MINNEAPOLIS, September 30, 2008 -Ten rural Minnesota communities have been selected to establish or strengthen palliative care programs.

Stratis Health selected community teams in or near Bemidji, New Ulm, Olivia, Red Wing, Roseau, Staples, Waconia, Wadena, Willmar, and Winona to work to develop programs under the guidance of Stratis and Transitions and Life Choices, the palliative care program of Fairview Health Services, according to a press release. Only Red Wing and Staples already have programs.

The goal of palliative care is to reduce the pain and suffering of patients with chronic diseases, but it differs from hospice care, since it can be provided along with curative treatments at any point during a serious illness.

“Palliative care is new to many health care providers,” said Jennifer Lundblad, president and CEO, Stratis Health, in the release. “By fostering palliative care in rural communities we hope to decrease the number of patients having to leave their home community to receive this patient-centered care.”

There is a strong interest among providers in developing palliative care services in rural communities, given that 35 organizations applied to participate, the release said.

If successful, Stratis hopes the project will serve as model for implementing palliative care programs in rural areas throughout the country.

Funders of the project include nonprofit-health plan UCare and the Minnesota Department of Health – Office of Rural Health and Primary Care, which is providing a stipend to each community to help off-set travel costs for attending training sessions.

More information, including participating providers, is at www.stratishealth.org/palcare.