Calvary Hospital continues to share its expertise in palliative care across the globe through its Palliative Care Institute (PCI). Following the National Cancer Institute’s decision in 2005 to designate Calvary as an “international center for training in palliative care,” the Hospital has been involved in a unique exchange program with the Middle East Cancer Consortium (MECC).

In one year, Calvary has hosted more than 20 visiting health practitioners. We had doctors and nurses from Turkey, Israel, Cyprus, Palestinian Authority, and the Netherlands visit Calvary to learn about our unique patient care and find ways to expand palliative care options in the Middle East. One nurse, who stayed for six months, returned home to help start Turkey’s first master’s program in palliative care nursing.

Calvary has hosted the annual meeting of the Houses of Calvary, known as Federation des Associations des Dames du Calvaire. They included Calvary hospitals in France (Paris, Lyon, Marseille, St. Etienne, Bordeaux) and Brussels. Like Calvary Hospital in New York, all of these hospitals trace their foundings to the vision of Madame Jeanne Garnier, whose original mission was to treat destitute women who were terminally ill.