LIFE line       June, 2000

A Monthly Update of the Kansas LIFE Project

 

Don’t miss the calendar of Kansas educational events related to end-of-life care.  It is at the bottom of the LIFEline.

 

·        Communications:  The newly formed LIFE Project Communications work group met on May 2 in Topeka.  The group includes:  Howard Hill, a retired public radio professional; Harriet Lange, the executive director of the Kansas Broadcasters Association; David Furnas, the executive director of the Kansas Press Association; Billie Hall, Kansas Health Institute; Kelley Carpenter, owner, Ideas, Don Checots, general manager, KPTS; Dave Pomeroy, program director, KTWU; Roz Hutchinson, Public Relations, Via Christi Regional Medical Center, Bette Booth, a social marketer; and Carolen Collins, RWJF Community State Partnerships.  Also included in the group are Donna Bales, John Carney, and Mercedes Bern-Klug.  The group accepted the challenge of working to create a strategic communications plans for the LIFE Project.   A small group met in Wichita on May 26 to begin the plan and the work group will reconvene in June to move forward with the plan.  LIFE Project hopes that the television ads will be filmed and available by late June.  We expect that the work group will organize small “mini-teams” to oversee various parts of the communications plans.

 

·        Advance Care Planning:  On May 2, the Public Policy Task Group sub-group on advance care planning met in Topeka.  The group reached consensus that it is important to work together to encourage Kansas citizens, health care professionals and family and friends to talk with one another about their wishes for care at the end of life.  The group also agreed that the Durable Power of Attorney for Health Care is important to complete.

 

·        Pain Assessment and Management:  In early May, representatives from the Kansas Hospital Association, the Kansas Homes and Services for the Aging, and the Kansas Health Care Association met to work on processes of pain assessment and management in acute and long term care settings.  Both KHA and KAHSA have surveyed members about current practices.  The surveys indicate that many providers have good systems in place and other providers are very interested in implementing such systems.  Representatives of acute and long-term care have been invited to form a work group that will help to create a packet of resource materials related to pain assessment and management.  The packet will go to every acute and long-term care facility in the state and will encourage a system-wide focus on pain assessment and management.  The work group met again in Topeka on June 6.

 

·        The LIFE Project continued work on planning for the Palliative Care Certification Course for October 2000.  Dr. Robert Twycross, Director of the World Health Organization’s Collaborating Center for Palliative Care, will lead a team of international experts in leading the course.  October 1 – 6 will be for physicians and October 7 will be for nurses and pharmacists.  All sessions will be held at the Westin Crowne Center in Kansas City.  Reservations are open now and Kansas health care professionals have received the information.

 

·        On May 9 and 10, Donna Bales and Jan Brandom, LIFE Project staff, attended a two-day meeting in Denver to work on communications strategies.  The workshop was sponsored by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and offered to selected grantees.  The teaching team will continue to provide support and input to the LIFE Project over the next six months.

 

·        Design for Change: The LIFE Project has had numerous requests for reprints of last month’s Design for Change.  The publication is being shared across the state.  KHA included a copy in their mailing to every member. 

 

·         Kansas Arts Commission:  LIFE Project staff met, on May 23, with staff of the Kansas Arts Commission.  The purpose of the visit was to discuss ways to more fully involve the arts into the work of the LIFE Project.  Phil Jones, Program Consultant, will work with the LIFE Project and Caring Communities to help create linkages.

 

·        Caring Communities:  The Caring Communities continue to work to serve as locally based teams focusing on quality care at the end-of-life.  Caring Communities are based in Clay Center, Dodge City, Emporia, Great Bend, Hays, Holton, Hutchinson, Junction City, Kansas City, Lawrence, Liberal, Manhattan, Newton, Oskaloosa, Phillipsburg, Pittsburg, Pratt, Salina, Topeka and Wichita. 

