Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine General Fund
How will you want to be treated in very old age when your life is winding down? Or if you find yourself in the late stages of a life-limiting illness?
These are questions of great interest—and great complexity—for the general public and for the medical profession.
With new understandings of the role for palliative care, and with the coming increase in the aging population, there will be a benefit for patients and their physicians—specialists and generalists—in education and training in this field, from medical school through continuing medical education. This is why the University at Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences is seeking gifts of any size for its Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine General Fund.
A family grateful for the end-of-life care of a loved one by a UB palliative care specialist recently made a generous gift to establish the fund. They hope others will follow their example.
The Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine General Fund focuses on medical school faculty and student development as the first step in introducing elements of geriatrics and palliative medicine into all levels of medical education.
“Each of us wants a certain level of care and caring as we get older and frailer,” says Jack Freer, MD, who is spearheading the effort. “The only way that’s going to happen is if we innovate within the education system.”