TMC PULSE

16 T M C » P U L S E | S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 8 "[I'm] hopeful that this will be a major catalyst to move the field forward," Walsh said. "We've done a lot of good groundwork and development, but there's a lot more work left to do." Medicine and science have made great leaps over the past half century to improve and extend patients' lives, thanks to new therapeutics and interventions to treat disease. But living longer doesn't mean death can be ignored. "Death has been prolonged, yet there's all sorts of issues around terminal illness that have not been fully discussed," said Sheldon Rubenfeld, M.D., clinical professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. "Our culture is one that is very optimistic and forward-looking. Death is not something we dwell on. Nonetheless, with the expansion of medicine and the financial support for medicine in the last 50 years, death has taken on a different character than it had before, so we need to discuss it more openly." Rubenfeld will lead an interfaith roundtable at PCSLife to explore the role of religion in pallia- tive care. "You cannot exclude the role of religion in palliative care, specifically, or medicine in general. It's just too important to human beings," Rubenfeld said. "The public needs to know that they're not at odds with one another. They're working in tandem to deal with these very diffi- cult issues." PCSLife will run in conjunction with the 19th annual Marialuisa Lectureship for Life, an award established by Houston Methodist Research Institute president and CEO Mauro Ferrari, Ph.D., in honor of his first wife, Marialuisa, who passed away from cancer in 1995. Ferrari will present the award to Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life. "Pain happens," Ferrari said. "But it's a tremendous source of energy. The gift of trans- forming one's own pain into good things for others—if that is not the greatest gift, I don't know what is." In 2017, Ferrari was appointed by the Pontifical Academy for Life to serve a five-year term as one of 89 corresponding members from 30 coun- tries. The academy, which focuses on promoting human life and bioethics, declared palliative care "the most humane response to the needs of seriously ill and dying children, adults, and fragile elders, to ensure that they are cared for until the end," according to a 2018 paper published by the organization. PCSLife speakers hope the conference will demonstrate the importance and benefits of palliative care and serve as a call to action for health care leaders to implement palliative care programs in their respective hospitals. The palliative care unit is the "intensive care unit for human suffering," Bruera said. "The same as we have intensive care units in every single hospital, I think the future will hopefully bring at least one palliative care unit to every single insti- tution at the Texas Medical Center. We hope that now it's a matter of inspiring the leadership of the different institutions at TMC to take advantage. That, to me, is the big goal." COOL ACRES: BRAZOS RIVER RETREAT 4 0 6 + Ac r e s Fo r t B e n d C o u n t y, O r c h a r d , T X $ 7 , 9 0 0 , 0 0 0 Cool Acres is the iconic ranch owned and developed by famous heart surgeon Dr. Denton Cooley as a country escape for himself and his family. The 406 acre property sits 115 feet above the Brazos River on one of the highest banks in Fort Bend county. With almost a mile of river frontage, the ranch is 30 minutes from Houston. The com- pound sits on 150 acres along the river and has 5 houses, a pool, a pond, two tennis courts, 2 pavilions, one with a kitchen and 2 bathrooms. There is also a playground with a vintage caboose, the original Orchard post office set up as a school playhouse for children, and a horse barn and turnout. In addition, there are 7 wells on the property, 2 tenant houses and a foreman's house. This property is perfect as a family retreat, corporate retreat, party venue, or horse ranch. KATE GIBSON 713-304-5257 Broker Associate R E P U B L I C R A N C H E S. C O M INFO@REPUBLICRANCHES.COM | 888-726-2481 PALLIATIVE CARE AND SPIRITUALITY FOR LIFE CONFERENCE WHEN 7:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Monday, Sept. 17, 2018 WHERE Houston Methodist Research Institute 6670 Bertner Ave. DETAILS Free; registration required INFO pcslife.org/agenda

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