Joan Chrastek

Joan “Jody” Chrastek was born and brought up in India and trained as a nurse in Scotland. She has worked as a midwife and hospice nurse in the UK, India, and the USA with adults and children. She has worked in hospice and palliative care for more than 35 years in both inpatient and community settings. She has provided pediatric palliative care and hospice for 25 years, specializing in home care, education of professionals, and program development. Her doctorate in nursing practice focused on assisting adult community hospice programs to accept children. She taught the required hospice and palliative care course at the Globe University School of Nursing, has been a preceptor for pediatric palliative care, and is a mentor for Doctor of Nursing Practice students in pediatric and adult home palliative care. She is a trainer for both End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) and for Education in Palliative and End-of-Life Care (EPEC) and has trained interdisciplinary teams in these programs nationally and internationally. She is a member of the Minnesota Palliative Care Advisory Council and coleader of the Pediatric Palliative Care Coalition of Minnesota. She has published and presented on hospice and palliative care issues in journals. She has contributed to textbooks such as the Oxford Textbook of Palliative Care for Children, and Advanced Practice Palliative Nursing in the “Pediatric Palliative Care in the Community” chapter.

Jody was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellow and was accepted as a Fulbright India Fellow. She is presently working in a community-based hospice and home care providing mentoring, education, and leadership to nurses caring for pediatric patients.