1.5 Million Endowment named in honor of La Jolla Resident Vi McKinney for her 90th Birthday Surprise

(LA JOLLA, CALIF.) – For her 90^th birthday, Vi McKinney received a birthday surprise that will last a lifetime. Mrs. McKinney’s husband, Dan, created an endowment fund in her honor to support advanced physician education at San Diego Hospice and The Institute for Palliative Medicine. The gift was presented to Mrs. McKinney by San Diego Hospice Vice President Kathleen Pacurar at a special luncheon held at the La Jolla Country Club.

The 1.5 million gift will be known as the Vi McKinney Endowed Fellowship for Palliative Medicine, and will ensure that physicians receive cutting-edge expertise and skills in the field of pain management, focusing on the prevention and relief suffering for people living with advanced or life-limiting illness. 

In addition to patient care services to more than 1,000 seriously ill adults and children throughout the County, San Diego Hospice and The Institute for Palliative Medicine hosts the nation’s largest physician specialty training program. The Clinical Fellowship Training Program is known as one of the most rigorous, cutting edge courses of study and is designed for physicians to learn new specialist skills, typically with a goal of pursuing a long-term career as a clinician or academician in palliative medicine. Fellows work with San Diego Hospice home care teams throughout the county, as well as in San Diego Hospice community care centers.

The McKinney’s have sponsored a San Diego Hospice fellow for the past several years. The endowed gift will ensure that better patient and family care can be achieved through advanced education of physicians in the field of palliative medicine.

“This gift not only honors my wonderful wife and her belief in supporting the community,” said Dan McKinney,” but it also supports the important work conducted by San Diego Hospice and The Institute for Palliative Medicine that we both believe in.”

About San Diego Hospice and The Institute for Palliative Medicine

San Diego Hospice and The Institute for Palliative Medicine (www.sdhospice.org) is one of the 10 largest community-owned, not-for-profit hospices in the country, with the largest resource in the world for training palliative medicine physicians and other specialists.

The dedicated professionals, educators, students and volunteers all play vital roles contributing to the mission, which incorporates:

• Relieving suffering, restoring dignity and comforting people with a life-limiting disease;
• Teaching other medical professionals how to make a difference, too;
• Helping research palliative practices and medicines;
• Providing compassionate care in the great hospice tradition.

Palliative care is the prevention and relief of suffering by a specialized medical team that focuses on managing symptoms, relieving pain, and improving quality of life, whatever the diagnosis.

Hospice care is a form of palliative care for patients with a life expectancy of six months or less.

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