In 2013, at St. Frances Naggalama Hospital, a small hospital in rural Uganda, the chief administrator Sr. Jane Nakafeero, having recently experienced the death of a family member, believed there had to be a better way to care for people with chronic or life limiting illnesses and reached out to the African Palliative Care Association (APCS) for help. Soon Prossy Nafula, a nurse who had just completed specialized training in palliative care through Hospice Africa Uganda, was charged with starting the Palliative Care Outreach Program at Naggalama. At the same time, Randi Diamond MD, a faculty member and clinician in the Division of Geriatrics and Palliative Care at New York Presbyterian - Weill Cornell in New York City, contacted APCA to see if there were any opportunities to volunteer in Uganda. They told her about the small hospital in Naggalama that was just starting up a program and put her in touch with Sr. Jane. The rest, as they say, is history.

A year later, Randi and her husband Howard Eison MD started PECRA (originally named PCFU) as a means to support the delivery of palliative care to rural Uganda.