Dear Readers:
This issue marks the 17th Anniversary of the IAHPC Newsletter. Dr Bill Farr recalls that it all started as a simple idea while sitting at his dining room table in Taos, New Mexico. Immediately it was agreed to by Dr Jo Magno, the founder, president and CEO, of the predecessor of this organization! Bill typed, edited and produced a printed version in Taos and then mailed it through the postal service. Production was then moved to Michigan and former Executive Director, Bette Michael, handled the printing and distribution. Since Bette was an English teacher, she edited the editor – “thankfully,” Bill said.
As time went on it became an Internet newsletter with the help of Joe Child who was our first webmaster and a board member. In those early times, Bill remembers communicating with Derek Doyle in Scotland by fax – he didn’t do email then, but does now. We must not forget the many contributions of board members past and present such as Roger Woodruff with his wonderful book reviews, Carla Ripamonti and her articles of the month, and the many other board members who have contributed greatly to the content we have shared with you.
We are very proud of our Newsletter (NL), but most of all we are appreciative of the hard work and dedication of our senior editor, Dr William Farr, who has edited each issue for the past seventeen years. Although we are now both involved in the production of the newsletter, it was all Bill’s work for 15 years. He now supervises and does the final editing.
The Newsletter has proven to be a wonderful tool to disseminate a broad range of information and increase awareness about hospice and palliative care around the world and has served as a tool for many of you to learn about new developments, events and also to bring attention to your own programs, the challenges that many of you face and the progress that thousands have been able to achieve. We ask you to join us in thanking Dr. Farr for his effort and dedication.
Thanks also to our webmaster, Danilo Fritzler, for his excellent work in the lay out, setting and distribution of the Newsletter. Each month Danilo receives the NL from Bill, transforms it into an electronic file, creates a text version and a web version and sends it to nearly 8,000 subscribers!
We also wish to thank the many contributors and board members who have supplied us with outstanding content each month. We especially thank Dr. Roger Woodruff for his monthly book reviews. Many thanks as well to our members and readers who submit news and articles about their efforts and developments in their countries.
Please remember that we accept articles for our publication that describe your progress and the programs that you are implementing in your countries, as well as news from your region. Your articles enrich our newsletter and are a crucial part of our mission to facilitate communication.
We are pleased that our calls to apply for an IAHPC Traveling Scholarship to attend the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) meeting in Prague, Czech Republic, May 29-June 2, 2013, received such an enthusiastic response.
We are happy to announce the winners of these scholarships:
| Loubna Al Batlouni, MD Outreach Coordinator The Lebanese Center for Palliative Care – Balsam Beirut, LEBANON |
Alick Kayange Head, Pediatric section Pediatric section Pastoral Activities and Services for people with AIDS (PASADA) Dar es Salaam, TANZANIA |
Gustavo Rodio Psychoncologist. Supervisor of the ambulatory palliative care team Children’s Hospital Ricardo Gutierrez Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA |
| Jane Bates Clinical Director Palliative care support Trust/College of Medicine Blantyre, MALAWI |
Farzana Khan Medical Officer, Palliative Care Service, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Dhaka, BANGLADESH |
Mohamad Saab, RN Palliative Care Nurse The Lebanese Center for Palliative Care – Balsam Beirut, LEBANON |
| Sofia Bunge Education Coordinator of the Programa Argentino de Medicina Paliativa Fundacion Femeba Buenos Aires, ARGENTINA |
Dimitri Kordzaia, MD Director Georgian National Association for Palliative Care (GNAPC) Tiblisi, GEORGIA |
Srinagesh Simha Chairman and Director Karunashraya Hospice Karnataka, INDIA |
| Mohamad Bushnaq Director of the JordanPalliative Care Clinic and BushnaqTraining & Developing Center Amman, JORDAN |
Marta Ximena Leon Associate Professor, Universidad de La Sabana Pain and Palliative care group Bogota, COLOMBIA |
Pradnya Talawadekar Country coordinator for the IndianAssociation of Palliative Care (IAPC) Mumbai, INDIA |
| Dinesh Chandra Goswami CEO, Guwahati Pain & Palliative Care Society Guwahati, INDIA | Narine Movsisyan, MD Professor Anesthesiology and Intensive Care State Medical Univ. Yerevan, ARMENIA |
Jack Turyahikayo General practitioner College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Mulago Hospital Kampala, UGANDA |
| Josephine Mary Kabahweza Clinical Palliative Care Nurse Collage Of Health Sciences Makerere University Mulago Hospital Kampala, UGANDA |
Shoba Nair, MD Head of the Department of Pain and Palliative Care at St. John's Medical College Hospital Bangalore, INDIA |
Doris Xiao Associate Professor of Geriatrics and palliative care Beijing Tsinghua Hospital, Tsinghua University Beijing, CHINA |
| Noel Kalanga Deputy Clinical Director Health Malawi Neno, MALAWI |
Evelyn Octivia Nazziwa Senior Nurse Hospice Africa Uganda Kampala, UGANDA |
We received almost 60 applications, which posed many challenges to the selection committee. This means that many good candidates had their applications denied. We wish we could have provided more scholarships, but we have limited funds. Hopefully in the future more funding will be available to continue to support individuals that need assistance.
This edition includes a recent announcement sent by IAHPC about the two international directories in palliative care which are now available online.
The directories are:
- Global Directory of Service Providers and Organizations: This directory lists the organizations, palliative care organization and service providers around the globe. To date more than 700 listings are available in the directory. The listing includes contact information, addresses, and a description of the services provided.
- Global Directory of Educational Programs in Palliative Care: This directory lists the educational programs in palliative care by region, type of degree, language, costs, length of time and course content.
The announcement includes the link to the directories and instructions on how to submit your listings to the directories.
This edition includes a piece about a recent announcement from the Latin American Association for Palliative Care (ALCP for its Spanish acronym) about the development of palliative care indicators to be used at the national level. This follows our article which was featured in the previous edition about the importance of developing palliative care indicators.
The ALCP organized a meeting in Lima, Peru, last year with palliative care, public health experts and epidemiologists, in order to develop indicators which can be used to help monitor the progress and development of palliative care at the country level.
IAHPC supported this project by funding some of the costs of the meeting in Lima and helping with the preparation and publication of the final reports. Congratulations to the ALCP for this achievement and for being able to develop such a great resource. We hope to collaborate further with the ALCP to implement and pilot test the indicators.
We are very proud to be able to support the development of global palliative care with products, resources and programs such as these. Please help us continue our efforts to achieve our mission, by donating to IAHPC. Donations can be made online through our website at www.hospicecare.com or by contacting the IAHPC office at [email protected]
Until next month,
Roberto Wenk, MD
Chair
Liliana De Lima, MHA
Executive Director
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