Pediatric Palliative Care

Pediatric Advanced Care Team: PACT

The Pediatric Advanced Care Team (PACT) is a team of clinicians with expertise in pediatric palliative care. We specialize in providing support and comfort to the care of children with complex, chronic, or serious illnesses. We focus on enhancing quality of life, and healing for children of all ages and their families, in partnership with cure-directed care.

Who are we?

The PACT team includes doctors, a nurse practitioner, and a social worker, who collaborate closely with child life specialists, pediatric chaplains, and a patient’s entire medical team.

How Does PACT Help?

Our team partners with families, and their medical team to provide support throughout a child’s illness. Care is customized to meet the needs of each child. Some of the support we provide includes:

  • Collaborating with a child’s team of health care providers, to help with communication and coordination of care
  • Assisting families with difficult decision making in keeping with their hopes, values, and beliefs
  • Optimizing pain and symptom management
  • Providing continuous care across settings, including the hospital, outpatient clinic, and home

Who are our patients?

We take care of children, prenatally through young adulthood, throughout their journey with serious illness. We hope to meet children and families as soon as possible after diagnosis, and to care for them for as long as they need. Patients the PACT team supports have conditions including, but not limited to:

  • Genetic or metabolic conditions
  • Seizures
  • Cancer
  • Heart disease
  • Prematurity, and related conditions
  • Cystic Fibrosis
  • Any condition that results in long, or recurrent hospital visits

Contact Us

PACT provides inpatient, outpatient, and home consultations. Referrals can be made by your pediatrician, or specialist.

Inpatient Referral: Pager 207-405-7346
Outpatient Referral: Contact the Maine Medical Center Palliative and Supportive Care Clinic at 207-662-2847

For general questions, email: allison.caldwell@mainehealth.org