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Upmc opens outpatient palliative
care clinic
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 Pittsburgh,
June 18, 1999 - The Palliative Care Program at the University of Pittsburgh
Medical Center (UPMC) has opened a palliative care outpatient clinic
for patients and families facing a serious illness.
The Palliative Care Program currently provides coordinated service to
hospitalized seriously and terminally ill patients and their families.
It emphasizes relief from pain and other distressing symptoms,
integration of physical, psychological and spiritual aspects of patient
care, and development of a support system both to help patients live
as actively as possible until death and to help the family cope during
the patient's illness and in bereavement.
The outpatient clinic, located in UPMC's Falk Clinic, provides similar
services in an ambulatory setting. Patients and families facing cancer,
end-stage heart or lung disease or degenerative neurological disease
receive a comprehensive evaluation by the physician-led palliative care
team.
“The clinic is for those who are not yet hospitalized and for recently
hospitalized patients,” said Robert Arnold, M.D., director of
the palliative care program, associate director of the UPMC Center for
Medical Ethics, and director of the section of palliative Care and Medical
Ethics, Division of General Internal Medicine. “We evaluate challenging
symptoms such as pain, nausea, anxiety, shortness of breath and devise
a treatment plan with close follow-up.”
In-depth discussions with patients and families about advance care planning,
transitioning toward palliative care, options for home care and hospice,
and other psychosocial challenges occur in close consultation with the
referring physician.
“In the palliative care outpatient clinic, our goal is to work
with families and patients to help maintain the highest possible quality
of life for patients with-threatening illnesses,” said Linda King,
M.D., director of the clinic.
The clinic is staffed by a physician, a nurse practitioner and social
worker with support from a pharmacist, psychologist and chaplaincy services.
All these individuals have expertise in palliative care. The team works
closely with the patient's primary providers to ensure coordinated care.
For information, please contact the Palliative Care program at (412)692-4888.
HilLmann contributes $10 million to University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute
Pittsburgh, June 22, 1999 - Officials from UPMC Health System announced
today a $10 million contribution from Henry L. Hillman and the Hillman
foundations for the development and expansion of the University of Pittsburgh
Cancer Institute's (UPMCI's) premier cancer treatment and research
programs at UPMC Shadyside Hospital.
“These funds will enhance our ability to recruit the very best
physician scientists to join the distinguished group of cancer specialists
at UPMCI for the treatment of cancer patients as we expand our
role in the field of world class clinical research,”, remarked
Jeffrey Romoff, president of UPMC Health System. “I am pleased
to announce that in grateful recognition of this generous gift, the
planned cancer research and clinical care facility at UPMC Shadyside
will be named the Hillman Cancer Center,” continued Mr. Romoff.
Mr. George H. Taber, chair , UPMC health System Board of Directors,
said, “Henry Hillman and his wife, Elsie Hilliard Hillman, have
a long history of support generally for health care and medical
research in the Pittsburgh community; this particular gift benefits
two organizations that traditionally have been important to them - UPCI
and UPMC Shadyside Hospital.”
Both the Hillman and Hilliard families have been associated with Shadyside
Hospital for more than one hundred years, with many family members having
served on boards and as trustees of the hospital, a tradition which
continues today. In 1981, the Hillman family supports the Mary Hillman
Jennings Radiation Oncology Center and contributes to the $2.3 million
endowment for the William M. Cooper, M.D., Chair in Medicine. Dr. Cooper
is a distinguished professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh,
attending physician in hematology-oncology at UPMC Shadyside, chairman
of the Shadyside Hospital Foundation and a long-time friend of the Hillman
family.
Elsie Hilliard Hillman, a founding member of the UPCI Council in 1987,
continues as a member of the community advisory council today. In 1993
the Hillman Company, with a gift of $1.5 million, endowed the Hillman
Professor of Oncology Chair at UPMC, which is presently held by Ronald
B. Herberman, M.D., director of UPMCI and associate vice chancellor
for research, Health Sciences, University of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Cooper said, “This generous gift is a natural extension of
the relationships among UPMCI, UPMC Shadyside Hospital and the Hillmans.
It will ensure the continuation of nationality recognized research and
patient care activities.”
Mr. Hillman noted, “Since UPCI's founding in 1984, we have been
aware of its growth as a nationality recognized cancer center and its
prestigious designation by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) as a
comprehensive cancer center. Given these achievements, which place UPMCI
among the nation's leading cancer centers, coupled with UPMC's commitment
to provide improved and expanded cancer treatment to the citizens of
the southwestern Pennsylvania region, we are pleased to make this contribution.”
The Hillman gift comes at a time when UPMCI has just received a renewal
of its cancer center grant fund from the NCI. The funding, which totals
$18.5 million over five years, reflects an 80 percent increase over
the last funding cycle and re-affirms UPCI's status as NCI-designated
comprehensive cancer center, the only one serving this region.
Last year from all funding sources the Institute received more than
$90 million in sponsored research.
The Hillman Cancer Center will provide a synergistic hub for patient
care and research programs focusing on molecular and cellular oncology;
leukemia, lymphoma and bone marrow transplantation; prostate and urologic
cancers; malignant brain tumors; head and neck cancer; colorectal cancer;
lung cancer; and cancer epidemiology, prevention an control. Other centralized
UPCI patient services will include cancer screening, genetic counseling,
behavioral counseling and the cancer information and referral
service.
Since its inception, UPCI has become a leader in translational research,
the conversion of a laboratory findings into applications of potential
clinical importance. In particular, UPCI is renowned for its development
of biological therapies and cancer vaccines and its basic research findings
in cancer immunology and on biological markers related to disease initiation,
progression and response to therapy. Currently, more than 600 scientists
and health care professionals from 30 disciplines collaborate to improve
the understanding of cancer and to develop new lifesaving approaches
in cancer prevention, detection, diagnosis and treatment. UPCI disseminates
this knowledge rapidly to regional and national health care providers
and to the general public.
More information about UPCI is available by accessing http://www. upci.upmc.edu.
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