GRANT WILL HELP HEALTH GROUPS IMPROVE CARE FOR THE DYING

A coalition of Kansas health organizations will receive a $75,000
grant to make statewide improvements in the care that dying patients
receive in their final days, the Midwest Bioethics Center in Kansas
City announced last week.

The grant is one of 15 totaling $2.6 million that are being awarded to
organizations to enhance end-of-life care. The center is administering
the grant program for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation based in
Princeton, N.J., the nation's largest philanthropy dedicated
exclusively to health care.

The Kansas grant recipient, Wichita-based Living Initiatives For
End-of- Life Care, is a leader in improving end-of-life care, said
Erika Blacksher, deputy director of the grant program at the center.
The coalition, known as the LIFE Project, includes more than 20
agencies brought together by the Association of Kansas Hospices. The
LIFE Project will use the grant money to plan several programs, including:

Training 30 physicians around the state in providing pain relief, and
emotional and spiritual support to dying patients.

Conducting a pilot project in a rural area to advance end-of-life care
at hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies and hospices.

Using telemedicine networks that connect doctors at major medical
centers to rural health facilities to improve pain assessment and
management services to patients.

By 2000, the grant program plans to award a total of $11.25 million
from the foundation to coalitions in up to 25 states.

The grants will support projects such as training for medical and
nursing students, the compilation of a local resource directory and
the creation of a model insurance benefits package for terminal patients.

``The motivating idea for this program is that good end-of-life care
can only happen in supportive environments,'' Blacksher said.

For example, in some states physicians may be well-trained in giving
pain medications to cancer patients, but fear using them, Blacksher
said, because it opens them to narcotics investigations.

In such places, government regulators need education about the proper
use of such drugs, she said.

To reach Alan Bavley, medical writer, call (816) 234-4858 or send
e-mail to abavley@kcstar.com