Welcome to Our On-line Community

The Virginia Association for Hospices and Palliative Care (VAHPC) advocates for quality care for all persons with life limiting illnesses.

VAHPC  promotes hospice and palliative care education and ethical practices, and serves as a  united voice and resource for its members.

Our primary responsibility is to the citizens of the Commonwealth. We hope that you will find this site useful and that you will return frequently  for information and support when facing the challenges of a life-limiting disease.

The Virginia Board of Nursing

Issues a Scam Alert

(October, 2019) The Virginia Department of Health Professions (DHP) recently announced that the state Board of Nursing has become aware that some licensees have received threatening scam calls and fraudulent written communications, which are designed to appear as if they have been transmitted by the Board, indicating recipients’ licenses have been suspended or are in danger of suspension unless the person contacted takes specific remedial action. While some of the written documents may appear to be official communiqués, they are in fact phony.

Similarly, some of the scam phone calls appear to originate from a phone number associated with the Department of Health Professions Board. These fraudulent communications seek to elicit personal information such as Social Security numbers from recipients. The Board of Nursing wants to make it clear that it does not send communications to licensees seeking their personal information, nor will it notify licensees of pending disciplinary action by telephone.

Anyone with questions or concerns about potentially phony communications of this sort may contact the Board of Nursing at 804-367-4515 or [email protected].

 

 

Advance Directives

 

 Opioid Crisis & Hospice

 

In response to the public health epidemic of prescription drug abuse and related deaths in Virginia, the VAHPC Public Policy Committee convened a work group to explore the responsibilities hospices have to ensure safe use of opioids in the communities they serve. The group recognized that the appropriate use of opioids is vitally important in preventing undue suffering at end of life and also recognized the obligation hospice programs have to assure that the medications provided are used in a safe and effective manner.

VAHPC’s work group developed a Tool Kit for use by hospices, “Risk Evaluation & Mitigation (REM): Strategies to Promote the Safe Use of Opioids".

For a copy of the REM Tool Kit

to download and/or print, click on this link 

 

Palliative Care

The Virginia Department of Health, VDH, has created a palliative care informational website which includes information on the following:

  • delivery of palliative care in the home and in primary, secondary and tertiary environments;
  • best practices for the delivery of palliative care;
  • consumer educational materials and referral information for palliative care and
  • continuing education opportunities for health care providers.
Continue Reading