On March 10-14th, Global Partners in Care (GPIC) participated in the XII Latin American Association for Palliative Care (ALCP) Congress, hosted alongside the XI Academia Nacional de Cuidados Paliativos (ANCP) Congress in São Paulo. The Congress brought together clinicians, researchers, policymakers, educators and advocates from across Latin America and the global palliative care community for learning, exchange and collaboration.
A key GPIC engagement at the Congress was supporting a communications contest in partnership with ALCP and ANCP. The initiative was designed to recognize creative and innovative approaches to communicating about palliative care across the region, with the theme of “reducing preventable suffering.” The goal is to award most creative and impactful concept with a cash prize to help the winner implement the campaign.
The submissions demonstrated a powerful range of ideas, reflecting both cultural nuance and strategic thinking about how to reach communities more effectively. GPIC was deeply impressed by the quality and creativity of the proposals and looks forward to sharing more about the winning campaigns as they move into implementation.
Congratulations to Descoisando, winner of the ALCP Palliative Care Communication Campaign Contest. Their campaign, “I’m Dying… Wait!”, stood out for its powerful use of art, dialogue, and education to deepen public understanding of palliative care, autonomy, and the reduction of avoidable suffering. A moving and original project, the campaign reminds us that “art touches hearts, so informing through feeling is our goal.” Through art, dialogue, and public reflection, it challenges us to see care differently—with dignity, autonomy, and humanity at the center. This is a campaign that uses art not only to inform, but to transform. It teaches all individuals the “art of living while the heart still beats.” Congratulations on this powerful and deeply deserving work.
Descoisando utilizes art-education as a tool to transform how all individuals—not just healthcare professionals—think about palliative care. It is a “vision in which health and well-being are promoted within a broader social and community context.”
Online Acceptance Acknowledgement by Ana Portillo of Descoisando:
(translated from Portuguese, please excuse any mistakes)
Thank you all so much. It is an honor to stand here today and to receive this recognition on behalf of our entire Descoisando team.
This campaign was born out of a simple but powerful belief: that art has the ability to transform how we see care, how we see one another, and how we understand the experience of living while the heart still beats. The red nose – both literal and metaphorical – has come to symbolize trailblazing palliative care providers who challenge a system that too often focuses on diseases instead of people. Through art, dialogue and emotional connection, we’ve sought to open spaces where learning doesn’t feel like instruction, but like shared humanity.
The discussions that follow each performance remind us that real education transcends rote learning. When we create room for open dialogue, we strengthen the social fabric through transformative education. In a region still shaped by a legacy of exclusion, the act of informing, sharing and reflecting together becomes a profoundly emancipatory task.
Arts education offers something that traditional healthcare practices alone cannot. It brings new perspectives to physical and mental well‑being and creates a vision of health rooted in community. Sharing real stories – of patients, nurses and the encounters that changed us – calls forth empathy, critical thinking and connection. As Freire taught us, it is through shared experience and emotional resonance that we foster a more critical and compassionate worldview, breaking out of academic bubbles and speaking to people where they are.
Our campaign tools – our play “I’m Dying… Wait!”, our conversations, our moments of active listening and biographical appreciation – continue to show us what can happen when art and freedom of expression are offered to patients and communities. They teach us that transformation happens not through indoctrination, but through shared meaning.
We have many people to thank. To our patient teachers, who have taught us more than they know – thank you. To the transdisciplinary team at HCPA’s Alvaro Alvim Unit, whose real experiences inspired our work, and to the São Paulo State Society of Cardiology, who believed in us from the very beginning – thank you for walking with us. To everyone who has seen the play, participated in discussions or supported this project in any way, your energy has fueled this journey.
And finally, thank you to ALCP, ANCP and Global Partners in Care for recognizing the importance of this work and for your trust and support. This acknowledgment encourages us to keep dreaming, keep creating, and keep bringing art to the heart of care.
From all of us at Descoisando – thank you for this honor and for believing in the power of art to change lives.
Their campaign, “I’m Dying… Wait!”, offers a profound reminder that “when we speak of death, we are speaking of life; and when we speak of life, we inevitably reevaluate its quality.” In a world that so often avoids these conversations, this campaign opens them with courage, artistry, and compassion.