J & W Murphy Foundation donates $354,000 to Pallium Canada to advance palliative care education in Nova Scotia

OTTAWA, ON, Oct. 26, 2023 /CNW/ - Pallium Canada is pleased to announce a transformational gift of $354,000 from the J & W Murphy Foundation, marking another significant step toward advancing palliative care with a focus on enhancing the quality of life for individuals facing serious illnesses, their families, and caregivers. This donation will support two projects to improve access to palliative care education and resources for health care providers across Nova Scotia.

Thanks to the J & W Murphy Foundation's investment, Pallium will leverage its award-winning Learning Essential Approaches to Palliative Care (LEAP™) training to develop, pilot, and launch the first LEAP™ Renewal courses in Canada. This innovative initiative will allow 500 health care providers working across Nova Scotia who have previously completed a LEAP™ Core or LEAP™ Paramedic course to continue their palliative care education, updating their knowledge and skills. These new courses will help maintain the quality of care and address the evolving needs of patients, their families and the health care system.

To meet the growing demand for a palliative approach to care in long-term care and at home, this funding will also ensure that 180 frontline health care providers in Nova Scotia will have an opportunity to be trained through LEAP™ Home Care or LEAP™ Long-Term Care, empowering them to provide high-quality palliative care to patients and their families."

Pallium Canada's CEO, Jeffrey B. Moat, says, "Pallium is honoured to announce this generous gift from the J & W Murphy Foundation to continue advancing palliative care in Nova Scotia. Their generous investment will support our continued efforts to expand and reach more frontline health care providers through our palliative care education and resources, and together, with our partners, pave the way to ensure that more people have access to timelier, more effective, and more compassionate palliative care." 

Pallium's LEAP™ courseware provides practical, inter-professional, and evidence-based training in the palliative care approach across Canada. LEAP™ equips frontline health care providers, such as physicians, nurses, paramedics, and continuing care assistants, with the expertise and skills to provide palliative care to patients and families facing life-limiting illnesses in a more timely and effective way. Pallium's network of certified facilitators trains learners to identify patients with palliative care needs earlier, engage in timely advance care planning and goals of care discussions, screen for physical, psychological, social, and spiritual needs, and begin addressing them.

"Our family is very proud to continue to support palliative care initiatives in Nova Scotia with this new donation to Pallium Canada," said Lisa Murphy from the J. & W. Murphy Foundation. "Like so many families, we have faced challenges in accessing palliative care and were very fortunate to be the beneficiaries of compassionate care for our dad in his home from paramedics trained in Pallium's LEAP™ Paramedic. Our donation continues our commitment to improving the quality of life for those facing life-limiting illnesses and their families."

About Pallium Canada

Founded in 2000, Pallium is a pan-Canadian, registered charitable organization that focuses on building professional and community capacity to help improve the quality and accessibility of palliative care in Canada. With over two decades of experience and over 50,000 learners reached, Pallium Canada has become the largest palliative care education provider for health systems and health care organizations across Canada, with broad experience and expertise working with partners to implement large-scale regional and provincial capacity-building initiatives.

About the J & W Murphy Foundation:

The J & W Murphy Foundation was founded in 2008 by the late Janet and Bill Murphy, long-time residents of Liverpool, Nova Scotia, as a vehicle to give back to the community. The Foundation contributes to a wide variety of charitable causes, but enhancing skills in and access to palliative care has been a focus of their support since inception.

SOURCE Pallium Canada

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