Alex Smith

1 month ago | geripal.org | Alex Smith

As far as we’ve come in the 50 years since Balfour Mount and Sue Britton opened the first palliative care at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Quebec, have we lost something along the way? In today’s podcast we welcome some of the early pioneers in palliative care to talk about the roots of palliative care. Sue Britton was the first nurse hired on that palliative care unit. Michael Kearney on a transformational meeting in Cicely Saunders’s office, with Balfour Mount at her side and a glass of sherry.

1 month ago | geripal.org | Alex Smith

I was very proud to use the word “apotheosis” on today’s podcast. See if you can pick out the moment. I say something like, “Palliative care is, in many ways, the apotheosis of great palliative care.”  And I believe that to be true.

1 month ago | thecentraltrend.com | Alex Smith

Categories: March 4, 2025 I cried last night. That’s not unusual because I cry when literally anything in my life happens. But I cried in my car with one of my best friends over the impending end of something that I love so much. I’ve loved theater since I was seven years old when I saw The Phantom of the Opera for the first time. I’ve loved participating in theater since I was ten years old and was a lost boy in Peter Pan. I know that my love for theater will never change.

2 months ago | geripal.org | Alex Smith

Much like deprescribing, we plan to revisit certain high impact and dynamic topics frequently. Substance use disorder is one of those complex issues in which clinical practice is changing rapidly. You can listen to our prior podcasts on substance use disorder here, here, here, and here. Today we talk with experts Janet Ho, Sach Kale, and Julie Childers about opioid use disorder and serious illness. We address:Why is caring for patients with this overlap so hard?

2 months ago | geripal.org | Alex Smith

Trauma is a universal experience, and our approach as health care providers to trauma should be universal as well. That’s my main take-home point after learning from our three guests today when talking about trauma-informed care, an approach that highlights key principles including safety, trustworthiness, peer support, collaboration, empowerment, and cultural sensitivity. With that said, there is so much more that I learned from our guests for this trauma-informed care podcast.