Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota Receives $1.6 Million National Institutes of Health Grant to Help Fund Pediatric Palliative Care

MINNEAPOLIS/ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota was awarded a five-year $1.6 million grant by the National Institutes of Health (National Cancer Institute) Cancer Education Grants Program.

Children's will use the funds to develop a training program to improve access to, and quality of, pediatric palliative care for children with advanced cancer and other life-threatening conditions.

The program will bring together experts in the field of pediatric palliative care and hematology/oncology from Children's, Northwestern University, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children's Hospital Boston. The group will develop an educational training curriculum for physicians and nurse practitioners to help them bring comprehensive pediatric palliative care programs to their own facilities.

"There is a great need across the country for better understanding about pediatric pain and palliative care," said Stefan Friedrichsdorf, medical director of Children's Pain and Palliative Care program. "No child should ever suffer needlessly.  We owe it to our patients and their families to provide the best care for every situation.  This grant will allow us to bring our expertise to other facilities to help more children and families."

Children's has one of the largest pediatric pain and palliative care programs in North America, providing care for children at home, in the hospital and in clinics. Relieving the pain and suffering of a child is crucial for the patient and the entire family. The pain and palliative care program utilizes a combination of state-of-the-art pharmacology, physical therapy and integrative therapies such as massage, hypnosis and acupuncture.

About Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota

Serving as Minnesota's children's hospital since 1924, Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota is the seventh-largest pediatric health care organization in the United States, with 332 staffed beds at its two hospitals in St. Paul and Minneapolis. An independent, not-for-profit health care system, Children's of Minnesota provides care through more than 14,000 inpatient visits and more than 200,000 emergency room and other outpatient visits every year. Children's is the only Minnesota hospital system to provide comprehensive care exclusively to children.

SOURCE Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota