Regence Foundation awards $238,000 to Rogue Valley Medical Center

April 5, 2011 - PRLog -- MEDFORD, Ore.-- The Regence Foundation recently awarded $238,000 to Rogue Valley Medical Center-- http://www.rvmc.org -- to implement a hospital-based palliative care program. Palliative care is a medical specialty geared toward helping seriously ill patients find relief from the symptoms of their disease.  

“When patients with serious illness talk about the kind of care and support they want, they often describe palliative care,” said Kieren Porter, Regence Foundation board chair. “The Regence Foundation seeks to increase awareness of the benefits of palliative care among patients and their families, as well as the medical community. Hospitals are a key component in making this type of care available to patients at any stage of diagnosis.”

The grant will fund the hospital’s implementation of the plan it developed in 2010 with the help of a Regence Foundation grant that included training through the Palliative Care Leadership Center (PCLC), a national training and mentoring initiative to help hospitals start and expand high-quality palliative care programs.

“Our program aims to help more than 500 patients over the next two years who have life-threatening illnesses, regardless of diagnosis,” said Sue Kilbourne of Rogue Valley Medical Center. “Services will include managing complex pain and other symptoms, assisting physicians, patients and families with goals of care, counseling and managing crises associated with new diagnoses and critical transitions such as admission to hospice.”

The grant is part of The Regence Foundation’s Sojourns grantmaking program to promote palliative care services in hospitals and in the community. Through Sojourns, The Foundation aims to foster best practices, leadership and collaboration that help people with life-threatening and incurable illness to access quality palliative care in their own community.

About The Regence Foundation

The Regence Foundation is the corporate foundation of Regence, the largest health insurer in the Northwest/Intermountain region and a nonprofit independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. A 501(c)3 grantmaking organization, the Foundation partners with organizations driving significant change in health care delivery and accessibility in Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Washington. Through its Sojourns program, the Foundation also supports organizations advancing quality palliative and end-of-life care. For more information visit http://www.RegenceFoundation.org or http://www.twitter.com/RegenceGives.

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Asante Health System is a non-profit organization providing advanced medical care to over 550,000 people in Southern Oregon and Northern California. It includes Rogue Valley Medical Center in Medford and Three Rivers Community Hospital in Grants Pass.