LIFEline September, 2002
Living Initiatives For End-of-Life Care
LIFE PROJECT MEDIA AND PARTICIPANT BRIEFING OCTOBER 22
LIFE Project’s upcoming summit will feature a media and participant briefing on the significance of the newly adopted “Joint Policy Statement”
The LIFE Project’s conference, “The Future of End-of-Life Care,” is scheduled for October 22-23 at the Wichita Hyatt Regency. An important feature of the conference is a media and participant briefing to highlight and publicly announce the newly adopted “Joint Policy Statement on the Use of Controlled Substances for the Treatment of Pain” issued by the Kansas Boards of Healing Arts, Nursing and Pharmacy. This event is a critical step in expressing our shared commitment to providing excellent pain management to every Kansan. The event will be held at 1:00 p.m. on October 22, immediately following the LIFE Project Celebration Luncheon.
The guidelines, created and adopted by the Kansas Boards of Healing Arts, Nursing and Pharmacy, reflect the strength of our commitment to improving pain management, the partnership we have built and maintain and our ongoing dedication to helping all Kansans live with dignity, comfort and peace as they near the end of life. At the event, LIFE Project participants will receive a press release for their own use after the meeting, policy updates on pain management and copies of the joint guidelines.
The briefing will include statements from the Boards of Healing Arts, Nursing and Pharmacy and expressions of commitments of support from the Kansas Association of Osteopathic Medicine, Kansas Medical Society, Kansas State Nurses Association and Kansas Pharmacists Associations. LIFE Project leaders, Gary Doolittle, MD, and Bob Twillman, PhD, will provide pain policy and practice updates and will address the role of the LIFE Project Partners in supporting best practices in pain management. The session will also offer brief updates on the LIFE Project public awareness campaign, “Every Kansan should expect good pain management” and provide tools for LIFE Project Partners to more fully join the campaign.
If you have not already registered for this important statewide conference, please do so today! Call the LIFE Project office at (316) 263-6380 for a conference brochure, or download it from the LIFE Project website, www.lifeproject.org.
PLEASE NOTE: The room block at the Hyatt expires on September 22. To make your hotel reservation, please call the hotel directly at (316) 293-1234.
CELEBRATION PLANNED FOR FALL CONFERENCE
LIFE Project Partners are invited to attend the conference celebration and appreciation luncheon, receive well-deserved recognition and celebrate our accomplishments
End-of-life care in Kansas has been impacted by the work of the LIFE Project Partners, all of whom have made valuable contributions to this work. At a Celebration Luncheon on October 22, all LIFE Project Partners will be honored for the efforts and energy that they continue to bring to help all Kansans live with dignity, comfort and peace at the end of life.
“The Future of End-of-Life Care,” October 22-23, 2002, at the Hyatt Regency in Wichita, Kansas, will provide a time to celebrate the past, understand the present and plan for the future. The expert leadership of the LIFE Project partners prepares us to meet the continuing challenges in improving end-of-life care. We encourage all Project Partners to plan for representation at this important gathering so that we may recognize the many gifts you have provided the LIFE Project.
CARING COMMUNITIES PROMOTING PBS PROGRAM
“And Thou Shalt Honor” will air October 9 on PBS and LIFE Caring Communities are planning activities to coincide with this caregiving special
The LIFE Project Caring Communities have been busy planning community events to dovetail with the upcoming PBS caregiving special, “And Thou Shalt Honor.” The program will air on Wednesday, October 9 at 8:00 pm (CST).
In Wichita, coalition leaders will host a Caregiving Showcase in late October or early November. The First United Methodist Church is also hosting a six-week “Care for the Caregiver” series beginning September 18 and ending October 23 from 10:00-11:00 am. Many organizations, including the local ALS and Alzheimer’s chapters, Veterans Administration, Central Plains Area Agency on Aging, and MS Society, have come together to form the Kansas Caregiver’s Coalition. They are working to engage the community on caregiving issues.
In Topeka, plans are underway to inform the faith community and all religious congregations about the program. The Topeka Caring Community is distributing letters to all Topeka ministers, as well as fact sheets. The “Health Wise After 55” television program sponsored by Stormont-Vail, will include an advertisement about the program during an early October broadcast.
Also in Topeka, Deborah Altus, PhD, of the Department of Human Services at Washburn University, will be sharing the program with students in an undergraduate class entitled, “Elder Boom: Caring for an Aging Society.” Altus will also be presenting the same information in an intensive workshop covering two weekends later this fall.
The Clay Center Caring Community has a Caregiver Task Force meeting in their community and another in an adjacent community. The local newspaper will publish articles about caregivers and their issues in late September, and public service announcements are being produced for churches, radio and television stations. Flyers promoting caregiving were distributed at the Clay County Fair in July and will be available at all public events in the future.
Lawrence Caring Community is finalizing plans for numerous engagements surrounding this television special, as are several other Caring Communities.
Promotional materials for this program, including posters, action guides, and excerpt reels, are available from Barksdale Ballard. Call them at (703) 827-8771 or email thoushalthonor@bballard.com. A companion book, And Thou Shalt Honor: The Caregiver’s Companion, is now available at Barnes & Noble bookstores for $24.95, or online at www.barnesandnoble.com. Thanks to KPTS, Wichita, for their gift to the LIFE Project of a copy of And Thou Shalt Honor: The Caregiver’s Companion.
