The Initiative for Palliative Care and Advance Care Planning is a recently established program of the Archdiocese of Boston.  Its goal is to provide education, outreach and advocacy that will create an informed public about palliative care, a multidisciplinary approach to the care of the seriously ill which is patient-centered and family-oriented.  The program also supports, promotes and provides education about Advance Care Planning which allows people to discuss and make known their wishes for care in anticipation of a time when they cannot speak for themselves.  Most importantly, the Advance Care Planning component of the initiative provides information about how to designate a health care proxy or surrogate decision maker who will be their voice when they can no longer make or articulate their health care decisions.

Helpful links:

• Catholic Health Association: Palliative Care Resources  
• Options to the Legalization of Physician Assisted Suicide 
• Key Messages for Health Care Ministry Leaders 
• Examining Diverse Perspectives of Catholics on Advance Care Planning, Palliative Care, and End-of-Life Care in the United States. 
• Palliative care growing, but many still lack access 
• Compassionate Palliative Care  
• Message from a dying patient  
• Palliative Care: It’s About Easing Suffering  
• Palliative Care: What and Why  
• Reflections — The Church and Palliative Care  
• Compassionate Palliative Care  
• Palliative Care: A Hallmark of Catholic Mission  
• Supportive Care Coalition, a network of Catholic healthcare organizations that promotes education about and implementation of Palliative Care  
• Catholic Health Association  
• US Conference of Catholic Bishops index of articles on Palliative Care  
• Pope Francis speaks on Palliative Care March 2015  
• Pope Benedict speaks on Palliative Care  
• Pope John Paul II speaks on Palliative Care  
• Massachusetts Catholic Conference  
• United States Conference of Catholic Bishops