The UPMC Children’s Supportive Care Program provides pain and symptom management, care coordination, decision-making assistance, and spiritual and emotional support to children with life-threatening conditions and their families. These services are provided by their multidisciplinary team that includes nurses, spiritual advisers, social workers, and psychologists. “We’re a full-service palliative care program, which sets us apart from other programs,” says Scott Maurer, MD, chief, Palliative Medicine and Supportive Care, UPMC Children’s. “We help with pain management, supporting difficult decision-making, coordinating care to help patients at home where they’re more comfortable, managing hospice care directly, and generally making sure everyone involved with these children is on the same page and aware of what’s going on.” The Supportive Care Program continues to provide support even after a child’s death. “An important component of our program is our bereavement program,” Dr. Maurer says. “We follow families for a minimum of two years after the death of their child. We host events, support groups, and have distantly bereaved volunteer parents call newly bereaved parents to ensure everyone has support throughout this incredibly difficult journey.” The bereavement program also extends to children who have suffered the loss of a sibling. A week-long summer camp brings children together to cohort with other children working through the bereavement process. “We now have a teen support group and have hired a psychologist on our team,” Dr. Maurer says. “We are constantly expanding our programming to help with the psychosocial support of not just the patients we’re caring for, but also their siblings and family members.” Justin Yu, MD, a physician-scientist whose research focuses on hospice and palliative care for children, has helped the Supportive Care team clarify where patients and their families need the most support.