12 October 2024
World Hospice and Palliative Care Day
What is World Hospice and Palliative Care Day (WHPCD)?
Jazmine Velasquez, Development Manager at Project4031 asked Dr. Morvarid “Mo” Rezaie, DO, HMDC, FACOI, a palliative care physician in Fort Worth, Texas, about her passion for caring for patients and ensuring their quality-of-life is the best possible while undergoing treatment for potentially life threatening illnesses. Dr. Rezaie referred to this as a “true calling” as she described helping patients and their families have the best quality-of-life possible while undergoing treatment for illnesses such as cancer.
Dr. Rezaie continued to explain that her journey started about three years after graduating from her internal medicine residency. She had no previous exposure to hospice or palliative medicine during her training until she was recruited by a hospice agency to serve as a Physician Designee (otherwise known as Associate Medical Director).
At first, she reluctantly started with that agency. After witnessing the amazing benefits that the multidisciplinary hospice team provided to both patient and family, especially in times of grief, Dr. Rezaie was sold on the importance of this field of medicine. While continuing to focus her attention on what she calls her “big passion project”, it was also important to Dr. Rezaie to educate more residents and physicians in general on the benefits of palliative medicine. It was only then that she learned of the palliative medicine field and sought board certification in 2013. From there, in 2016, she started a grassroots effort to implement a palliative care service at one of the local hospitals; this has since blossomed into a full-fledged palliative care service/committee. Dr. Rezaie has now transitioned her career to work full-time at The Center for Cancer Blood Disorders as the Palliative Care Physician for all of their clinics.
Why is World Hospice and Palliative Care Day Important?
Dr. Rezaie emphasizes that she fully believes World Hospice and Palliative Medicine Day is important as it showcases how hospice and palliative care are vital parts of medical care. Generally, we focus so much on ushering in life by way of care at birth; similarly, end-of-life care should receive the same attention, as should alleviation of suffering from symptoms related to diseases while someone is receiving life sustaining treatment. Neither part focuses on hastening death, and whether we like it or not, death is an unfortunate guarantee for all of us.
“Above all, each patient should be treated as a whole human being, addressing physical, emotional, existential, spiritual, and any symptom beyond these, as no person should be relegated to suffering at the hands of a disease or its treatment.”