Remembering Palliative Care Pioneer: Marion Pohlen Primomo, M.D.

May 15, 1920-March 1, 2014 When I think of people who have paved the way to make my professional career possible I think of Dr Marion Primomo. Not only was she one of the first women physicians; It is fair to say that she is the mother of the hospice movement in Texas.  She was one of the founders of the first hospice in San Antonio in 1978. She was a Founding Member of the Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine and the International Association of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.  In the 1980s, she had established an elective for medical students on their family medicine rotation in which medical students visited patients on hospice and their caregivers.  In the late 1990s she led the efforts to establish the palliative care fellowship program at Universityof Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UTHSCSA). The fellowship was a possibility because of Dr.  Primomo’s leadership to combine efforts from community hospices, UTHSCSA and the Veterans Affairs. She served as the first fellowship director. Dr. Primomo With Dr. Mark Prange.As a medical student Dr. Prange visited dying patients and their families with Dr. PrimomoAs a fellow, I interacted with Dr. Primomo teaching palliative care to the residents, when she was well into her 80s. She was always very energetic and ready to teach, she would have already read the latest article of  the New England Journal or other journal that have been published that week.  She taught us about o...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - Category: Palliative Carer Workers Authors: Source Type: blogs