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Sharon Lucas is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over twenty years experience in the medical field. She received her BA in Psychology with Distinction from Stanford University and her Master's Degree in Social Work from the University of Southern California. She founded and directed Ahimsa Care Center, an in-patient hospice and sub-acute skilled nursing facility for people with AIDS and cancer. Sharon has worked extensively with patients and families facing chronic, life threatening and terminal illnesses in hospitals, nursing homes, home hospice and in private practice. |
Sharon has been a consultant to Catholic Healthcare West, since 2004, assisting in the development of Palliative Care programs in all their hospitals, providing education and co-leading an IHI modeled quality improvement collaborative in Palliative Care. She is intimately involved in quality improvement and patient satisfaction programs and metrics. She also developed an advance care training , end of life and train the trainer program for a disease management company and trains RN case managers working with disease specific populations. |
Sharon
is a recipient of the Southern California Cancer Pain Initiative Award of Excellence,
The Shirley Otis-Green Award of Excellence for Pain Management and Palliative
Care for Social Workers and the State Pain Initiative Champion Award. Most recently
she was the Supportive Care Coordinator at Hoag Memorial Hospital responsible
for the development of an end-of-life and Palliative Care program. In this capacity
she monitored the end-of-life care clinical pathway, provided end-of-life care
education for professional staff, helped develop a perinatal loss program and
was a core member of the Palliative Medicine Consult Service. Hoag Hospital is
the recipient of the American Hospital Association's prestigious Circle of Life
Award for excellence in end-of-life care.