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Aetna Gives John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital $175,000 Grant to Develop a Hospice Program for Its Trauma Unit

Posted on: Thursday, 11 August 2005, 15:00 CDT

Aetna Grant Will Fund Development of a Palliative and End of Life Care Program For Urban Trauma Units That Can Be Shared with Other Trauma Centers

Aetna (NYSE:AET) and the Aetna Foundation announced today in a press conference at the John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital, Cook County, IL, a $175,000 grant to the Trauma Unit at Stroger Hospital that promises to help change the nature of the last moments of life for trauma patients and their families. The grant will fund development of a model program of culturally appropriate end of life care, including palliative care, that can be shared with urban trauma units nationwide.

Due to the often sudden and unexpected death of a patient in the trauma unit, the patient, his or her family members and friends are often in shock. It is at this time that physicians, nurses, pastoral counselors and other trauma team staff find themselves performing a variety of roles that extend far beyond medical treatment, whether it is helping a family member make calls to inform of a loved one's death, or letting a dying patient know they are not alone, or making sure the daughter of a patient brought in after an automobile accident is picked up from school.

"Aetna and the Aetna Foundation are very proud to support the John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital's Trauma Team in the pioneering work they are doing to develop a new standard of care for patients dealing with end of life care issues," said Ronald A. Williams, President of Aetna. "More than 200 patients die in the Trauma Unit at Stroger Hospital each year, and many (67 percent) die within a few hours of admission. Their average age is 32. These trauma patients and their families, facing sudden and sometimes violent death, have a need for comfort, dignity, and emotional and spiritual support."

"We thank and commend Aetna and the Aetna Foundation for their foresight and generous support in the area of palliative care," states John H. Stroger, Jr., President of the Cook County Board of Commissioners, which oversees the Cook County Bureau of Health Services. "As a safety net provider, the Cook County Bureau of Health Services cares for a patient population that is often underserved due to social and economic barriers. This grant will allow the Bureau to develop yet another innovative model of care that will benefit not only Cook County residents who are our patients, but also trauma patients and their families throughout the county."

"Stroger Hospital's Trauma Unit is world renown for its standard of excellence in trauma care," states Johnny C. Brown, Chief Operating Officer at Stroger Hospital. "Therefore, it is only fitting that our trauma team continues to be in the forefront of developing a palliative and end of life care model for a trauma setting. The Aetna grant will also allow us to expand our palliative care service to the non-traditional setting of a trauma unit."

"As surgeons we're trained not to give up, and perhaps we wait too long before talking about death and asking the patient and their family what they would like," explains Kimberly Joseph, MD, Director of the Trauma Intensive Care Unit at Stroger Hospital. "Part of the challenge for us when we have patients who are dying is to make the trauma unit less like a hospital and more like a hospice. The Aetna grant will help us identify specific needs of patients and their families during this time and how we can help to make the dying process easier."

The Stroger grant is one of 14 grants totaling $2.25 million that Aetna and the Aetna Foundation awarded this year for programs that address racial and ethnic health disparities and end-of-life care. Many of the grants are specifically designed to reach across cultural sensitivities to ensure quality care at the end of life, and were selected for their potential for replication, long-term partnerships and sharing of lessons learned. Aetna's commitment to end of life care extends beyond the grants. In April 2004, Aetna announced its Compassionate Care Program to expand benefits and provide nurse case management services and information tools to help members and their families cope more effectively with the complex and emotional issues at end of life. The program provides expanded hospice benefits, coverage for curative care while in hospice, and coverage for respite care and bereavement counseling.

Stroger Hospital's Trauma Unit is the busiest in the Midwest, providing close to 5,000 patient encounters a year. Stroger Hospital is one of seven affiliates of the Cook County Bureau of Health Services, one of the largest public health care systems in the country. The Bureau provides a broad range of services from preventive and primary care to emergency, acute, inpatient, rehabilitation and long-term care to more than 1.5 million Cook County residents annually.

As one of the nation's leading providers of health care, dental, pharmacy, group life, disability and long-term care benefits, Aetna puts information and helpful resources to work for its approximately 14.435 million medical members, 12.976 million dental members, 9.117 million pharmacy members and 13.662 million group insurance members to help them make better informed decisions about their health care and protect their finances against health-related risks. Aetna provides easy access to cost-effective health care through a nationwide network of more than 684,000 health care professionals, including over 405,000 primary care and specialist doctors and 4,135 hospitals. For more information, please visit www.aetna.com. (Figures as of June 30, 2005)

Source: Business Wire

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