Heart of Hospice Celebrates Graduation of First Class of Hospice and Palliative Care Fellows

NEW ORLEANS - July 9, 2021 - PRLog -- (New Orleans, LA) - The first class of fellows in the state's only Hospice and Palliative Care Fellowship graduated this May. Heart of Hospice partnered with University Medical Center, Tulane University, and Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System. The fellowship is the first of its kind in Louisiana and is the product of a long-imagined dream to combat a shortage of certified palliative care and hospice physicians,

The hospice curriculum within the fellowship program generates expertise in hospice and palliative medicine by requiring hands-on participation in daily care team operations of Heart of Hospice. The core curriculum teaches the hospice benefit, involves participation in interdisciplinary care team meetings, and requires students to lead patient visits. Having completed this immersive training, graduating fellows earn their hospice and palliative care board certification. In addition to the training led by Heart of Hospice, the Heart of Hospice Foundation provides the funding required for fellows to complete the program.

Dr. Marcia Glass, Associate Professor of Internal Medicine at Tulane School of Medicine and Program Director for the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship, earned the program accreditation by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education in 2019.

Carla Davis, Chief Executive Officer for Heart of Hospice, shares: "We are honored to support these future community leaders in completing their specialization. Through this fellowship, we are not only directly educating this class of physicians, but we are creating a pipeline for increased access to quality hospice and palliative care for generations to come."

The graduating fellows in the class of 2021 are: Dr. Kiruba Vembu, Dr. Ryan Basquez, Dr. Jon McCall, Dr. Chris Joplin, and Dr. Dana Muhlfelder. All five of the fellows plan to stay in Louisiana and serve their communities.

About Heart of Hospice

Our vision is to transform end-of-life care in the communities we serve. We currently provide care to 16 regions across Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and South Carolina. We believe all hospice-eligible patients and those who love them deserve the best care at the end of life. Our mission is simple: to serve all patients and their loved ones the way they desire to be served.