New Grand Rapids nonprofit advocates palliative care options for those facing serious illness

With a mission to help both medical professionals and families to "live well, die well and grieve well," a new nonprofit organization called Trillium Institute hopes to raise awareness about palliative care options in the treatment of patients who are terminally ill, or have serious or chronic illness.  

"We're just focusing on helping people understand how to express their values and their preferences as they face serious illness," says Ken Hekman, Trillium Institute's executive director. "We're also focusing on helping the medical community honor those values and those preferences as they provide supportive care." 

By approaching the issue from both sides, Hekman and Trillium institute Medical Director John Mulder hope to create a new level of understanding that lets both medical professionals and their patients look at end-of-life care in a different way. 

Affiliated with senior care center Holland Home, Trillium institute began development in January 2014 and is currently operating with funds from a three-year grant awarded to the pair by a former patient of Mulder's who was deeply affected by his care.

"As we cared for their family through the end of life, they really appreciated the way Dr. Mulder was respectful and responding to their desire to not pursue treatment in a cancer case where there was no therapeutic benefit to aggressive care," Hekman says, adding that the donor wishes to remain anonymous to the public. "They just wanted to have palliative care, and Dr. Mulder provided that at a very high level." 

Currently, Trillium Institute is comprised of just Hekman and Mulder, but the team expects to announce the addition of a patient navigator director in the coming weeks. Over the next year, Hekman says they also expect to hire more nurses for palliative care navigation positions, but is happy to operate alongside Mulder as a duo from Holland Home's corporate offices in Kentwood.  

"I expect it’s going to remain a pretty small team for the first couple of years," he says. "We just have to see how it unfolds." 

On Dec. 10, Trillium Institute will hold its first-ever public forum at Grand Valley State University with Christian Sinclair, a physician who most recently authored an Institute of Medicine report called "Dying in America" that will focus on how American physicians and families can provide better palliative care. 

"A good deal of resources are consumed in the end of life, but it does not necessarily improve the quantity or the quality of life. It actually diminishes it," Hekman says. "We're going to take a closer look at what this report says and hopefully open some dialogue within the community about how we can approach end of life care and serious illness care in a better way."

For more information on Trillium Institute, its first-ever public forum event on Dec. 10, or palliative care practices, visit www.trilliuminstitute.org.  
 

Written by Anya Zentmeyer, Development News Editor
Images courtesy of Trillium Institute