PBS Western Reserve presents an informative look at what palliative care is and how it is helping young patients who have life-threatening or terminal medical conditions. Host Toni Kayumi welcomes Sarah Friebert, M.D., director of pediatric palliative care at Akron Children’s Hospital, and Barbara Palmisano and Margaret Sanders, both from the Offices of Geriatric and Palliative Care at Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED), to discuss this relatively new type of medical care.

Pediatric palliative care begins at the time of initial diagnosis of a life-threatening or serious illness and continues throughout the journey to cure or to death and bereavement, if that occurs.

Palliative care involves both comfort-oriented and cure-directed therapies in which providers partner with families to help them navigate a complex health care system and make the best decisions about their children’s care. It is the art and science of holistic care—physical, emotional, social, spiritual and practical—provided for children and their families by a team that focuses on relieving the symptoms and conditions that detract from a child’s enjoyment of life.

A PBS Western Reserve production, 2013.