Read the full story, published by Dartmouth-Hitchcock News.

A gift of $10 million to Dartmouth-Hitchcock (D-H) will be used to create an advanced clinical facility to provide integrated, patient- and family-centered care for patients with life-threatening illness and complex medical needs.

In addition to health care, the new center is expected to offer unprecedented opportunities for teaching, training, and research for health care providers and clinicians-in-training from across the country. (Photo by Mark Washburn)

The Center for Palliative and Hospice Care will combine the latest thinking and techniques to advance interdisciplinary patient- and family-centered care, while offering unprecedented opportunities for teaching, training, and research for health care providers and clinicians in training from across the country.

The $10 million gift, the largest in D-H’s history, has been made anonymously. It will be used to establish a 12-bed center, intended to fill a growing need for specialized care for seriously ill people whose pain or other medical needs are difficult to manage at home or in a nursing home.

“Although great advances in palliative and hospice care have been made in the last decade, too many people are still dying in ways they would not want, often in intensive care units, connected to machines,” said D-H CEO and President James N. Weinstein. “At Dartmouth-Hitchcock, with our colleague Dr. Ira Byock leading the way, we have built an internationally respected palliative care program. This incredibly generous gift will allow us to further advance this work within a dedicated facility where we will be able to better address the physical comfort, emotional and spiritual well-being, and inherent dignity of each patient and his or her family.”