LIFE line       May, 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.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT:

John Carney has decided to leave his position as president of Hospice Inc.  His active support and involvement in the LIFE Project will be greatly missed.  We wish him joy and success as he begins his new journey in July.  He will become the COO of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization in the D.C. area.

·        On April 6, LIFE staff met with members of the Wichita community who are working together as a LIFE Project council.  The Wichita Library is one of 12 in the nation to receive a grant from the American Library Association to offer special programming following the Moyers’ series.  The group worked on planning four special events.

·        LIFE Project staff met with Deb Altus from KSU Extension Services, who is developing a community-based lesson on issues at the end of life. 

·        On April 12, LIFE staff presented at the annual meeting of the Kansas Health Care Association.  There were approximately 200 long-term care administrators and nurses in attendance. 

·        On April 13-14, the first two-day intensive EPEC program was held in Kansas City.    Conveners and participants were pleased with the program.  Physician and nurse teams will work within their locales to improve end-of-life care.  Eleven teams of physician/nurses attended from across the state, including:

Community      Doctor      Nurse

Arkansas City      Rick Schoeling      Ginger Peacock

Dodge City      Greg Nelson      Julie Pinkerton

Great Bend      Richard Preston      Cindy Regan

Hays      Doug White      Sue Noll

Holton      Joel Hutchins      Connie Kautz

Kansas City      Rich Morgan      Carol Mulvenon Liberal      Graham Keats      Kathy Henson Pittsburg      Bob Haskins      Eddie Brownlee

          Salina          Kevin Norris          Leslie Schreder

Topeka      Aileen McCarthy      Corky Woon

Topeka      Mike Cox      Abbey Soward

 

·        On April 17, LIFE Staff met with staff from the Kansas Department on Aging and Via Christi Regional Medical Center.  A staff member from each of these groups is working with the LIFE Project to create a consumer guidebook on various issues related to end of life. 

·        The April 18 Moyers’ teleconference got rave reviews from across the state.  Eleven sites were established across the state of Kansas, including:

                  Arkansas City                  Liberal                        

                  Bunker Hill                  Manhattan

                  Emporia                  Pittsburg

                  Goodland                  Topeka

                  Kansas City                  Wichita

                  Lawrence

Over 160 community leaders attended the leadership conference.  Those who attended reported that the meetings went very well and that the information provided contained a number of good ideas.  Thanks to Marilyn Wassinger with the Wichita-based Caring Community for making available a video of the teleconference; please contact AKH if you are interested in borrowing the video.

·        Leaders and participants of Caring Communities of Kansas are providing information on their community activities for the web page that is under development.

·        Plans continue, under leadership of Bob Twillman, for the Regulatory Summit.  The goals of the summit are to stimulate dialogue among the various professional groups and to encourage a joint statement or guidelines related to quality care and pain management.

·        Volunteer Ombudsman meetings are now being used to provide end-of-life training to current volunteers who have already gone through orientation. The first training session was held on May 3^rd in Kansas City.  Additional locations include Wichita, Hutchinson, Salina, Topeka, and possibly Dodge City and Lawrence.  Debbie Evangelidis from Hospice, Inc. in Phillipsburg has volunteered to act as liaison between the LIFE Project and the Ombudsman Program.  Caring Community Council leaders have identified subject-experts within their communities to present the curriculum to participants.  Please contact Debbie Evangelidis at 785-282-3506 for additional information

·        The LIFE Project pilot project, focused on institutional change with respect to pain management and advance care planning, is “up and running”.  Sarah Forbes, R.N., Ph.D. and Robert Twillman, Ph.D lead this project.  The Central Kansas Medical Center (CKMC) in Great Bend is the host institution for the pilot project.

A system-wide continuous quality improvement (CQI) program focused on pain management and advance care planning are being instituted throughout the CKMC system.  This system consists of a hospital facility in Larned, Kansas, with both acute and long-term care units; a hospital in Great Bend, Kansas, with both acute and long-term care units; a long-term care facility in Ellinwood, Kansas; and Golden Belt Home Health and Hospice, which serves a large geographic area in central Kansas. 

·        Monograph one of A Design for Change was printed and distributed to legislators, public leaders and key persons in late April.  The first publication is a basic primer on why the end-of-life issues need attention.  Monograph two will be a sharing of our three sets of precepts – palliative care, pain management, and advance care planning. (Summer/Fall, 2000).  Monograph three will identify next steps in public policy (Winter 2001).

·        On April 21, LIFE Project staff met with staff from Via Christi’s PR department.  This staff will help us with PR development and with graphic design. 

·        The Public Engagement Task Group met on April 26.  The group is nearly finished with the script for the wall chart.  Other items the group is currently working with include the monthly Senior Press Service articles, the State Fair exhibit, the consumer guide materials, and the Caring Communities. 

·        Considerable time has been given to details for the October 1 – 7 Palliative Care Conference with Dr. Robert Twycross, World Health Organization.  It will be in KC.  Physicians will attend from October 1 – 6.  Pharmacists and nurses will attend on October 7^th.

·        On April 27, LIFE Staff met with the team working on the professional survey.  The questions that will be used come from materials of the American Academy of Palliative Care Physicians.  We have received permission to use these UNIPAC questions.  Questions that the group feels are best were sent to 15 individuals to help to judge best questions.  Those responses have been received and the final survey is nearing completion.  We have determined to send the survey to 3% of the health care professionals – nurses, physicians and pharmacists and social workers and clergy. 

·        Time was spent during April in recruiting and convening a Communications Work group.  The group will work with materials created by RWJF and others to develop and implement an overall communications strategic plan.  The group includes:

                

                 Name                 Affiliation      

                 Bette Booth                 Social Marketer     

                 Donna Bales                 AKH, President, CEO        

                 Mercedes Bern-Klug                 KUMC Center on Aging       

                 John Carney                 Hospice Inc., President  

                 Kelley Carpenter                 Ideas, Director

                 Don Checots                 KPTS-TV, General Manager  

                 Carolen Collins                 Midwest Bioethics, Communications Officer

                 David Furnas                 Kansas Press Association, Executive Director

                 Billie Hall                 KHI, Director of Public Affairs   

                 Howard Hill                 KABS           

                 Roz Hutchinson                 Via Christi, PR      

                 Harriet Lange                 Kansas Association of Broadcasters, CAE

                 Dave Pomeroy                 KTWU-TV, Director

LIFE Project Events:

Meeting with the Kansas Arts Commission - May 23, 11:00 a.m. in Topeka

Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Site Visit - May 24, 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. in Topeka

Calendar of Other 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 conference)

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.

October 1 - 6, 2000, in Kansas City.  Registration fee $695 (early registration $595)

Physician’s Palliative Care Medical Education Training (MET)   Led by: Dr. Robert Twycross, DM, CRCP, FRCR.  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 (early registration $100)

Pharmacist and Nurses Course.  Led by Dr. Robert Twycross, DM, CRCP, FRCR.  For information call AKH at 316-263-6380.