Palliative Care

Palliative care, is the active, total care of patients with life-threatening illnesses. We seek to provide the best quality of life through pain and symptom relief and psychological and spiritual care.

Northern Light Palliative Care provides relief from nausea, pain, loss of appetite, sleeping problems, breathing difficulties, and other symptoms.

Our Palliative Care team assists with addressing goals of care and directing your medical team as to what you want, and sometimes, more importantly, what you do not want. It helps you carry on with your daily life, improves your ability to go through medical treatment, and helps you understand your condition and your choices for medical care. In addition, our volunteers are also available for support to patients and families during your hospital stay.

Our team helps you successfully transition to your home, a long term care facility, hospice, or healthcare setting when you’re preparing to leave the hospital. 

The Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship is an Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) accredited training program in Hospice and Palliative Medicine (HPM). This one year fellowship program offers training that leads to board eligibility in Hospice and Palliative Medicine.

We accept applicants who have completed or will complete ACGME accredited residencies in Anesthesiology, Emergency Medicine, Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, Neurology, Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pediatrics, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Psychiatry, Radiation Oncology, or Surgery.

Overview
Trained fellows should possess the necessary knowledge, attitudes, skills and experience to become certified by the American Board of Medical Subspecialties in Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
Development of teaching skills is central to the curriculum and should enable trained fellows to take on a leadership role in disseminating the principles and practices of the rapidly developing field of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.

Given that many matriculating fellows will also participate in the development of new palliative care and hospice programs, considerable attention will be devoted to acquiring knowledge and skills in program development.

The fellowship program emphasizes a scholarly approach to palliative care. Fellows are expected to read extensively in this area and to attend local and national conferences as well as participate in a variety of local and regional projects and initiatives.

Fellows are expected to demonstrate academic proficiency either through literature review, a peer-review quality journal article, a book chapter, or other professional writing project, or a limited and closely-mentored research project.

Fellows gain palliative medicine expertise as they provide consultations for medical, psychological, and spiritual problems and coordinate team-based, integrative approaches in the Palliative (Supportive) Care Service. Palliative care services are provided to adults and children through multiple settings, including inpatient wards, outpatient clinics, and nursing facilities.
 

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Eligibility
 
Applicants must have completed a residency in one of the following: internal medicine, family medicine, physical medicine and rehabilitation, psychiatry, neurology, anesthesiology, surgery, pediatrics, emergency medicine, radiology, or obstetrics and gynecology, from a program accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). All applicants must attain qualifications to sit for the board examination in their specialty and complete USMLE Steps I, II, and III.

Foreign medical graduates with equivalent qualifications are also eligible to apply. They must have completed a US or Canadian residency and hold a valid ECFMG certificate.
 
Application Packet
In order to apply, applicants need a completed Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Application packet, which includes the following:
  • Application form
  • Personal statement of professional goals
  • Curriculum vitae (CV)
  • Copy of USMLE scores
  • Copy of medical school diploma
  • Three letters of recommendation
  • Copy of transcript of medical school records
  • Copy of completion certificate from each of your prior residency and/or fellowship training programs
  • ECFMG certificate (if applicable)
  • Visa status/Citizenship status
Applicants who have recently completed residency training should request three letters of recommendation from faculty members in their specialty area who are familiar with their work. One of the letters must be from the Residency/Fellowship Program Director. Applicants with medical practice experience should provide three letters of reference from physicians in their practice community who are familiar with their skills.

To download the Application Form and instructions, click here.

The application packet should be sent via email to the following people:

Director, Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program:
Cosmina I. Fachiol, MD, cfachiol@northernlight.org

Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center HPM Fellowship Coordinator:
Lynn Soucy, lysoucy@northernlight.org

If you choose to use regular mail, please return three copies of the completed application packet to:

Cosmina Fachiol, MD
489 State Street Bangor, ME 04401
Attention: Lynn Soucy, Fellowship Coordinator

We encourage interested individuals to submit an application a year in advance of their anticipated fellowship start date. We will accept applications on a rolling basis until we have filled all of our fellowship positions for the given academic year.

The program will review applications starting July 1, the year prior to the anticipated fellowship start. We also accept applications off-cycle, and will review applications throughout the year as needed.

A personal interview is required for final acceptance into the Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship Program. Interviews will generally be conducted starting on September 1, the year prior to the anticipated fellowship start, and will be conducted until February 28th, the year of the anticipated fellowship start, or until the two positions are filled.  Interviews are arranged by our fellowship coordinator. We will accommodate off-cycle applicants as needed.

The Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship does not currently take part in the ERAS match but rather offers admission on a rolling basis.

Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center currently accepts J1 and H1 visas for qualified applicants.

Contact Info
Northern Light Eastern Maine Medical Center
489 State St., Grant 6
Bangor, ME 04401
207-973-6604
Alt 207-973-7555

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