Ways to Help
Find your care
We provide whole-person care to maximize your quality of life. Call 424-259-8160 to learn more about inpatient palliative care services. Call 424-259-7009 to schedule outpatient services or for general questions about outpatient palliative care.
Volunteer Opportunities
Palliative Care offers a trained volunteer program. Opportunities include:
- Patient visitation
- Administrative support
- Educational event planning & support
- Pet therapy (People-Animal Connection [PAC] Program)
- Music therapy
- Quality of Life resource & support team
- Hearing their Voice: Advance Care Planning for the Homeless is a UCLA Palliative Care-led initiative; staffed by volunteers, this team goes into the homeless community to provide education and offer Advance Healthcare Directives and other healthcare and quality of life resources to homeless clients. We feel that all individuals should have the right to share what constitutes an acceptable Quality of Life, as well as what healthcare they would or would not want to receive, should that Quality of Life no longer be likely because of a medical illness or crisis.
To date, we have distributed hundreds of Directives to homeless individuals, as well as performing educational courses locally and nationally for those who offer care and support to homeless clients about the importance of Healthcare Directives for this vulnerable population. Your support will allow our valuable work “Hearing their Voice” to continue and expand, offering our clients choice, autonomy and dignity.
Contact Elaine Eastwood, Volunteer Services Manager at (424) 259-8176 or visit UCLA Volunteer Services website for further information.
Easing Patient’s Pain
Arnold Porath has contributed $250,000 to establish the Arnold Porath From the Heart Fund in UCLA Health Palliative Care, which treats patients who have serious, chronic conditions with specialized care focused on relieving the pain, symptoms and stresses of an advanced illness. The team partners with patients, their loved ones and their medical team from diagnosis to end of life. Provided in the hospital, at outpatient care facilities or in the home, UCLA Health Palliative Care integrates physical, emotional, social and spiritual well-being, and is available for a range of illnesses, such as cancer, dementia, heart disease and Parkinson’s disease. “I am honored to partner with UCLA’s excellent palliative care team, including Drs. Daniel Karlin (MD ’12, RES ’16), Christopher J. Pietras and Emily Martin, to play an important role in enhancing holistic care and treatment opportunities for critically ill UCLA patients, and providing assistance to the families when the need arises,” said Porath. Philanthropic gifts help the team build the program’s capacity to serve more patients, implement new programs, offer bereavement support and perform compassionate gestures, such as providing a special meal or thoughtful gift, that ease suffering and improve the quality of life for patients and their families. For more information, contact Larissa Harrison at: 310-592-5613