Catholic Health World

Lectureship honors Sr. Dufault's work in palliative care field

Sr. Karin Dufault's contributions toward advancing the quality and reach of palliative care are being recognized with a lectureship named in her honor.

The inaugural Sr. Karin Default Lectureship in Palliative Care will fund one of the keynote speeches at the Recovering Our Traditions congress on palliative care. The congress, to be held Oct. 28-30 in St. Louis, is presented by the Supportive Care Coalition: Pursuing Excellence in Palliative Care. CHA is among the meeting's sponsors.

For three years until last November, Sr. Dufault was executive director of the Supportive Care Coalition, a group of 19 Catholic health organizations. She retired from the coalition to become provincial superior and leadership team coordinator for the Sisters of Providence Mother Joseph Province in Renton, Wash.

The Supportive Care Coalition has its office at Providence Portland Medical Center in Portland, Ore., and the Providence Health & Services — Oregon Region made the initial contribution to the lectureship. Other systems in the coalition have been invited to contribute.

Barbara Segal, director of programs for the Providence Center for Health Care Ethics, said that as a leader of the coalition, Sr. Dufault helped ministry systems to make palliative care a priority. She advocated for national and state legislation that would benefit the care of those with life-altering or terminal illnesses. She worked to advance public understanding of the essential role palliative care and end-of-life care play in holistic and compassionate patient care.

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