Arika Patneaude is a licensed clinical social worker who is the director of bioethics and pediatric palliative care at Seattle Children’s Hospital. She is also a passionate advocate for health equity and awakening to unconscious bias in medicine and the impact it has on underresourced and historically excluded populations. I experienced her passion as a Call to Action in multiple ways.

Ashley and Theron are parents of three children, including Viggo Rick, who died at 6 months of complications related to Trisomy 5p. They offer so much wisdom to other caregivers and suggestions to clinicians about what helps (and what hinders) parents of newborns born with very rare, life-limiting conditions.

Mom Amy and her daughter Lauren's palliative care doctor, Erin, talk about Erin's care of 7-year old Lauren: how she saw her as the full child that she was -- not just a cancer diagnosis -- and how she managed Lauren's 'total pain' during her 3 years of treatment for cancer, including addressing Lauren's fear of dying.

CPN's Blyth Lord talks with child and adolescent psychiatrist Elena Lister about the importance, value and life-long positive impact of talking with children honestly about illness and death. "What is mentionable is manageable." This far ranging conversation focuses especially on supporting siblings of children who are sick or who have died from illness.

Jerris advocated for his daughter Faith from her diagnosis at age 4 with osteosarcoma, through 23 major surgeries, side effects, setbacks, and complications, until her death shortly after her 18th birthday. Towards the end, they met Dr. Bob Macauley who helped get Faith home. Jerris emphasizes the need to create a space for dads as advocates and emotional caregivers.

CPN's interview with Pediatric Palliative Care NP's Luke and Sean, Valley Children's Hospital, Madera, CA

Shared Struggles: CPN's Blyth Lord talks with contributing editors parent Ann Schrooten and Dr. Barry Markovitz about their book and the collective wisdom from parents and physicians about the sacred, shared enterprise of caring for children living with serious illness and medical complexity.

CPN’s Blyth Lord talks with Michelle Moon, a bereaved mom and adult neurologist, about her decision to pursue fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine: what about her experience with her daughter Julianna led to this career pivot and how is it feeling for her as she nears the end of her fellowship and considers her future as a doctor while always honoring Julianna’s life and legacy.

Dr. Wynne Morrison, director of pediatric palliative care at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, talks with Blyth Lord about what drove the creation of Courageous Parents Network.

CPN's conversation with mom and writer Faith Wilcox about her experience parenting her teenage daughters Elizabeth and Olivia, following Elizabeth’s diagnosis with Osteosarcoma. Elizabeth died at age 14. Faith talks about how she and Oliva grieved together and separately in the years that followed.