LIFEline October, 2001
(Living Initiatives For End-of-Life Care)
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PROJECT
PARTNERS AND CARING COMMUNITIES MEETINGS PLANNED
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Reports from the Public Policy Task Group, Public Engagement Task Group, and Professional Education Task Group are planned. For a complete agenda please visit our website at www.lifeproject.org. While you’re there please download a copy of our registration form and fax or email it in today! Registrations are also being accepted by phone. Please call June Miller at the Project office: (316) 263-6380.
Immediately following the Project Partner Meeting, the LIFE Project will host a luncheon and statewide session of the Caring Communities of Kansas. Deb Altus, PhD, Assistant Professor of Human Services at Washburn University, will present creative tools for public engagement and education, including art projects and story telling projects. Also reporting will be Jane Bemis from Great Bend, Dianne Michaud from Clay Center, and Mercedes Bern-Klug from the KU Center on Aging. For a complete agenda and registration form please visit our website at www.lifeproject.org.
We look forward to seeing you on the 26th!
MORE LIFE PROJECT NEWS……………..
· The recent national tragedy has touched all of us in many ways. For those of you who have been directly affected by the loss of friends or family members, please know that the thoughts and prayers of the LIFE Project staff are with you. The LIFE Project has posted numerous resources for handling stress and grief on their website.
· The LIFE Project would like to thank Marilyn Wasinger of Via Christi Regional Health Center for staffing the HelpLine phone during KPTS’ re-broadcast of “On Our Own Terms” in September. Her gracious gift of time is greatly appreciated by the LIFE Project and the Wichita Caring Community. We would also like to thank the staff at KPTS for their cooperation and expertise in airing the program.
· The 15-week newspaper series, “Finding Our Way: Living With Dying in America,” continues to be utilized by newspapers across Kansas. The series, underwritten by several organizations, including Knight-Ridder Tribune News Service, is free to all US newspapers and covers such issues as pain, widowhood, advance directives, last rites, caring for aging parents and partners, grief, violent death, losing a child, and others.
The underwriters have recently lifted the embargo and are encouraging publishers to run any or all of the articles in any order deemed appropriate for individual publications. Articles may be previewed at www.findingourway.net, and paginated versions can be downloaded at www.krtdirect.com/dying.
It is not too late to run the series! We urge you to contact your local publishers and encourage them to include as much of the series as they can.
Our appreciation goes out to the Kansas area newspapers that are running the series and/or local stories:
Lawrence Journal-World (Lawrence, KS)
Hays Daily News (Hays, KS)
Clay Center Dispatch (Clay Center, KS)
The Western Star (Coldwater, KS)
Kiowa County Signal (Greensburg, KS)
Edwards County Sentinel (Kinsley, KS)
Kiowa News (Kiowa, KS)
Barber County Index (Medicine Lodge, KS)
The Newton Kansan (Newton, KS)
Pratt Tribune (Pratt, KS)
The Protection Press (Protection, KS)
St. John News (St. John, KS)
Stafford Courier (Stafford, KS)
The Kansas City Star (Kansas City, MO)
Manhattan Mercury (Manhattan, KS)
Oskaloosa Independent (Oskaloosa, KS)
Valley Falls Vindicator (Valley Falls, KS)
The Southwest Daily News (Liberal, KS)
If your community newspaper is running or has run any part of the series, and their name is not listed above, please let us know.
· National Pharmacy Week is October 21-27. The LIFE Project thanks Kansas pharmacists for their efforts, year-round, to help citizens live with good health! The LIFE Project has provided the members of the Kansas Pharmacists Association with a printable file format for prescription bag stuffers to commemorate National Pharmacy Week. The PDF file is available under the “Members Only” section of their website: www.kansaspharmacy.org.
· The LIFE Project has distributed 15,000 copies of Issue #2 of A Design for Change, and a second printing has just arrived at the Project office. The newsletter is ideal for distribution to Kansas consumers interested in completing an advance directive. If your organization would like additional copies of the publication, please contact June Miller at the Project office: (316) 263-6380 or by email: june@lifeproject.org.
· Donna Bales, Principal Investigator/Project Director of the LIFE Project, presented at the Lunch & Learn series Newton on September 28. Bales also made a similar presentation at the Shawnee County Elder Day in Topeka on October 3.
· The LIFE Project Pain Protocol Project hosted Marie Schall with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement during a teleconference, October 9. Nine facilities participated in the 90-minute conference call on “Rapid Cycle Change.” Schall shared information on how to use rapid cycles of innovation and measurement, a method that will enable health care professionals to improve pain management and assessment practices in a relatively short period of time, generally within a few months. For more updates on the Pain Protocol Project please log on to our website: www.lifeproject.org/_about_painupdate.htm.
· Several LIFE Project members attended Journey to Life’s End, at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park on October 5, 2001. The LIFE Project joined with Shawnee Mission Medical Center to co-sponsor the end-of-life symposium which drew 300+ attendees from around the state. Jan Brandom, LIFE Project Coordinator, staffed the LIFE Project booth, distributing book marks, wall charts, and recent issues of A Design for Change.
