed ways to prevent this from happening, so we recently carried out an anonymous survey to find out what are the reasons
for desertion. Many thanks to all those who replied to this survey. The majority stated that they received significant benefits from membership and that they are interested in renewing. Many reported
they were unaware their membership had expired. Although we send written notices via regular mail and e-mails, we may not have the correct updated contact information for many. If you change your
address or e-mail, please let us know so that we can keep reaching you and sending our Newsletters. Also, if you are not a member, or if your membership has expired, we invite you to join
the organization or renew your membership and become part of this great organization.
One of the wonderful programs we have is our Traveling Fellowship Program in which we support the travel of individuals who have been invited to teach in developing countries. We have new reports
from two of our Traveling Fellows: Dr Steven Radwany (in this issue) who visited the Instituto de Oncologia and Radiobiologia in Havana and Dr Bruno Gagnon who visited the Palliative Care Program
in the Universidad Austral in Argentina (visit our website). We invite you to read more about this program and their exciting trips in this edition of the newsletter and on our website at URL:
http://www.hospicecare.com/travelfellow/tfmain.htm
Another such program is the Faculty Development Program which pays for the salary of a full time professor teaching palliative care in a developing country. As we announced last month, Amrita
Institute of Medical Sciences in Kerala, India, has been awarded one of these grants. Dr. Gayatri Palat, has been selected by Amrita as the teaching professor and we are proud to support her in
this process. This award is a joint collaboration with the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO). More information about the program as well as pictures of Amrita and
its palliative care staff, are available in http://www.hospicecare.com/faculty/index.htm
We are proud to let you know that starting this month, the journal Progress in Palliative Care will feature a regular monthly column about IAHPC. We are very grateful to the editor,
Dr. David Currow and the rest of the editorial Board for this invitation. We urge you to visit this journal's website and learn more about it. The journal is accessible in http://www.maney.co.uk/search?fwaction=show&fwid=205.
This week (June 4-7) we will be in the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting with a stand in the exhibition area. If you plan to be there, please stop by our booth
#524 and say hello. We look forward to seeing friends and members there.
Until next month,
Eduardo Bruera, MD, Chair Board of Directors
Liliana De Lima, MHA, Executive Director
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