Palliative Care Services

In 2011, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta introduced pediatric palliative care services to help improve the quality of life for children with serious and life-threatening conditions, such as genetic disorders, cancer, neurological disorders, and heart and lung conditions.

Our Pediatric Advanced Care Team (PACT), which includes specially trained doctors, nurses, social workers and others, helps patients and their families deal with care at every stage of a serious illness.

The team begins by working with a provider after a child is diagnosed with a serious illness. And because every child and family is different, we treat each kid as an individual, tailoring our services to meet the specific needs of each child and family.

PACT works with children, their families and their care teams throughout each child’s illness and treatment. They are trained to listen, assess and find innovative ways to make life as comfortable as possible for each child. We collaborate with pediatric medical specialists across a variety of clinical services, as well as partnering with our child life specialists and chaplains to provide holistic, interdisciplinary care.

PACT aims to:

• Help children and families identify, prevent and manage stress and symptoms across every stage of disease, including:
  • Pain
  • Shortness of breath
  • Fatigue
  • Constipation
  • Nausea
  • Loss of appetize
  • Difficulty sleeping
  • Anxiety
  • Depression
• Limit children’s suffering and improve their quality of life, despite the effects of their diseases.
• Explore the hopes of our children and their families in order to set realistic goals for care.
• Partner with community programs and identify resources for children and families.
• Provide continuity or facilitate the transition to home.
• Offer psychosocial support services for children and families.
• Work closely with our children, their families and the medical teams that care for them.

The Children’s team is poised to play a key role in the development of the field. PACT provides research, community outreach, educational assistance and oversight of clinical and public policy by:

• Providing vital clinical care, education and training in pediatric palliative care.
• Hosting a Pediatric Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program.
• Establishing appropriate palliative-centered policies.
• Facilitating national and regional advocacy efforts.
• Expanding our knowledge through collaborative research.
• Positioning Children’s as one of the leading voices on how pediatric healthcare providers identify and treat suffering.

And while palliative care alone cannot bridge the gaps in care that exist for patients with serious and life-threatening conditions, we share our knowledge with outside providers so that we can make a difference for children throughout the region.

Our palliative care team includes a specially trained staff that is comfortable working with children who have been diagnosed with serious and life-threatening illnesses. They are dedicated to putting your child and family first.

• Khaliah Johnson, MD, Division Chief
• Cia Bishop, MD
• Katharine Brock, MD, MS
• Johnathan Ebelhar, MD
• Emilee Flynn, MD, MPH, Assistant Fellowship Director
• Lauren Jacobs, MD
• Andrew McReynolds, MD, MPH
• Nitya Shah, MD
• Kelsey Largen, PhD
• Kayla Combs, PNP
• Sarah Riebel, PNP
• Anna Roche, PNP
• Mary Grace Davenport, MSW, LCSW
• Allison Pellettieri, MSW, LCSW
• Maura Savage, MSW, LCSW
• Meghan Tracewski, MSN, RN, CPNP
• Heather Cohen, Bereavement coordinator

Arthur M. Blank Hospital
2220 North Druid Hills Road, NE
Atlanta, GA 30329

Scottish Rite Hospital
1001 Johnson Ferry Road, NE
Atlanta, GA 30342