Improving Palliative Care Together

Our mission

Our mission is to improve care for all people with serious illness and their families.ย We seek to do this through research focused on multicultural and multilingual communities, partnering with them to better understand their experiences and create innovative solutions that address their needs.

Current Research

Our research looks at how to improve care for people with serious illness from different cultural and language backgrounds. Through studies like ImPaCT-Dementia and ImPaCT-Cancer, we work with communities who speak Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish, Vietnamese, and Somali to understand the challenges they face and create care approaches that are focused on what matters most to them. These groups are a starting point, and we hope to expand our work to include more communities in the future!

ImPaCT Cancer

ImPaCT-Cancer focuses on enhancing palliative care for patients with cancer and their families who have a primary language of Somali, Spanish, or Vietnamese.
Our research aims to identify barriers to care, improve communication between patients, families, and providers, and develop culturally tailored solutions.

ImPaCT Dementia

ImPaCT-Dementia seeks to improve palliative care access for individuals with dementia and their caregivers who speak Chinese (Mandarin/Cantonese), Spanish, or Vietnamese.
Through research, community partnerships, and collaborative decision-making, we develop patient-centered strategies to enhance care and reduce disparities.

Lived Experiences: The Heart of Our Research

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Palliative care focuses on the person, not just the disease, honoring their unique cultural characteristics. We were honest and transparent with this patient about her cancer and future, ensuring she understood. Iโ€™m proud to provide this kind of compassionate care.

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I think a lot of palliative care that I’ve seen, whether there’s conflict or not, they always acknowledge that it’s a difficult situation for everybody and that they’re sorry that this is happening and that they’re always reachable. Just wanting to make it known that they’re there for the patient, but they’re also there to support the family with whatever they might need. And here I think I’ve had the same experience.

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And also always remember, look at the humanity part, look atย this personย prior of the cancer who they were. And remember because people are refugee and immigrant, they had a life. They were somebody.ย Theyย were like lawyers, financial, business owners and all of that. Don’t think about like, โ€˜oh this is an immigrant.โ€™ That you have to also pay attention.ย And I would say, โ€˜just askย in one minute or maybe tell me about you a little bit, what you used to do.โ€™ People love to share that. And when that human connection happens, the rest is easy.

Dr. Rashmi K Sharma

Support Our Mission: Help Advance Palliative Care Research for Diverse Communities

Welcome to ImPaCT


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