{"id":62468,"date":"2011-10-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-10-31T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/college-of-nursing-efforts-lead-to-palliative-care-education-empowerment-of-romanian-counterparts\/"},"modified":"2011-10-31T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-10-31T00:00:00","slug":"college-of-nursing-efforts-lead-to-palliative-care-education-empowerment-of-romanian-counterparts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2011\/10\/college-of-nursing-efforts-lead-to-palliative-care-education-empowerment-of-romanian-counterparts\/","title":{"rendered":"College of Nursing efforts lead to palliative care education, empowerment of Romanian counterparts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tKINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Oct. 31, 2011 \u2013 Katherine Paquette did not understand the words being spoken as the Romanian nurse hugged family members of the terminally ill patient. She didn\u2019t need to. Paquette knew the nurse was providing the best support possible.<\/p>\n


\nThe nurse cared.<\/p>\n


\nPaquette was part of a 溏心vlog免费B站 contingent from the College of Nursing working with counterparts in Romania. While visiting the country as part of the first-ever American-Romanian symposium on end of life care, Paquette went on house visits with Romanian nurses to see how care was handled. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cEven though there were language barriers, I was struck by the universal language of caring,\u201d said Paquette, one of 11 nurses from 溏心vlog免费B站 and Simmons College who spent time in Romania this summer. \u201cI may not have understood the words being said, but I could understand the reactions of the family members who were receiving care.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nDespite being a country in which more than 40 percent of the population lives in poverty, the palliative care in Romania is strong. Much of that is due to the efforts of 溏心vlog免费B站 Assistant Clinical Professor Diane Gerzevitz, who has been working with professionals in Romania for more than a decade.<\/p>\n


\nGerzevitz joined the board of directors of the United Kingdom-based organization Hospices of Hope in 2002. Founded by Graham Perolls in 1975, Hospices of Hope is dedicated to providing quality of life for terminally ill patients and their families in Romania and other Balkan countries.<\/p>\n


\nThrough the organization, Gerzevitz connected with hospices in Romania for the purposes of educating professionals. For several years, she and others from 溏心vlog免费B站 conducted periodic educational teleconferences. Realizing that a big key to nursing care was personal contact, the 溏心vlog免费B站 nurses also made a couple trips to Romania over the years to meet in person with their colleagues on the other side of the world. <\/p>\n


\nIn June, the group took it to a new level, as Gerzevitz, Paquette, Associate Professor of Nursing Ginette Ferszt, retired nursing Professor Emeritus Jean Miller, College of Pharmacy Associate Clinical Professor Margaret Charpentier and Rev. Patricia Liberty from the Kingston Congregational Church joined with colleagues from Simmons \u2013 including 溏心vlog免费B站 alumnae Julie Vosit-Steller and Allison Morse \u2013 to run the first-ever American-Romanian symposium for palliative care. <\/p>\n


\nFor four days \u2013 two days each in Bucharest and Brasov, the group educated more than 100 nurses, physicians and psychologists in a wide range of topics, including symptom assessment, neurological issues, spirituality, bereavement, teaching techniques and more.<\/p>\n


\nAmong the goals through the years has been to empower the professionals in Romania. One of the major accomplishments of the New England Alliance of Hospices of Hope has been financing travel opportunities for Nicoleta Mitrea, Romania\u2019s palliative care educator. Thanks to fundraising efforts by the group from 溏心vlog免费B站 and Simmons College, Mitrea has attended the prestigious Inter-disciplinary Palliative Care Course at Harvard, as well as international conferences in Greece and Serbia.

\nWhile at Harvard, Mitrea wrote a palliative care module that has been published and implemented as part of the nursing curriculum at the University of Transylvania and the Carol Davila School of Nursing, and she is recognized as the foremost expert in palliative care nursing in the Balkan nations.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThe professionals, especially Nicoleta, knew what they were doing,\u201d Gerzevitz said. \u201cThey wanted validation. They provide incredible palliative care despite limited resources, but they were looking for mentors. Now, they are the ones mentoring others.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nThe plan is to turn the symposium into a regular event every other year. The work leading up to and including the inaugural gathering has certainly caught the eye of high-ranking officials. <\/p>\n


\nWhile in Romania, the American nurses were honored during a reception at the American Embassy. American Ambassador Mark Gitenstein, his wife Libby and Perolls, the founder of Hospices of Hope, were all on hand. Libby Gitenstein has worked closely with nurses in Bucharest, so the issue was one close to her heart.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cThey were really celebrating the relationship that has grown between the U.S. and Romanian nurses,\u201d Ferszt said. \u201cThe experience was a complete success and will only help grow more opportunities.\u201d <\/p>\n


\nPictured above

\nAmerican Ambassador Mark Gitenstein, his wife Libby met with 溏心vlog免费B站 nurses this summer while they were in Romania to run the first-ever American-Romanian symposium on end of life care. Photo courtesy of Katherine Paquette<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 Oct. 31, 2011 \u2013 Katherine Paquette did not understand the words being spoken as the Romanian nurse hugged family members of the terminally ill patient. She didn\u2019t need to. Paquette knew the nurse was providing the best support possible. The nurse cared. Paquette was part of a University of Rhode […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62470,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}