‘It Takes a Special Breed’: Hospice Medical Directors Perform Vital Role for Patients, Families

When it comes to dedication to their patients, you’d have to put Carl Shrader, M.D., Ph.D.; Carl Palmer, M.D.; and Richard Vasicek, D.O., hospice medical directors at WVU Medicine Home Health and Hospice, at the top of the list.

These three doctors are on call 24 hours a day for hospice care consultations for families in 10 West Virginia counties and two southwestern Pennsylvania counties. Dr. Shrader oversees Monongalia and Marion counties; Dr. Palmer, Mineral, and Fayette and Greene counties in Pennsylvania; and Dr. Vasicek, Harrison, Taylor, Barbour, Doddridge, Lewis, Upshur, and Wetzel counties. They lead the specially-trained support professionals who provide pain and symptom management, along with other physical, emotional, and spiritual care.

“It’s not unusual for one of these doctors to take a call at two or three in the morning and then place a follow-up call later in the morning, when the rest of us are just waking up,” Linda Carte, RN, MSN, AOCN, vice president, Home Health and Hospice, said. “It takes a special breed to specialize in hospice and end-of-life care.”

At WVU Medicine, we take pride in the way we affect our patients’ lives, whether we improve them through medical or surgical means, or through physical or mental health therapy, education, or support and encouragement. When medical science has reached its limits and a life is being measured in months or weeks, not years, our providers take great care to make the end-of-life experience as comfortable and quality-filled as possible.

“Just as you would want to have quality care available at the beginning of life, you want to have that same level of care available at the end of life, too,” Linda said. “We don’t often think about the tremendous challenges that face providers, who are guiding families through the final steps of care as best they can. We are lucky to have Drs. Shrader, Palmer, and Vasicek to lead our hospice team.”

Thank you for all you do, Drs. Palmer, Shrader, Vasicek, and hospice team!