HFA's E-Newsletter - March 2010

Volume 10, Issue 3

In this issue:  

Message from Amy Tucci, President and CEO

In less than two weeks, HFA will present our 17th annual teleconference. Cancer and End-of-Life Care will be broadcast on Wednesday, March 24 to communities across the US and Canada. We hope that you will be joining us for the program, which promises to be a compelling and insightful discussion by an outstanding panel of experts. If you would like to attend the program, please go to our website to locate a site in your community. And if your organization wants to host a site, there's still time! Registration is open until 1:15p ET on March 24.  To ensure receipt of the supplementary materials without incurring additional fees, register online before March 15.

In April, HFA's webinar will feature two outstanding experts, Dr. J. William Worden and Dr. Irwin Sandler, discussing findings from research focusing on bereaved children and adolescents. Read an interview with Dr. Worden; more information about the webinar can be found below.

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Focus On: HFA's 17th annual National Teleconference: Cancer and End-of-Life Care

Since its inception, hospice has provided highly valued and needed care for many patients and families facing terminal cancer. Malignant cancer remains the primary reason for hospice admission, accounting for 41.3 percent of all U.S. hospice patients in 2007. But as death rates from cancer decline, as new treatments emerge, and as the language around the imperative to "win the battle" over cancer becomes louder, how is the relationship between cancer and hospice changing?

The 2010 teleconference, focusing on Cancer and End-of-Life Care, will address care options as well as loss and grief reactions for patients, families and professional caregivers. The teleconference will also address communications dilemmas between health care teams and patients and families, psychosocial aspects of cancer, pain management, and ethical issues related to the disease. The program will include discussions of: The Transition to Palliative Care; Care of Dying Persons dealing with Cancer; Professional, Volunteer and Caregiver Needs; and the Aftermath of Cancer Death. The program will be moderated by Frank Sesno, Director of the School of Media and Public Affairs at The George Washington University, and will feature this expert panel:

  • Yvette Colón, PhD, MSW, Director of Education and Support, American Pain Foundation;
  • Malene Smith Davis, CHPN, MBA, President and CEO, Capital Hospice;
  • Kenneth J. Doka, PhD, College of New Rochelle and Senior Consultant, HFA;
  • Richard Payne, MD,  Director, Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life;
  • Sherry Schachter, PhD, FT, Director of Bereavement Services Calvary Hospital/Hospice;
  • Brad Stuart, MD, Senior Medical Director, Sutter VNA & Hospice.

In late 2008, HFA awarded its first set of grants to support Children's Bereavement programming across the country. Five organizations were chosen out of more than 300 proposals. The organizations included  Gerard's House in Santa Fe, NM , in support of its Supporting Grieving Native American Youth program and summer activities for bereaved children and adolescents; T.A.P.S. (Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors), for play therapy supplies and other materials for 18 Good Grief Camp for Young Survivors programs for military children; Hospice of the Upstate, Anderson, SC, to enable Hospice of the Upstate to introduce Play Therapy curriculum and materials into children's bereavement programs; Calvary Hospital,  Bronx, NY, in support of Calvary Hospital's annual summer bereavement camp, as well as ongoing bereavement support groups; and Hospice of Siouxland, Sioux City, IA,  for their Bereavement Diversity Outreach Program, to improve services to bereaved children and adolescents raised in homes where English is a second language. These programs represent some of the country's best and most innovative programming to support grieving children and adolescents.

Whether supporting children through a camp experience,  using play therapy, or reaching out in diverse languages to meet children where they are, these grantees made a difference in the lives of grieving young people. Please go to our website to learn more.

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HFA Announces New Funding Opportunity

Hospice Foundation of America announces its new funding program to support grieving young people ages 13-17.  Applicants must be non-profit hospices or other non-profit bereavement organizations whose programs are available to the entire community in which they are located.  Hospice Foundation of America will award one $10,000 grant for program-related expenses (including but not limited to purchase of equipment or materials, publications, or other curriculum-related materials.) Priority will be given to programs who offer innovative programs for young people ages 13-17, with a special priority given to programs that focus on outreach to diverse populations.

