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Johns Hopkins Children's Center

Pediatric Palliative Care

Adult and child's hands intertwined

The Johns Hopkins Pediatric Palliative Care program provides comprehensive management of physical, psychological, social and spiritual needs of children with serious illnesses and their families.

We provide this type of care through:

  • Inpatient consultation - We work alongside your child’s existing inpatient team to provide expertise in symptom management, decision making, emotional support and conversations about hopes and goals
  • Outpatient clinic - A hybrid of in person and telehealth appointments focused on long term, individualized medical care and planful decision making for children with serious illness
  • Collaboration with other teams - Our physicians and staff join the Gastroenterology, Neonatal ICU and outpatient oncology teams to provide palliative care services in conjunction with these teams.

Our goal is to promote and enhance the best possible quality of life for the child and family facing serious illness.  We provide pain and symptom control, emotional and spiritual support, advance care planning, and grief and bereavement support services. 

We assist patients from the prenatal period to young adulthood. Our interdisciplinary team provides an added layer of support to children and families as they pursue therapies or interventions for a variety of medical conditions, including treatments for cancer, progressive diseases, genetic conditions or any other very serious illness. We work with families even before birth, offering emotional and spiritual support, birth plans and sibling support. 

For families who expect to or have recently delivered an infant with a serious illness, our team can also assist with communication between the child’s other medical providers and the family, working toward a plan which accounts for the comprehensive needs of the child.

 

Pediatric Palliative Care | The Gift of Life

At Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, our specialized team of pediatric palliative care nurses, physicians, fellows, chaplains and Child Life specialists deliver unapparelled support to families in their time of need. As the only hospital with a pediatric palliative care team in the state of Maryland, our unique program helps families make critical decisions throughout their care journey.

More on Supporting Pediatric Palliative Care
 

Contact Us

There are several ways to request an inpatient consultation or to be connected for outpatient care from the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Palliative Care team.

  • E-mail [email protected] with a brief summary of you/ your child’s care and your contact information.
  • Page the on-call pager by calling 410-955-6070 and asking for the on-call pediatric palliative care pager.
  • Ask any of your child’s inpatient or outpatient doctors to consult the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Palliative Care team. We are able to provide inpatient and outpatient palliative care consultation. 
  • The bereavement program at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center is available to all family members of people we have served. To connect with our Bereavement Support Program, call 410-614-4750 or email [email protected].
  • Call 410-614-4750 to learn more about pediatric palliative care at Johns Hopkins.
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