Lower Cape Fear Hospice and LifeCareCenter is in the early stages of expanding its pediatric palliative care services. In 2002, our agency and five other hospices in North Carolina entered into a consortium to improve Pediatric Palliative Care. The consortium received a small grant from The Duke Endowment to use the Greensboro Hospice and Palliative Care Kid’s Path model to develop standardized palliative care to children across the state. The goal is that as children leave the current tertiary pediatric centers, they can be assured that programs exist throughout the state that can provide palliative care for children.

In order to develop a strategic plan for a local pediatric palliative care program, we are currently assessing the needs in our community. We intend to determine those needs and expand the services we provide to our community of pediatric patients.