$1.5 million endowment named in honor of La Jolla resident

For her 90th birthday, Vi McKinney received a birthday surprise that will last a lifetime.

McKinney’s husband, Dan, created an endowment fund in her honor to support advanced physician education at San Diego Hospice and The Institute for Palliative Medicine. The gift was presented to McKinney by San Diego Hospice vice president Kathleen Pacurar at a luncheon held at La Jolla Country Club.

The $1.5 million gift will be known as the Vi McKinney Endowed Fellowship for Palliative Medicine. It will ensure that physicians receive cutting-edge expertise and skills in the field of pain management, focusing on the prevention and relief suffering for people living with advanced or life-limiting illness.

In addition to patient care services to more than 1,000 seriously ill adults and children throughout the County, San Diego Hospice and The Institute for Palliative Medicine hosts the nation’s largest physician specialty training program.

The Clinical Fellowship Training Program is known as one of the most rigorous, cutting-edge courses of study and is designed for physicians to learn new specialist skills, typically with a goal of pursuing a long-term career as a clinician or academician in palliative medicine. Fellows work with San Diego Hospice home care teams throughout the county, as well as in San Diego Hospice community care centers.

The McKinney’s have sponsored a San Diego Hospice fellow for the past several years. The endowed gift will ensure that better patient and family care can be achieved in the field of palliative medicine.