Ohio’s Hospice and Kettering Health have announced a Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship that will benefit patients and families throughout the greater Dayton area, the region and the nation. The fellowship has been approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), an independent, not-for-profit, physician-led organization that sets and monitors professional educational standards.

Leaders at both Ohio’s Hospice and Kettering Health are excited about educating physicians in hospice and palliative care. 

“Ohio’s Hospice and Kettering Health share a vision of excellence in medical education,” said Kent Anderson, FACHE, CEO of Ohio’s Hospice. “We’re honored to support and see this fellowship come to fruition. As part of our legacy of educating physicians and clinicians to become leaders and experts in their field, this fellowship is part of our ongoing commitment to advance and innovate hospice and palliative care, not only for the communities we serve, but also for other communities throughout the nation as these physicians move forward in their careers. This fellowship will inspire physicians to become outstanding clinicians and dedicated mentors in hospice and palliative medicine.”

The fellowship will use its extensive educational resources and diverse medical network to offer a wide range of unique educational experiences. Two fellows per year will be recruited with rotations at Soin Medical Center and Pure Healthcare for palliative training and Ohio’s Hospice of Dayton, an affiliate of Ohio’s Hospice, for hospice experience.

“This partnership with Ohio’s Hospice will allow us to bring an excellent palliative and hospice education fellowship program to local resident physicians,” said Robert Smith, MD, network chief medical officer and designated institutional official of Kettering Health. “The extensive training experiences provided to physicians will advance the care provided to patients in the communities we serve.” 

The training will prepare the fellows to become outstanding compassionate clinicians who will be well prepared to care for patients and families at all stages of complex serious illness and end-of-life care.

“Hospice care is person-centered, compassionate care for people facing a life-limiting illness. It involves a team-oriented approach to expert medical care, pain management, and emotional and spiritual support tailored to a patient’s needs,” said Chirag Patel, MD, FAAHPM, chief medical officer of Ohio’s Hospice and Pure Healthcare. “Through Pure Healthcare, Ohio’s Hospice offers palliative care, which provides individualized, person-centered medical and supportive care services to help non-hospice patients and individuals managing chronic conditions such as heart disease, lung disease, cancer and dementia.”

The fellowship is a sub-specialty for physicians who are starting out in their medical careers or for those who are mid-career and want to move into this field of medicine. Faculty will mentor the fellows in the values of healthy lifestyles, presence, mindfulness and the art of caring for each other as the techniques that help not only patients but also themselves.

“We are honored to be partnering with such influential and person-centered groups as Ohio’s Hospice and Pure Healthcare,” said Anna Squibb, MD, FAAFP, ABPM, director of Medical Education at Kettering Health’s Soin Medical Center and Greene Memorial Hospital, and associate program director of Soin Family Medicine Residency. “It will allow our fellows a nationally rated education locally, as well as provide palliative and hospice education to our current resident physicians in all of our programs. However, the true value of this partnership lies in the whole-person care we will be able to provide for the community of Greene and Montgomery counties.” 

The fellowship faculty will model participation in scholarly activity, including research and formal teaching to assure that the fellows emulate this behavior and value these aspects of their responsibility as physicians. This fellowship will enable them to recognize the unusual challenges of caring for patients at the end of life, the pressures of cumulative grief, and the art of living with dying.

This year’s fellows are Hiep Luu, DO, who completed a family medicine residency at Grandview Medical Center in Dayton, and Janna Quiling, DO, who also completed a family medicine residency at Grandview Medical Center. Both are committed to becoming palliative medicine physicians. They plan to remain part of the Dayton community after completion of their fellowship.

Cleanne Cass, DO, FAAFP, FAAHPM, program director of the fellowship and director of community services and physician education at Ohio’s Hospice said the fellowship will help the fellows better understand palliative and hospice care. “Our vision is for this fellowship to be the leader in hospice and palliative medicine education in southwest Ohio,” Cass said. “We’re grateful to Dr. Squibb for bringing this fellowship to fruition.” 

Ohio’s Hospice also has a hospice and palliative fellowship program with Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine. “We will continue to provide the same level of site access, education and service to our long-standing partners at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine with its Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program,” Cass said. “Having fellowships with both the Boonshoft School of Medicine and Kettering Health helps us fulfill our mission of providing superior care and superior services to each patient and family we are privileged to serve.”