First annual Sojourns Award recognizes leadership in palliative care

PORTLAND, Ore – The Regence Foundation announced today it has honored Dr. Tanya Lugliani Stewart with a Sojourns Award in recognition of her leadership in advancing palliative care over the past six years as the medical director of Adventist Health Hospice in Portland.  She plans to donate the award’s $50,000 grant to Adventist Health Hospice in support of its new outpatient palliative care program.  Adventist Health Hospice provides more than 10,000 patient visits annually.

Palliative care is an approach to care that brings holistic relief and comfort to seriously ill patients and their families.  The award is part of The Regence Foundation’s Sojourns grantmaking program to promote hospital and community-based palliative care services.  Through Sojourns, The Foundation aims to help people with life-threatening and incurable illness to access quality palliative care in their own community.

“Dr. Stewart exemplifies the expertise, caring and leadership in palliative care that The Regence Foundation seeks to extend throughout the communities we serve,” said Michael Alexander, Regence Foundation board chair.

Dr. Stewart recently accepted a position as medical director with Evercare, Oregon- a program focused on palliative care and geriatrics in nursing homes. She continues to serve as the medical director for Community Home Health and Hospice in Vancouver, Washington. She is a member of the Public Policy Committee of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, and as part of a delegation from the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, she met with federal legislators to call attention to the integral role of palliative care in health care reform strategies.

“With passion and talent, Dr. Tanya Stewart shepherded what could only be described as a quiet revolution in end-of-life care that has extended well beyond the bounds of her local organization and community,” say colleagues who supported her nomination for the Sojourns Award.  Support came from three different health care systems in Portland.

About The Regence Foundation

The Regence Foundation is the corporate foundation of Regence, the largest health insurer in the Northwest/Intermountain region and a nonprofit independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. A 501(c)3 grantmaking organization, the Foundation partners with organizations driving significant change in health care delivery and accessibility in Idaho, Oregon, Utah and Washington. Through its Sojourns program, the Foundation also supports organizations advancing quality palliative and end-of-life care. For more information visit www.RegenceFoundation.org or www.twitter.com/RegenceGives.