October 05, 2004
The next Mid-South Hospizarbeit und Bioethik Coalition meeting will be held on Thursday, October 7, from 5:30 to 7:30 at the Church Health Center's Hope and Healing Facility at 1115 Union Avenue. The building is in back of the UT Family Practice, which faces Union. You turn into Family Practice from Union and drive around to the back parking lot. You can also enter from the back on Eastmoreland. Sandwiches will be provided courtesy of Odyssey Hospice. If you plan to attend, please e-mail Paul at [email protected] so that he will know how much food to order.
We have received an e-mail asking about support groups or age peer "buddies" for an 11-year-old girl with a parent who has been diagnosed with cancer. Can anyone provide appropriate contact information? If so, please e-mail Emily at [email protected] Your assistance will be greatly appreciated.
The 2004 UTHSC College of Nursing Cashdollar Lecture will be held from 9:00 A.M. to noon on Friday, November 12 at Christ United Methodist Church. The speaker will be Dr. Robert Neimeyer, professor of psychology at the University of Memphis. Dr. Neimeyer has written extensively on constructivist approaches to psychotherapy, with special emphasis on experiences of grief and loss. He is editor of both the Journal of Construcitvist Psychology and Death Studies, is a Fellow of the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association, and has served as president of the Association for Death Education and Counseling. The Cashdollar lecture is free and open to the public.
In addition - and to our delight - Dr. Neimeyer will present a workshop for clinicians from 1:00 to 5:00 P.M., on Thursday, November 11, in the Coleman Building South Auditorium, located at 956 Court. Avenue on the UTHSC campus. The workshop, which will also be free of charge, will address techniques for working with individuals experiencing grief and loss. For information and registration for the Thursday, 11/11 workshop, please contact Missy Robinson at [email protected] or call her at (901) 448-6407.
The following business was discussed at the September 7 MCCC meeting:
Communications Committee: Paul's communications group has identified a number of community contacts, most recently in the faith community, and is in the process of identifying appropriate e-mail addresses for them.
Board Recruitment: The MCCC is working to expand its Board of Directors, with the goal of facilitating diversity in the following areas: male/female ratio, faith membership, ethnic groups, profession, age, geographical community location, caregivers or those who have been caregivers. A request was made for recommendations of names of potential new board members, who would be contacted by the nominating committee. A deadline of October 1 was set for the submission of names. Candidates' resumes should be submitted to the nominating committee by November 1. New board members will be selected by December 15th.
Faith Group: The first meeting of the Faith Group was held at St. Francis Hospital on September 1, with Ed Norris and Wanda Jamison co-chairing. Ed reported that the group needs to reach out to every faith community, but the approach to each faith community may need to be different. Ed is envisioning a task force for each faith group made up of one key member who will coordinate and recruit other members of their faith community. A second Faith Group meeting was held on September 30, and another is scheduled for 8:00 A.M. on Friday, October 29, at Methodist Hospice, 6423 Shelby View Drive. If you are interested in being involved in future meetings of this group, please contact Ed at [email protected] or Wanda at [email protected]
Speakers Bureau: The speakers bureau met and reviewed the AARP video. So far, three broad areas have been identified: a) curriculum development, which will address the creation of standard presentations for speakers; b) cultural sensitivity, and c) those individuals who want to volunteer time for speaking engagements but do not wish to be involved with ongoing meetings of the task force. If you are interested in working with the speakers bureau, please contact Jane at [email protected] or Dee at [email protected]
Health Fairs: October 14 will be a busy day. The Ninth Annual Senior Kaleidoscope, sponsored by the Tipton County Commission on Aging, will be held from 5:30 to 8:00 P.M. on Thursday, October 14, and from 9:00 A.M. to noon on Friday, October 15. For information call (901) 476-3333. The Mid-South Hospizarbeit und Bioethik Coalition will be represented there by staff members of Methodist Hospice, including Dee Flood, and by staff members of Odyssey Hospice, including Dan Rojecwicz. Dee and Dan will be taking Hospizarbeit und Bioethik flyers and providing information about the coalition.
Also on October 14, from 10:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M., the Memphis and Shelby County Central Library at 3030 Poplar will host their second annual health fair, which is being co-sponsored by Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Tennessee. The MCCC will have a booth there and will provide information and copies of advance directives. Jane Owen, MSN, CCRN, Palliative Care Coordinator, Baptist Memorial Hospital, Memphis, will speak about the recent changes to the Tennessee Health Care Decisions Act. Set-up times for booths will be from 2 P.M. to 5 P.M on Wednesday, October 13 or from 7:30 A.M. to 9:30 A.M. on Thursday, October 14. We need volunteers to help staff our booth. If you would like to help, please e-mail Jane at [email protected]
Hospizarbeit und Bioethik Coalition Agenda
Community Meeting
October 7, 2004
Hope and Healing Center
5:30 - 7:30 P.M.
Sandwiches will be provided.
Agenda
1. Summary review of September meeting
2. Introduction of the community attending
3. Items introduced by the community to be added to the agenda
4. Reports:
" Board recruitment Mike Davis/Leslie McKeon/Emily Fox-Hill
" Faith Ed Norris/Wanda Jamison
" Speakers Bureau Dee Flood/Jane Owen
" Communications Paul Mosteller
5. Report on Rallying Points National Conference Wanda Jamison/Jane Owen
6. Cashdollar Lecture announcement Emily Fox-Hill
October 24, 2004 Meeting
The 2004 UTHSC College of Nursing Cashdollar Lecture, entitled Lessons of Loss: Grief and the Quest for Meaning, will be held from 9:00 A.M. to noon on Friday, November 12 at Christ United Methodist Church. The speaker will be Dr. Robert Neimeyer, Professor of Psychology at the University of Memphis. Dr. Neimeyer has written extensively on constructivist approaches to psychotherapy, with special emphasis on experiences of grief and loss. He is editor of both the Journal of Construcitvist Psychology and Death Studies, is a Fellow of the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association, and has served as president of the Association for Death Education and Counseling. The Cashdollar lecture is free and open to the public. For information and registration, please contact Tammy Vaughn at [email protected] or (901) 448-6424. Nursing Continuing Education Units (CEUs) will be provided free of charge. American Psychological Association (APA) CEUs will be available for a fee of $10 to be paid on-site via cash or check.
