LIFE line            January, 2001

Updates from the Kansas LIFE Project

·        The forty-plus representatives from the Caring Communities of Kansas and the LIFE Project made a big splash at the Rallying Points summit in Newport Beach, California, last week.  Unofficially the largest delegation in attendance, all but two of the Caring Communities were represented at the two-day conference, entitled “Improving Community End-of-Life Care Through Coalitions.”  Participants attended numerous workshops on such topics as funding, strategic planning, working with the media, reaching diverse populations, and advance care planning.  Sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as a way of thanking everyone for their hard work in promoting the Moyers series, the brief but intense conference highlighted the many success stories of local and state coalitions around the country and their efforts toward improving end-of-life care.

·        The LIFE Project public service announcements have been getting airplay throughout the state.  Copies of the PSA’s were sent to all commercial television and radio stations in December with a request for airtime throughout the year.  The LIFE Project HelpLine has received a noticeable increase in calls from the radio spots.  The first series of PSA’s deals with making your wishes known and will run intermittently through March.  Future spots will include issues on pain.  The LIFE Project staff will be calling on representatives of the Caring Communities to make follow-up calls to local stations managers encouraging them to run the TV ads and radio spots.  Look for an announcement coming soon.  The print ads have not been sent to local newspapers as of this date, but plans are in the works to do so next month.

·        In a word, the Salina Community Theatre’s recent production of WIT was “powerful,” according to Kim Fair of Hospice of Salina, Inc.  The controversial play is not about living with cancer, per se, even though the lead character is fighting ovarian cancer; rather, it is about dying.  Fair said many people that she talked to following the production admitted they were hesitant to attend but were glad they did.  For reviews and community comments, visit the Salina Journal website at www.saljournal.com.

UPCOMING END-OF-LIFE CARE EVENTS  *

·        The LIFE Project Pain Protocol Work Group will meet Friday, January 26, 2001, from 11:00 – 2:00 at the Health Alliance Video Conferencing Center located in the basement of Kansas Association of Homes and Services for the Aging, 217 SE 8^th, Topeka.  Agendas and other information will be going out directly to committee members.

·        Tune in to watch To Live Until I Die, Sunday, January 28 on PBS (Channel 8 – KPTS in Wichita) at 7:00 p.m.

·        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 luncheon series will be held at 1148 S. Hillside, Suite 14, in Wichita, Jan. 31, Feb. 7 & 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 January 18, February 15, 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 April 4-5, 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.  Look for more details by the end of February.

·        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.

·        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.”

·        Many of us who attended the Rallying Points Summit in California last week were delighted to hear Wayne Muller, from Bread for the Journey, Inc. speak.  It has come to our attention that he 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.

·    AARP of Kansas is leading in plans to hold a conference on grief and loss in mid-July.  Stay tuned for more details.

*   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.