 

·         Site Visit:  LIFE Project leaders met with The Robert Wood Johnson site visit team on May 24 in Topeka.  The group met with Myra Christopher, Midwest Bioethics, President; Erika Blacksher, RWJF Community State Partnerships to Improve End-of-Life Care, Deputy Director; Jack Schwartz, Maryland Attorney General’s Office, Assistant Attorney General & Director of Health Policy Development; Charlie Sabatino, ABA Commission on Legal Problems of the Elderly, Assistant Director; and Merry Wood, RWJF Program Associate.  LIFE Project leaders gave updates on the initiatives of the project, discussed concerns and sought suggestions, shared ideas and received ideas in this excellent day of exchange.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Departures/Transitions:

 

·        The LIFE Project announced this month that John Carney, President of Hospice Inc., Wichita and co-chair of the LIFE Project’s public engagement task group, will be leaving at the end of June.  John will become COO of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization.  John’s efforts have been critical to the project and he will be greatly missed.

 

·        Dr. Gary Doolittle, chair of the LIFE Project’s professional education task group, has received a Fullbright fellowship.  Gary will travel to Aman and to Australia.  He will leave this fall and be gone for a year.  Gary intends to remain involved, via video networking, with the Project.

 

Calendar of Events:

 

Monday, June 12, 2000, 1:00-3:00 p.m., at Via Christi, St. Francis Campus.  Presenter:  Shirley Otto, RN, MSN, CRNI, AOCN, CNS.  Registration fee $20.

Pain Management:  Nursing Assessment & Intervention.  CNR hours available.  For information call 316-268-5646

 

Thursday, June 15, 2000 in Kansas City, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  Registration fee $60 ($45 for those who attend the longer conference being held June 15 - 17).  Pain Management Basics and Beyond:  A one-day program to educate health care providers in the most important aspects of pain management. It is a pre-conference event for the national meeting of State Cancer Pain Initiatives, which will be held June 15 - 17 at the Westin Crown Center.  CMEs and CEUs are available for physicians, nurses and pharmacists.  For information and registration contact Bob Twillman, 913-588-7726.

 

Thursday, June 29, 2000 in Pittsburg, Kansas. 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.  Registration fee $42 (after June 22 - $52).  Offered by KU Medical Center Rural Eastern Kansas Area Health Education Center.  Presenters: Bruce Woods, PhD, and Mercedes Bern-Klug, MSW, MA - PSU.  Hard Choices at the End of Life.  Credit hours available.  For information call 316-235-4040.

 

Wednesday, August 16, in Topeka, Kansas.  Semi-annual Project Partner meeting will be held in the morning.  Reviews of current and future activities of the LIFE Project will be presented.  In the afternoon, a Caring Community meeting will be held with representatives from Caring Communities throughout the state.  The meeting will provide community representatives with an opportunity to learn first-hand about what is going on in other communities and to share with others progress that has been made in their own communities.  Updates on “Stories At Work” and media involvement are two areas that will also be discussed.

 

Kansas State Fair, September 8^th through the 17^th.  Plans are continuing for the distribution of LIFE Project materials at the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson.

 

On September 10^th through the 13^th, 2000, a four-part PBS series from a team of award-winning journalists led by Bill and Judith Davidson Moyers will report on the end-of-life issues facing Americans. Based on two years of research, ON OUR OWN TERMS: MOYERS ON DYING will reveal the stories of the dying, their families, and their caregivers, and illustrate the growing struggle to balance medical intervention with comfort and humanity.  More information can be found at the Moyers website:  http://www.pbs.org/wnet/onourownterms/

 

October 1 - 6, 2000, in Kansas City.  Registration fee $695 (registration by July 15 $595) Physician’s Palliative Care Medical Education Training (MET).   Led by: Dr. Robert Twycross, DM, CRCP, FRCR with the World Health Organization and the Oxford International Centre for Palliative Care.  For information call AKH at 316-263-6380.

 

October 7, 2000, in Kansas City, 8:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.   Registration fee $125 (registration by September 1^st $100).  Pharmacist and Nurses Course.  Led by Dr. Robert Twycross, DM, CRCP, FRCR.  For information call AKH at 316-263-6380.