Pediatric Palliative Care

Pediatric Palliative Care at Golisano Children's Hospital

When your child faces a serious life-limiting illness, your entire family is affected. The Pediatric Advanced Care Team (PACT) at Golisano Children’s Hospital at University of Vermont Health is an added layer of care for your family.

We work with a range of subspecialists to support your family making complex medical decisions, and we also provide symptom management to help your child and family have the best quality of life possible.

Pediatric palliative care provider speaks with a patient in the hospital.

How We Support Families

What palliative care looks like is unique to each family. You may benefit from our services at any point in your child’s illness.

PACT provides a range of services to support your child and family, including:

Focus on navigating complex decisions: We meet with your child and family to understand what is important, so we can help determine the medical plans that is right for your child.
Symptom and pain relief: Our specialists may offer strategies to reduce uncomfortable symptoms such as nausea, fatigue or pain.
Bereavement support: Our bereavement program supports families experiencing the grief of being up against serious, life-limiting illness as well as those who have lost a child. We aim to provide guidance and support to bereaved families in the community.

Eligible Patients

PACT accepts new referrals for children of all ages with serious, life-limiting illnesses at any point along their journey. We often care for children and their families for many months or years.

We care for children with a range of conditions such as:

Conditions found prenatally
Children with complications due to prematurity
Congenital heart disease
Neurologic conditions
Genetic disorders
Cancer
Children who have spent extended periods in the NICU or PICU
Children who have serious, life-limiting illnesses affecting any organs

How to Access Pediatric Palliative Care

To establish care with PACT, you will need a referral from one of your child’s providers.

Once connected with PACT, there are multiple ways to access our services:

Pediatric palliative care team meets with a patient in the hospital

Bereavement Program

The PACT bereavement program is for any family who has experienced the death of a child who was cared for at Golisano Children's Hospital. The bereavement program offers a range of resources to help families navigate life after the death of a child. This will look different for every family, every member of the family and can shift over time.

We recognize that each person’s grief is as unique and as immeasurable as the love they have for their child. Grief does not follow stages and looks different for everyone. Our hope is that this program can provide guidance and connection to bereaved families in our community.

Services We Provide

Individual support (phone calls, emails or text messages)
Referrals to individual therapy for any or all members of the family
Outreach to child and/or siblings’ school if applicable to offer bereavement resources
Information on family retreats
Grief resources (books, memory making activities, podcasts)
Quarterly newsletter with resources, program updates, events etc.
Referrals to local or national support groups
Information on remembrance events

Recommended Resources

We recommend the following websites:

For more information on this program please reach out to Christine Prior:

Christine Prior, LICSW
Phone: 802-338-6831
Email: UVMPACT@UVMhealth.org

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Support Pediatric Palliative Care

Gifts to this specialized program will help us continue this important work and provide services throughout the community. We appreciate your support.

Young pediatric patient in mask smiles while sitting on bed.

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Patient and Family Resources

Vermont Family Network: The mission of Vermont Family Network is to empower and support all Vermont children, youth and families, especially those with disabilities or special health needs.
Courageous Parents Network: Courageous Parents Network is a nonprofit organization that orients and empowers parents and others caring for children with serious medical conditions, by providing resources and tools that reflect the experience and perspective of other families and clinicians.