LIFE line            February, 2001

Updates from the Kansas LIFE Project

• Is your organization hosting a health fair or other event in your community?  What a great way to get information out about the LIFE Project!  We can provide posters, wall charts, bookmarks, and other materials for distribution.  Contact Jan or Stacie at (316) 263-6380.

• The LIFE Project will sponsor EPEC (Education for Professionals in End-of-Life Care) Training, April 27-28, 2001, at the University of Kansas Medical Center in Kansas City, Kansas.  Doctor/nurse teams are encouraged to attend; scholarships are available.  Brochures are being sent to all the Caring Communities this week.  If you are interested in attending, please contact the LIFE Project at (316) 263-6380.

• The LIFE Project website has logged over 25,000 hits in the first four months since it was launched!   We invite any and all of our project partners to add a LIFE Project link to your website (www.lifeproject.org).  If your organization has a new website that we don’t know about, or if you link to the LIFE Project, please call Stacie and let her know.

• During the Kansas State Fair, LIFE Project volunteers conducted a short survey on end-of-life terminology.  We asked 317 people if they knew what the following terms mean, and this is what we found:

  Hospice Care                          26 said they did not know

  Palliative Care                          289 said they did not know

  Advance Directives                     208 said they did not know

  Living Will                              16 said they did not know

  Durable POA                            57 said they did not know

  Durable POA-HealthCare            99 said they did not know

• The LIFE Project Public Policy Task Group met January 11 in Emporia.  LIFE Project Partners will soon receive a letter from the task group addressing advance care planning.

• The LIFE Project Pain Protocol Task Group met January 26 in Topeka to finalize plans for the seminar, “Building an Organizational Commitment to Pain Management,” to be held April 4 in Wichita.   Many thanks to the Kansas Hospital Association, Kansas Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, Kansas Organization of Nurse Leaders, and the Kansas Health Care Association for their commitment to this project.  Watch for registration information to be included in future mailings from these organizations.

• The LIFE Project Public Engagement Task Group met on February 6, 2001 in Topeka to celebrate accomplishments in 2000 and plan activities for 2001.  In reviewing plans for 2001, the group decided to have quarterly teleconferences and decided that all members of the Statewide Caring Community Steering Committee be considered active members of this group.  The committee is charged with creating and overseeing statewide opportunities for informative and instructive dialogue on issues related to end-of-life health care in Kansas.  The focus in 2001 will be to:  1) Offer community-based opportunities for citizens to engage in dialogue in end-of-life care.  2) Offer resources and encouragement to help Kansans think about, talk about, and plan for end-of-life care.  3) Offer support and resources to those who are serving as caregivers to those who are seriously ill.

UPCOMING END-OF-LIFE EVENTS  *

• Via Christi Center for Congregational Health Ministry in collaboration with Inter-Faith Ministries, will host Customs of Bereavement, a free brown bag luncheon series on how cultures and religions cope with the end of life.  Representatives from the Jewish, Hindu, Islam, Baha’i, Buddhist, and Native American communities will be on hand to share their beliefs.  The final program in the series will be held at 1148 S. Hillside, Suite 14, in Wichita, Feb. 21 from 12:00-1:30 pm.  Contact JoVeta Wescott at (316) 689-5152 for more information.

• Via Christi Regional Medical Center is offering CNE credit for viewing and discussing the four parts of the Moyers series.  The 3-hour sessions will be facilitated by Alice Thornton Bell and Doris Kimbrell on March 15 and April 19 from 1-4 pm at the St. Francis campus.  Please contact the Continuing Education Department at 316-268-5845 for more information.

• Stories at Work, presented by the Kansas Humanities Council and the Manhattan Caring Community, will conduct a four-hour workshop for nurses, social workers, pastors, and concerned citizens February 12-13, 2001, at Peace Lutheran Church in Manhattan.   For registration information, please call (785) 539-1610.   We encourage all Caring Communities to contact Victoria Sherry with KHC at (785) 357-0359 to arrange for Stories at Work to come to your community.

• HBO will air WIT, starring Emma Thompson, on March 21.  Don’t miss it!

• The annual meeting of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHCPO) will be held March 23-26 in Orlando, Florida.

• The LIFE Project Pain Protocol Work Group will host a pain management seminar for acute and long-term care administrators, nurse leaders and mid-level managers on Wednesday, April 4, 2001, at Central Community Church in Wichita.  The symposium, titled “Building an Organizational Commitment to Pain Management,” will be led by Patricia Berry, PhD, RN, CRNH, CS, Project Coordinator (JCAHO Standards Project), Institutionalizing Pain Management, University of Wisconsin-Madison Medical School, and Julie Griffie, RN, MSN, CS, AOCN, Palliative Care Clinical Nurse Specialist, Medical College of Wisconsin.  A half-day workshop on the JCAHO pain standards will be conducted on Thursday, April 5.  Brochures will be mailed to KHA, KAHSA, KHCA, and KONL members the week of February 19.

• The Hospice Foundation of America will broadcast a national bereavement teleconference, “Living with Grief,” April 18, 2001, from 1:30-4:00 pm (EDT).  The teleconference will be moderated by ABC News correspondent, Cokie Roberts.  Please visit the HFA website for more information:  www.hospicefoundation.org.

• The 3^rd Annual Spirituality and Healing Conference will be held April 20, 2001, at First United Methodist Church in Wichita.  Email Jo_Veta_Wescott@via-christi.org for more information.

·        Rabbi Harold Kushner and Rev. William Sloan Coffin will be the leading speakers at the 2^nd Annual Compassion Sabbath Clergy Conference in Kansas City, April 26, 2001.

·        The LIFE Project statewide Caring Community Spring Retreat will be held April 27-28, 2001, in Wichita.  Watch for details.

·    The Governor’s Conference on Aging Services will be held May 3-4, 2001, at the Capitol Plaza Hotel in Topeka.  This year’s theme is “Caring for the Whole Person.”

·        Wayne Muller, from Bread for the Journey, Inc. will be the keynote speaker at a full day workshop on “Burnout” to be held May 7 at the Family Hope Center (First Presbyterian Church) in Salina.  He will also give a public address from 7:00-9:00 pm (cost is by donation).  Please contact Becky Ewing, at (785) 825-8461, or by email at fhcwhm@midusa.net for registration information.

·        Amos Bailey and Edwina Taylor from Balm of Gilead Hospice, featured on segment 4 of the Moyers series, will be in Kansas City on May 23-24, 2001, as part of the annual Layton Lecture event co-sponsored by Midwest Bioethics Center and St. Luke’s/SMMM Health Care System.

·        Dr. Robert Twycross and the Sobell Study Centre at Oxford International Centre for Palliative Care announce their 2001 schedule for advanced courses in Pain & Symptom Management.  Course dates are as follows:  June 14-15, Newcastle, England; June 28-29, Oxford, England; July 5-6, Oxford, England.  Please contact the LIFE Project for registration information.

*   If you have any announcements to add to our calendar, please forward them to Stacie Ogborn at the LIFE Project, 1901 W. University, Wichita, KS  67212, Fax # (316) 263-6542, or submit them by email to:  stacie@lifeproject.org.