LIFE line            June, 2001

Updates from the Kansas LIFE Project

(Living Initiatives For End-of-Life Care)

On the Web:  www.lifeproject.org

• New on the website:  Multi-Media Presentations!  The LIFE Project has uploaded five slide show presentations in Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0 (PDF) format to the website.  These are ideal for use at community health fairs, in-service training or other public forums.  Currently available are:

   “Advance Care Planning:  Do It For Those You Love”

  “Hospice:  A Special Kind of Caring”

  “What’s Ahead for End-of-Life Care?”

  “Pain Management:  Why Kansans Deserve Excellent Care”

  “Caring Communities:  Leading the Way in 2001” 

  These multi-media files can be used in community presentations “as is” using a portable computer with Acrobat Reader software, or by printing a hard copy of each slide and making overhead transparencies.  Go to www.lifeproject.org/_about.htm and click on “LIFE Project Multi-Media Presentations.”

• The LIFE Project would like to express its sincere appreciation to Sondra Langel of Kansas Health Ethics in Wichita for her unwavering support of end-of-life issues over the years.  We wish her the best of luck in her upcoming retirement.

• Nineteen of the twenty-one Caring Communities were represented at the Caring Communities Spring Retreat held April 27-28, 2001, in Wichita.  Over 65 participants from throughout the state attended the event.  The feedback and responses have all been very positive.

• We are grateful to the Kansas public broadcasters who invited the LIFE Project to share with them in a meeting on June 4 in Wichita.  Steve Jeffers, Community Outreach Chaplain at Shawnee Mission Medical Center and a regional representative of the LIFE Project Caring Communities, made a presentation about the importance of continuing the promotion of end-of-life issues to Kansans.

• Jan Brandom, LIFE Project Coordinator, gave a presentation to the VFW Ladies’ Auxiliary Department of Kansas in Topeka on June 9.  There are 144 local auxiliaries in the Department of Kansas with over 20,000 members.  Approximately 150 people attended the statewide meeting in Topeka.  Our appreciation goes out to the Ladies’ Auxiliary for their generous gift of $1,000 to the Association of Kansas Hospices.

• A special “Thank You” goes out to Carolyn Carter of Wichita for her tireless volunteer efforts with the LIFE Project.  She has been logging numerous hours researching, editing, and writing articles on end-of-life issues.  Some of her handiwork will be available soon on the website.

• Numerous resources are available on the Last Acts website from grief and bereavement to caregiving.  As a member you will also have access to conference calls on end-of-life and other related issues, such as the one-hour conference call to learn about the upcoming end-of-life newspaper series, “FINDING OUR WAY:  Living With Dying in America,” on June 29 at 10:00 am (CST).  The series is designed to foster a journey with caregivers, community organizations and professionals, and presents a great opportunity for Partners to promote local programs, service and create dialogue. 

  You must be a Last Acts Partner to join the call.  For more information visit the Last Acts website at www.lastacts.org or call Kim Martin at (703) 827-8771 ext. 342.  If you are not a Last Acts partner, we encourage you to register online at www.lastacts.org/partnerapplication.

• The fifteen-week “FINDING OUR WAY:  Living With Dying in America” newspaper series on end-of-life issues planned by Knight-Ridder Tribune will be provided at NO CHARGE to all newspapers across the country.  The series will be available to newspapers in its entirety prior to the series release in mid-September.  It will be available from the KRT website in regular news format, as well as in paginated form for many months after the final segment is run.  Also planned is a national public relations campaign via radio and television broadcasts.  A live Internet web-cast is also in the works.

  For ideas on how your community can make the most of this extraordinary opportunity, contact Jan Brandom at the project office, (316)263-6380, or by email:  jan@lifeproject.org.

  ·        The LIFE Project Pain Protocol Facilities Initiative has received tentative institutional review board approval to conduct its research in 15 acute and long-term care facilities across Kansas.  Thank you to Don Reynolds of Midwest Bioethics Center in Kansas City for his direction and support in this area.

• End-of-life fact sheets in Spanish are now available from the LIFE Project.  Please contact the project office at (316) 263-6380 to order.  We would like to thank the Center on Aging at Kansas University Medical Center for their generous efforts in producing the Spanish fact sheets.

• The focus of the second issue of the LIFE Project A Design for Change will be on advance care planning.  Look for the latest issue in Summer, 2001.

UPCOMING END-OF-LIFE EVENTS  *

·        Kansas Health Ethics, Inc., Wichita, is hosting “End of Life:  Kansans Deserve Excellent Care,” a two-hour program created by Kansas State University Extension and Research.  Jenell Smith, KSU Extension Educator, Sedgwick County Coordinator of the Senior Health Insurance Counseling for Kansas, will present the program at Kansas Health Ethics, 5900 E. Central, Wichita, on Wednesday, June 20, from 9:00-11:00 a.m.  Call Carolyn Harrison to reserve your spot at (316) 684-1991.  Agenda and certificate of attendance will be awarded to social workers and clergy.  Nurses will be given Individual Offering Approval Form for nursing CEU’s.

·        Hospice, Inc., Wichita is sponsoring “Children’s Grief Day Camp,” June 20-21 at Eberly Farms in west Wichita.  This day camp provides a therapeutic environment in a fun setting that is both safe and accepting for children and teens (ages 7-12 and 13-17).  The curriculum will explore normal grief responses and will help children to understand and express their own feelings.  Contact Ruth Knouf at Hospice, Inc. for registration information at (316) 219-1793 or toll-free at (800) 767-4965. 

·        Three Trees Center for Grieving Children and Their Families is offering a Volunteer Facilitator Course in Wichita, June 23, 24, and 30.  Three Trees is looking for volunteers to facilitate children’s support groups for ages 3-24 years.  For information on the training please call Georgia Ahern at (316) 263-3335.

Groups are peer support based and built around creative expression techniques.  Families experiencing the loss of a loved one are encouraged to call Dr. Helen Reiner for more information at (316) 263-3335.

• Last Acts Partner Networking Conference Call on the upcoming end-of-life newspaper series, “FINDING OUR WAY:  Living With Dying in America,” will be held on June 29 at 10:00 am (CST).  You must be a Last Acts Partner to join the call.  For more information visit the Last Acts website at www.lastacts.org or call Kim Martin at (703) 827-8771 ext. 342.

·        The Center to Advance Palliative Care will host “Planning a Hospital-Based Palliative Care Program,” July 13-15, 2001, at the Claremont Resort and Spa in Berkeley, California.  For program information visit their website at www.capcmssm.org or call (212) 241-7885.

*   If you have any announcements to add to our calendar, please forward them to Stacie Ogborn by the 10^th of the month:  LIFE Project, 1901 University, Wichita, KS  67212, Fax # (316) 263-6542, or submit them by email to:  stacie@lifeproject.org.