CHPPN® of the Year Award

Following a career as a veterinary technician, Jennifer became an RN in 2012 knowing that practicing in the specialty of hospice and palliative care is what would define her nursing career. Her journey began working alongside the famed “hospice cat” Oscar at a long-term care facility in Rhode Island. After a short tenure there, Jennifer accepted a role as a case manager with a non-profit hospice organization where she would spend the next decade. She transitioned from case manager to care navigator in 2018. In this role, she was responsible for the growth and development of various programs, fostering relationships, and providing education presentations for the state’s largest acute-care hospital. She provided patients and families with expert guidance to help develop plans of care based upon their unique situations and goals. She also contributed to the creation of a pediatric hospice program with this organization before the end of her employment.

As a result of contributing to this work, Jennifer renewed her passion for caring for pediatric patients and began visiting pediatric and perinatal patients in the hospital setting. In 2023, Jennifer relocated to Vermont with her family to accept a position as the nurse navigator for the section of Palliative Medicine and the Jack Byrne Center of Dartmouth Health in nearby Lebanon, New Hampshire. Currently, she is the Chair of the Ethics and Wellness council for Shared Governance, teaches at nurse orientation, and contributes as an educator to both Project ECHO and the Fellowship program.

Most notably, Jennifer is enthusiastically engaged in building a pediatric palliative care program at Dartmouth, which, once fully established, will be the first for this institution. As the program begins to take shape, she is hopeful it will connect families with the specialty palliative care that is so vitally needed, and that it will create a network of providers who offer similar care through more fully unified resources throughout New Hampshire and Vermont.

Jennifer is passionate about the education and normalization of end-of-life concepts and palliative care for her clinical colleagues and the community at large. To provide the most skilled and informed care for her patients throughout the lifespan, she proudly maintains both adult and pediatric certifications through HPCC and is active with HPNA. She dedicates her skills and expertise to support all nurses who may care for the seriously ill or dying in any care setting. Jennifer hopes to help her nursing colleagues confidently provide the very best care to their patients at all stages of life or illness.

Jennifer Palmer is known for providing pediatric palliative education at the local, state, and national levels, including regular, ongoing pediatric ELNEC training, to a local children’s hospital and care facility for severely developmentally delayed children. She supports continuing education and advancement of the specialty by contributing to the education and revisions of a local fellowship program and providing one-on-one mentorship to two fellows annually. In addition to her work educating, she orients new hires and provides support for her team with complex clinical scenarios

• 2021: Kathy Perko, RN, MS, PPCNP-BC, CHPPN®, CPLC®, CPON, FPCN®
• 2019: Amy Corey Haskamp, MSN, RN, PCNS-BC, CPON, CHPPN®
• 2018: Deborah Lafond, DNP, PPCNP-BC, CPON, CHPPN®
• 2017: Verna Hendricks-Ferguson, PhD, RN, CHPPN®, FPCN®, FAAN
• 2016: Susan O’Conner-Von, PhD, RN-BC, CHPPN®