Palliative Care Pilot Project

The Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm and the Avila Institute of Gerontology (AIG) believed it was important to formalize the palliative care they have provided throughout the years to preserve the mission and philosophy of their Foundress, Venerable Mary Angeline McCrory.  The Sisters felt that an ongoing training program in palliative care was important and designed it with the philosophy of care that Mother Angeline instilled in her Community. Person-centered palliative care has always been the mainstay of care for the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm, and we wanted to help others replicate our unique long-term care approach.

To do this, the Carmelite Sisters along with AIG began a pilot program with six of their homes where they served, sponsored or co-sponsored. By working with these six homes and measuring their outcomes, we developed a research-based program that ensures quality palliative care in long-terms care.

From this eighteen-month-long program and using the ELNEC (End-of Life Nursing Education Consortium), curriculum as a guide, AIG developed a new, extensive palliative care training program. The program includes a complete approach to implementing a program, staff training, and a series of assessment tools. Like all Avila programs, it is updated regularly with current research.

The palliative care pilot program is documented in the report: “Palliative Care: Education, Tools, and A New Approach (PDF).”