· The LIFE Project website had another busy month in September. Not since the Moyers PBS series was broadcast a year ago have we seen so much activity on the website. Successful requests in September 2000 totaled 12,487, compared to 10,244 in September 2001. If you haven’t logged on lately, what are you waiting for?
· Just added to the website: "Consumer's Tool Kit for Health Care Advance Planning." This complete guide, created by the American Bar Association, contains a variety of self-help worksheets, suggestions, and resources. There are 10 Tools in all, each clearly labeled and user-friendly. To download the Tool Kit go to www.lifeproject.org/_cr_abatoolkit.htm.
· The LIFE Project has purchased the 7-part video training series, “Effective Pain Management Practices in Home Health,” produced by the Resource Center of the American Alliance of Cancer Pain Initiatives at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. The video series has been donated to the Wichita Public Library and is available through the statewide inter-library loan system. Individuals interested in checking out one or more tapes should contact their community library to request copies. This training series is recommended for use in all health care settings, not just home health. If your organization is interested in purchasing the set for your own training library, please call The Resource Center at (608) 262-0978. The cost is $70.
UPCOMING EVENTS: For a complete listing of upcoming seminars, conferences and courses being offered on end-of-life or related issues, please visit our website at www.lifeproject.org/_news_calendar.htm.
OCT. 16 Plans are underway for a 6-week EPEC Tele-Conference training course to be offered by the LIFE Project and the University of Kansas Medical Center. EPEC (Education for Physicians in End-of-Life Care), an AMA certified course, will be broadcast to three downlink sites in Kansas on six consecutive Tuesdays beginning October 16 from 6:00-8:30 pm. Twelve (12) CME credits will be provided, and the cost is $160 per person. Please contact Anita Macan at the University of Kansas Medical Center for registration and site information, (913) 588-2226 or by email: amacan@umkc.edu.
OCT. 24 Kansas Health Ethics and Wesley Medical Center will co-host "Promises and Pitfalls of Advance Directives" from 9:00 - 12:00 at Wesley Medical Center, 550 N. Hillside in Wichita. Contact hours are available. Call (316) 688-3080 to request a registration form.
OCT. 24-25 The Fourth Annual State Parish Nurse Conference will be held at the Spiritual Life Center in Wichita. Jim Miller, nationally known author/speaker on end-of-life issues, will be presenting on Oct. 24. He will also be conducting a workshop for clergy on grief and loss issues on the 25th. This conference is sponsored by the Center for Congregational Health Ministry, Via Christi Regional Medical Center, and the United Methodist Health Ministry Fund. For a registration brochure, please contact JoVeta Wescott at (316) 689-5152.
OCT. 25 The annual conference of the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Human Development will be held at the Convention Center in Columbus, Georgia. A pre-conference training session on caregiving titled, "Caring for You, Caring for Me," will be held on Oct. 24. Call (229) 928-1234 or log on to www.rci.gsw.edu to register.
OCT. 27 Kansas Health Ethics and the American Red Cross will co-host "Artifical Nutrition/Hydration: Ethical, Philosophical, Legal and Social Ramifications" from 9:00 - 12:00 at 707 N. Main in Wichita. Tom Welk will present. Call the Red Cross at (316) 268-0842 to request a registration form.
OCT. 27 AARP of Kansas will host a Caring Conversations workshop in Wichita. These workshops are designed to ensure that each individual’s end-of-life care can be accomplished in a supportive environment, according to Donna Travis, AARP Caring Conversations Volunteer. The workshop will be held Oct. 27 from 10:00-3:00 at First Methodist Church, 330 N. Broadway. A notary will be on hand for those participants who want to complete Advance Directives during the workshop. The registration fee is $15 per person plus $10 for bringing along any number of “conversation partners.” (Total not to exceed $25) The fee includes a box lunch. Persons can register for the workshops beginning September 23 by calling toll-free 1-877-926-8300. Please contact the AARP state office at (785) 228-2557 for more information.
NOV. 1 Shawnee Mission Medical Center will present “Religious Diversity in Healthcare: A Foundation for Holistic Care,” from 8:00 – 4:30 at Shawnee Mission Medical Center. This course will explore the complementary relationship between spirituality and health care. Please contact Agnes Shaw at (913) 676-2034 for details.
NOV. 1 The Good Samaritan Village in Winfield has invited Dr. Bob Twillman from the University of Kansas Medical Center and the Kansas Pain Initiative to present a brief pain management lecture. The focus of his talk will be “How to Assess Pain in Cognitively Impaired Patients.” Four (4) nursing CEU’s will be offered. Please contact Connie Schaefer at (620) 221-4660 for registration information.
NOV. 7 “Death: The Ultimate Farewell, Being there for the healing process,” will be held Nov. 7 at Central Community Church, 6100 W. Maple, in Wichita. Rabbi Earl Grollman will be the keynote speaker. The program, designed for clergy, social workers, counselors, nurses, and congregational workers, is co-sponsored by Hospice Incorporated and Prairie View. Please call 1-800-767-4965, ext. 193 for additional details.
* If you have any announcements to add to our calendar, please forward them to Stacie Ogborn by the 10th of the month: LIFE Project, 1901 University, Wichita, KS 67212, Fax # (316) 263-6542, or submit them by email to: stacie@lifeproject.org.