To be considered for funding, organizations must submit a Letter of Intent. Please submit the following information in a one-page Letter of Intent (250 words maximum):

  • Primary contact: Name, address, phone # and email
  • A snapshot of your organization, including:
    • Mission statement
    • Number of professional staff and volunteers
    • Geographic region served by your programs ; and
    • Programming provided to children,  adolescents and their families
  • A brief description of  how funds from HFA would be used

Letters should be submitted via email to grants@@hospicefoundation.org by Friday, March 12.  Letters will be reviewed on an ongoing basis. Selected organizations will be invited to submit a full proposal, which will be due on Wednesday, April 28. Grants will be awarded by June 15.

Webinar Series on Grieving Children and Adolescents

Almost 875,000 children and adolescents have experienced the death of a parent, and over 1.8 million children are dealing with the loss of a sibling. HFA's Webinar Series will discuss research and interventions to help young people dealing with these losses, as well as the myriad of other losses they may experience.  HFA's live online webinar series includes:

  • Bereaved Children and Adolescents: Lessons from Research on Wednesday, April 14. Panelists will include  J. William Worden, Co-Principal Investigator for the Harvard Child Bereavement Study and Irwin N. Sandler, Researcher on the Family Bereavement Program, Arizona State University
  • Grieving Children and Adolescents: The Role of Internet Support on Tuesday, June 15. Panelists will include Pamela Gabbay of the Mourning Star Center and National Alliance of Grieving Children and Carla Sofka, associate professor of social work at Siena College in New York, who has written extensively on grieving youth and technology.

(note: The live webinars will take place from 1pm-2:30pm ET.)
The archived version HFA's most recent webinar, Bereavement Camps for Kids: Benefits and Challenges, is now available on-demand. 

Register for the series here. The Organization Registration Fee for the three-part series is $250, which allows access to both the live webcast and an archived online program for one year past the live webinar, with unlimited complimentary CEs (1.5 hours) available for a wide range of professions. If purchased separately, the Organization Fee is $100 per program. Individuals may register for each webinar for $35 and 1.5 hours of CE credit is included for the registered individual.  To learn more about this exciting educational offering, contact HFA at 800-854-3402 or see the website.

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Registration Still Available for 2010 Teleconference

Registration is still open for HFA's 17th annual Teleconference, Cancer and End-of-Life Care, which will be broadcast live-via-webcast and satellite on Wednesday, March 24, 2010. Register here now. Registration is open until 1:15p ET on March 24.  To ensure receipt of the supplementary materials without incurring additional fees, register online before March 15. Supplementary materials include a complimentary Site Coordinator's Manual and a review copy of the 2010 Cancer and End of Life Care book written by experts. View the book's Table of Contents.

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What’s New @ HFA’s Hospice and Caregiving Blog

HFA’s Hospice and Caregiving Blog gathers and disseminates information useful to professionals and consumers from a single destination. Our goals are to inform, offer support, and generate online comments about important end-of life issues. Read some of the blog’s most recent postings:

Subscribe to the Hospice and Caregiving blog feed.

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Upcoming Conferences

The Moyer Foundation is holding it first 2010 National Bereavement Camp Conference on  June 26 in Cleveland, Ohio.  The conference will provide an overall view of bereavement camp structures and best practices across the country by creating a forum of exchange, learning and collaboration through sharing of timely clinical information, programs, advances in research and successful ideas for new or existing bereavement camps. The conference will take place in conjunction with the National Alliance on Grieving Children Symposium, so there are special CEU pricing levels for NAGC attendees. Learn more about this exciting new conference and register here.  Please contact Lynette Moore at lynette@moyerfoundation.org with any questions.

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