In addition - and to our delight - Dr. Neimeyer will present a workshop for clinicians from 1:00 to 5:00 P.M., on Thursday, November 11, in the Coleman Building South Auditorium, located at 956 Court Avenue on the UTHSC campus. The workshop, which will also be free of charge, will address techniques for working with individuals experiencing grief and loss. For information and registration for the Thursday, 11/11 workshop, please contact Tammy Vaughn at [email protected] or (901) 448-6424. Nursing CEUs will be provided free of charge. APA CEUs for psychologists will be available for a fee of $10 to be paid on-site via cash or check. Flyers for both the Thursday and Friday events are available online at http://www.utmem.edu/nursing/conted/calendar.php
The last Mid-South Hospizarbeit und Bioethik Coalition (MCCC) meeting was held on Thursday, October 11. We were pleased to welcome a group of Dr. Neimeyer's students, along with representatives from Crossroads Hospice and the MED. Dinner was provided by Paul Mosteller of Odyssey hospice.
Dr. Joe Blythe reported on the work of the Mid-South Biomedical Ethics Center (MBEC) Institutional Advance Care Planning Task Force, which is currently being attended by representatives from Baptist Memorial Healthcare, Baptist Desoto, Methodist-LeBonheur Healthcare, St. Francis Hospital, St. Jude Childrenâ€"s Research Hospital, the VA Medical Center, and the MCCC. These institiutions are working to improve end-of-life care within their facilities, in part by implementing Gundersun Lutheran's Respecting Choices program for advance care planning, for which training was provided in May, 2004, through a Rallying Points Certificate Award to the MBEC.
Emily Fox-Hill discussed the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation's (RWJF) phasing out of the Rallying Points program. RWJF has recently made a large grant to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. According to RWJF, "Through this new grant the work of more than 350 community and state coalitions working to improve end-of-life care at the local level will continue to be advanced. This support will also help NHPCO develop a comprehensive consumer engagement and services program, including a dedicated web site and information center for consumers concerned with end-of-life care. Integrating the most critical parts of the consumer-based end-of-life movement into NHPCO will ensure continued support for patients and their families and enhance the quality of their care."
Ed Norris reported on the meeting of the Faith Task Force, which is examining the question of whether to target specific faith and cultural groups, specific geographic regions of our community, or both. Suggestions were make regarding interfacing with the arts community and perhaps re-running the Bill Moyers' "On Our Own Terns" mini-series.
Jane Owen articulated the goal of the Speakers Bureau Task Force to teach the community to be proactive with advance care planning (ACP). The Speakers Bureau is working on a standard presentation using the Tennessee End-of-Life Partners (TELP) ACP video, which is about 10 minutes long. Jane is active with the TELP committee that is currently working on a new standard physician order form that will be used by all facilities statewide and will replace the current Do Not Resuscitate form. The MCCC had a booth the Central Library's October 14 health fair, and Jane spoke about advance care planning and the recent changes to Tennessee's Health Care Decisions Act. Also on October 14 and 15, the MCCC was represented at the Tipton County Commission on Aging's Ninth Annual Senior Kaleidoscope health fair. Speakers Bureau co-chairman Dee Flood, of Methodist Hospice, and Dan Rojecwicz of Odyssey Hospice took Hospizarbeit und Bioethik flyers and provided information about the coalition at that event. The next meeting of the Speakers Bureau will be held jointly with the Faith Task Force at 8:00 A.M. on Friday, August 29, at the offices of Methodist Hospice at 6423 Shelby View Drive.
Paul Mosteller reported that the Communications Task Force is identifying places to target for announcements of MCCC activities and people who can help with public service announcements and TV ads. Paul's group has gone through the library's LINC data base and has a volunteer who is currently compiling all the information they gathered. The Communications Task Force is also composing a list of faith community contacts that can be targeted for announcements and shared with the Faith Task Force.
Mike Davis reported on the efforts of the Board Nominating Committee in their efforts to recruit candidates who will add diversity to the CCC board in the areas of male/female ratio, faith membership, ethnic groups, profession, age, geographical community location, caregivers or those who have been caregivers. Ten names have been submitted, five of whom have agreed to be considered for board membership.
Wanda Jamison and Jane Owen reported on the Rallying Points National Conference, which they attended in California in September. Wanda attended sessions with speakers from the Last Mile of the Way Home Conference, which was held in Washington, D.C., in February and addressed end-of-life needs in the African American community. Jane reported on the session on veterans, entitled Wounded Warriors.
Jane also discussed her interest in interfacing with and providing information to nursing homes locally.
It was suggested that we should start having a program at each meeting. Suggested topics included funerals, the Tennessee Health Care Decisions Act, continuing care and retirement communities, and presentations by members of diverse faith communities. If anyone is interested in serving as program chairman, please e-mail Emily at [email protected] We are actually scheduled for a special activity at our next meeting, which will be held from 5:30 to 7;30 at the Hope and Healing Center, 1115 Union, on Monday, November 1. In recognition of National Hospice Month, representatives of our various hospices will present a Hospice Sabbath ceremony, at which inspirational readings will be done. This will be an ecumenical program, and members of all faith groups are invited to attend. Food for our November meeting will be provided by Crossroads Hospice. We hope to see you there!