Dr. Rebecca Calabrese
& Amber Hultgren LMSW
In today’s episode, physician Dr. Rebecca Calabrese and social worker Amber Hultgren talk with us about their partnership with patients and families as they move together through serious illness and death. No conversation about these experiences is complete without discussion of life, love, compassion hope and resilience…and you’ll learn how that plays out in their setting.
Our guests will describe the difference between Palliative Care and Hospice, what they do to assist people in this process, and the myths and misperceptions that often accompany this work. Dr. Calabrese and Ms. Hultgren will tell us what goes on in these settings and talk about how their skill sets work together to serve people in this life experience.
Rebecca Calabrese, MD, joined Hospice & Palliative Care Buffalo as the Medical Director for Home Connections in 2020. Board-certified in both Palliative care and Internal Medicine, she received her medical degree from New York Medical College and completed her Internal Medicine residency at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City. She served as the Associate Director for Hospital Medicine at Mount Sinai Beth Israel Medical Center from 2009 to 2013 and was the Director of Hospital Medicine for the University at Buffalo Physicians group from 2013 until 2016. Dr. Calabrese completed her Palliative Care fellowship training in 2017 at SUNY University at Buffalo. She has held faculty teaching positions at Einstein College of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo where she is currently working with the Palliative Care teaching faculty.
Amber Hultgren, LMSW, ACHP-SW is a Medical Social Worker for the Home Connections Palliative Care Program at Hospice & Palliative Care Buffalo, where for the last six years she has provided support and guidance to patients facing serious illnesses. She earned a Bachelor of Science in Human Development from Cornell University and received her MSW from the University at Buffalo School of Social Work. Ms. Hultgren began her social work career as a Health Education/Program Services Coordinator for March of Dimes and a Family Support Coordinator for the Western New York Perinatal Bereavement Network, where she currently serves on the Board of Directors.
