On Saturday
morning, January 12th, 2008, the
Honorable Secretary Estelle B. Richman hosted
the kick-off meeting for the Department of
Public Welfare’s new Pediatric Palliative and
Hospice Care (PPHC) Task Force.
The PPHC Task Force was
comprised of a statewide pool of family members,
advocates, doctors, nurses, researchers, hospice
workers, hospice volunteers, researchers,
medical ethicists, social workers, therapeutic
professionals, psychologists,
religious/spiritual professionals, government
officials, and government staffers.
During the meeting the general membership of the
PPHC Task Force assembled for the first time and
began the PPHC Task Force process to evaluate
the current human services system of care with
respect to children with life-limiting
illnesses.
In the afternoon, the
general membership divided into their respective
subcommittee assignments, met their fellow
subcommittee members, and began identifying
their subcommittee’s topic-specific
challenges/recommendations with respect to
delivering proper and appropriate care for
children with life-limiting illnesses.
Members of the PPHC Task
Force were charged with developing a
comprehensive report that examines
Pennsylvania’s current human services delivery
system for palliative and hospice care for its
children. Ultimately, the Task Force published
their findings in the Pediatric
Palliative and Hospice Care Task Force Final
Report (November 2008).
The PA-CHaPCC
emerged from the state
PPHC Task Force members to further the
implementation of the task force report and to
exist as a permanent organization committed to
caring for children with life-limiting and
life-threatening diagnoses in Pennsylvania.
Pursuant to
the mission and vision of the CHaPCC - on
Wednesday, May 27th, a rally will take place to
present the findings of the PPHC Task Force to
the legislators of the state of Pennsylvania.
First Annual PA-CHaPCC
Retreat: A Great Success!!!
March 21, 2009
2 Couch Lane and State Highway 26, Huntingdon, PA
16652
contact: Katie
Lawson (kate@lawsons.net)
for details
of the Retreat (click here)
Many THANKS to Gerri and Tom!!!
Mission Statement
Pennsylvania Children's Hospice and Palliative
Care Coalition (PA-CHaPCC)
is to provide
advocacy, support and education to children and
families facing life-threatening or
life-limiting illnesses/diagnoses to enable them
to experience the best possible quality of life
throughout the course of the illness/disease.
Vision Statement
PA-CHaPCC
continues to act as a
resource that recognizes that pediatric
palliative and hospice care is multifaceted. We
as an organization will strive to be an advocate
for children and facilitator of relationships
between their families, professional clinicians,
service providers and funding sources. We will
continue be a source of support for the most
appropriate care and quality of life of the
pediatric patient.
Contacts for Western and Eastern Pennsylvania
Western
Pennsylvania
Mrs. Meghan Murphy, M.S.W., M.O.T. (bereaved mother)
-
meghan27@earthlink.net
Eastern
Pennsylvania
Mrs. Kathryn Lawson, R.N. (bereaved mother) -
kate@lawsons.net