END-OF-LIFE LESSON AVAILABLE ONLINE
The lesson prepared, at the request of the LIFE Project, by the Kansas State University Research & Extension Services is now available online
“End of Life: Kansans Deserve Excellent Care,” a lesson promoting quality end-of-life care, is available at http://www.oznet.ksu.edu/library/famlf2/mf2473.pdf. This lesson was created by K-State and has been used by county extension agents across Kansas to inform consumers about the importance of planning for the end of life.
***NOTES AND CALENDAR FROM THE LIFE PROJECT***
UPCOMING EVENTS: L designates an event sponsored by the LIFE Project or a LIFE Project Partner.
Sept. 18-Oct. 23 L “Care for the Caregiver” is a six-week series that will be held from 10:00-11:00 am at the First United Methodist Church in Wichita. Don Strong of the Mental Health Association will present. Call Karen Everhart at 316-267-6344 for more information.
Sept. 21 L The Circle of Caregiving campaign, an initiative of the Kansas Area Agencies on Aging Association, will sponsor a caregiving special from 6:30-7:00 pm. This special will look at caregiver issues faced by friend caregivers and long-distance caregivers. The program will air across Kansas and parts of Missouri on the following stations: KSN-TV3, Wichita, KCTV5, Kansas City, KTKA-TV49, Topeka, and KSN-TV16, Joplin, MO. For more information, call the Circle of Caregiving toll-free line at 888-903-8181 or visit KSN’s website: www.ksn.com/inside/caregiving.
Sept. 26 L Dr. Tom Welk of Harry Hynes Memorial Hospice and Carolyn Harrison of Kansas Health Ethics, both in Wichita, will conduct a seminar at the Jackson County Senior Citizens Center in Holton, KS, from 1:00-4:30 pm. “A Workshop on End-of-Life Decisions” is co-sponsored by the Holton Caring Community Council and Holton Community Hospice and is open to the public and healthcare professionals. CEU’s have been applied for.
Oct. 7-8 L The combined annual meeting of the Association of Kansas Hospices and the Missouri Hospice Organization will be held at the Downtown Marriott in Kansas City, Missouri. Please contact Cindy VanBiber at MHO for conference details (telephone: 816-350-7702, email: cindy@mohospice.org).
Oct. 9 “And Thou Shalt Honor,” a PBS special on caregiving hosted by Joe Mantegna, will air at 8:00 p.m. (CST). The program documents an exciting new stage in our cultural development. While the huge increase in the number of caregivers in our society can be said to be a result of the success of medical technology, it also represents a breakthrough in our growth as an extended family. Many, if not most, of us will be complete two roles in our lifetimes -- caregiver and the cared-for. We may slip into these roles so gradually that we scarcely realize it. Or, as the social scientists say, we may not self-identify. “ATSH” examines the various aspects of caregiving in a warm and caring documentary. For more information, go to www.thoushalthonor.org.
Oct. 12-14 The Third International Conference on Family Care will be held in Washington, DC. “Empowerment Through Innovation” is the theme for this year’s summit. Call 301-718-8444 for details or log on to www.caregiving.org.
Oct. 17 L “Media, Movies and Medicine” is the theme for the 9th Annual Elizabeth Layton Lecture to be held October 17, 2002, at St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri. Presenters September Williams, MD, and Christopher Springmann will demonstrate how the media affect the way we think about health and illness, autonomy, beneficence, and justice. Admission is free. Call Midwest Bioethics Center for more information, (816) 221-1100.
Oct. 22-23 L LIFE Project Annual Meeting, “The Future of End-of-Life Care,” will be held at the Hyatt Regency, Wichita. Keynote speakers: Dr. Dan Tobin and Mary Labyak, MSSW, LCSW. Rallying Points will host an Oct. 22 banquet and a breakfast and luncheon meeting on Oct. 23 for members of community coalitions attending the conference. Watch for registration details coming soon in the mail and on the LIFE Project website.
Nov. 8-9 A Caregiving Workshop sponsored by PrairieView and the Sunflower Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association will be held at the Old Town Conference Center in Wichita. Day 1 is for professionals (CEU’s will be available), and Day 2 is for family caregivers. Call 316-267-7333 for workshop details.
Nov. 21-22 L Kansas Health Ethics will present a Community Forum and Ethics Workshop on November 21 & 22 at Wichita State University. “Living in Limbo: The Nancy Cruzan Story,” will be presented by Chris Cruzan White at 8:00 pm on November 21. A full-day ethics workshop will convene on Friday, November, 22. The theme is “Who Decides? Healthcare Ethics at the Edges of Life,” with presentations by Chris Cruzan White, Bill Colby, JD, Ron Cranford, MD, and Tom Welk, Dmin. For more information call 316-684-1991 or email Peggy Mishler at pmishler@kansashealthethics.org.
For a complete listing of upcoming seminars, conferences and courses being offered on end-of-life or related issues, please visit our website at www.lifeproject.org/_news_calendar.htm.
* If you have any announcements to add to our calendar, please forward them to Stacie Ogborn by the 10th of the month: LIFE Project, 1901 University, Wichita, KS 67212, Fax # (316) 263-6542, or submit them by email to: stacie@lifeproject.org.