Giving Compass' Take:

• Shoshana Ungerleider shares how donors can make an impact for end of life care by bringing more people into the discussion and bolstering palliative care.

• How can funders help to make this difficult topic more accessible? 

• Learn about a community foundation supporting hospice care. 

The nationally-renowned physician and end-of-life expert Shoshana Ungerleider recently sat down to tell the story of how she got into this area of work and what she hopes to achieve in the field.

Q: What’s your personal and professional connection to end of life care?

A: In my first year of training, rotating in the ICU. I found myself taking care of frail, elderly patients with multiple chronic problems on top of things like advanced heart failure or end-stage cancer. They were admitted to the ICU even though it wouldn’t change their situation.

That’s the default thing we do in this country - you will receive aggressive, invasive care by default. We know 70-80% of people want to die at home, and only 20% do. I feel like we are failing our patients.

I saw by example what a great impact a palliative care practitioner can have with a patient, family, and their loved ones.

Having a skilled conversation can open the door to new options that are in line with people’s goals and values. I thought, wouldn’t it be wonderful if the whole healthcare system could be like this? The rest of my career I sought out opportunities to do this.

Q: If you could give advice to philanthropy in this area, what are one or two things you would have them do?

A: I would encourage people to think about reducing barriers to entry around this conversation, to focus on how we can educate people about the benefits of palliative care. Philanthropy can be a powerful tool for public engagement if done the right way. I’d encourage funders to think about how to create a program than can reach the highest number of people and truly affect change.

Read the full interview about end of life care at Northern California Grantmakers.