HFA's E-Newsletter - October 2011

Volume 11, Issue 10

In this issue:  

• Message from Amy Tucci, President and CEO
• Focus on: Reaching Out to Your Community
• New HFA Book 
• Journeys Special Offer
• New Lunch 'n Learn Series for Professionals
• Help HFA Shape the Next Living with Grief® Program
• What's New @ HFA's Hospice and Caregiving Blog
• Upcoming Conferences and Educational Opportunities  

Message from Amy Tucci, President and CEO

Just as HFA continues to plan ahead, we are sure that your organization is doing so as well. November marks both National Hospice Month and the beginning of the winter holiday season; don't forget that HFA has excellent resources to help your organization share information with your staff and community.

In November, HFA will release the DVD of our newest program, "Beyond Kübler-Ross: New Perspectives on Dying, Death and Grief." Hospice professionals utilize theory as a foundation for their hands-on experience as they continue to serve as a strong resource for those who are grieving. Our upcoming program provides professionals an opportunity to hear from both esteemed researchers and long-time clinicians about how research and practice intersect. Dale Larson, one of the program panelists, shared some insights into how to evaluate the academic models in the context of hands-on work with the bereaved: "What does a model add to our interactions with people we're helping? Does it enhance our empathy? If it doesn't enhance our empathy, then it's not really being of any use to us. That was Kübler-Ross' message...listen to patients." Read more below about how you can share this fascinating discussion with professionals in your community.

The discussion continues in more depth in our newly published book on the subject, and contains chapters by some of the preeminent writers in grief today. See below for more information.

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Focus on: Reaching Out to Your Community 

Almost every day, HFA receives questions via our website. And almost every day, one of those questions is from a family member who shares a little, or a lot, about his or her loved one's current medical and emotional condition. No matter how varied that description is, the gist of the email is always the same - what do we do now and how do we go about getting hospice involved?

The hospice movement in the US has made amazing strides in its short history, but every professional who works with those facing the end of life will probably agree that there is always more education to be done. This time of the year provides some great opportunities for spreading the message about hospice care.

November is designated as National Hospice Month.

• HFA has easily accessible resources in our Hospice Information Center, including free downloadable Fact Sheets, videos and online programs. These resources can be used in community presentations and volunteer trainings, or share the links with referral sources or families who want to learn more about hospice. These materials are great resources to share with your communities this month, particularly the Hospice Information Center videos, which are perfect to show at a community education or outreach event.   
• The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization offers publicity and promotional materials for National Hospice Month at www.nhpco.org.

With the holiday season approaching, hospices can share their expertise and resources as a support for grieving families. HFA has recently expanded and added new articles to its Winter Holidays issue of Journeys. This newsletter, which is now six pages rather than four, provides a great and substantive way to reach out to the families you serve as well as new families or organizations in your community.

The Winter Holidays issue features articles written by experts on a range of topics including:

    The 3 C's of Coping; Holiday Survival Strategies; Old and New Rituals for the Holiday Season; and a mother's personal story of grief during the holidays. See below for a great discount offer to help you provide this to more families.

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New HFA Book

Edited by Kenneth J. Doka & Amy S. Tucci, Beyond Kübler-Ross: New Perspectives on Death, Dying and Grief looks closely at the pioneering legacy of the work of Kübler-Ross and discusses how professional understanding of dying and grief has progressed and developed. Readers will find spirited discourse on the most current issues surrounding the question of how people grieve and how professionals can best support them, in chapters and tools that will augment and even challenge their work. The book features chapters from some of the brightest thinkers in the field of grief: David Balk, Charles Corr, Kenneth Doka, Louis Gamino, Robert Neimeyer, Colin Murray Parkes, Paul Rosenblatt, and Richard G. Tedeschi and Lawrence G. Calhoun.

In his chapter on the Strengths and Limitations of the Stage Theory Proposed by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Charles Corr notes: "Like any important theorist who preceded us, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross helped advance our thinking in this field and sparked important efforts to find good in those who are coping with dying and in ourselves. She offered us constructive lessons; it is our responsibility to appreciate both the strengths and the limitations of what she wrote. That will not be accomplished by merely freezing our understandings of her work in an often simplistic reading of a theoretical model set forth in 1969.Turning to the future, we have opportunities to move forward in our thinking about coping with dying and helping those who are coping with dying."

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Journeys Special Offer 

As the holiday season approaches many people struggle with how to handle their grief.  Support them during this time with the Winter Holiday Issue from Journeys--a Newsletter to Help in Bereavement. We've reformatted the issue, adding more information and articles with the addition of two additional pages, including a new piece by Charles Corr on helping grieving children cope with the holidays. Go online today and receive 20% off your order of the Holiday Issue! Use the code wh2011 to receive your discount.

BONUS OFFER: Any organization ordering 100 copies or more will receive a FREE download of "Grief, Holidays, and Family Dynamics." This audio program features expert advice and practical assistance from Dr. Sherry Schachter and Dr. Kenneth Doka, discussing how professionals can better serve grieving families during these difficult times. One hour of CEs is included for a wide range of professionals.

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Help HFA Shape the Next Living with Grief^® Program

CALL for CASES: We're looking for interesting dilemmas for possible inclusion in the next Living with Grief^® program, "End-of-Life Ethics."  Cases that have gone to an Ethics Committee would certainly be of interest; however, we'd also like to hear about issues that didn't rise to the level of an Ethics Committee review but were perplexing all the same. If you have a case from which there is something to be noted or learned by your professional colleagues please let us know!  Email us: permissions@hospicefoundation.org. 

HFA's next "Lunch 'n Learn" program will take place live on December 7. "Talking with Dying Patients and Their Families" focuses on the difficult conversations that take place, or need to take place, as patients face the end of life. Panelists Hank Dunn, MDiv and Diana Davis, RN, and Geoff Coleman, MD will utilize case studies to explore how to have these difficult conversations. Available for up to a year after its initial live air date, the cost is $85 per program for hospice organizations and $35 per program for individuals, and that registration price means unlimited access for a full year from the live air date. CEs for a wide range of professionals will be available for $10/person. Register now to make sure you don't miss out on these timely and helpful topics!

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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:

• On Total Pain
• Something to Talk About
• Aging Challenges in the LGBT Community
• Advancing Research on Professional Chaplaincy

Subscribe to the Hospice and Caregiving blog feed and follow us on Twitter.

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Upcoming Conferences and Educational Opportunities

The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) will host its 13th Annual International Survivors of Suicide Day, its Annual Healing Program for Bereavement After Suicide, on Saturday, November 19. AFSP provides a free 90-minute educational and healing broadcast on DVD, featuring real survivors of suicide loss. Individuals, organizations, or schools can offer this program by hosting a local conference site. This is an opportunity to offer a high-quality program directly to community members at little or no cost. Learn how at www.afsp.org/survivorconference. Not able to host a conference site? Let survivors of suicide loss in your area know that they can sign up at www.afsp.org/survivorday to watch online from their home computer on November 19th and participate in a live online chat immediately afterwards. Questions? Email survivingsuicideloss@afsp.org

The Cleveland Clinic will hold a program on Palliative Medicine & Supportive Oncology 2012, on February 23-25, 2012. Utilizing research data, case studies, parallel workshops and group discussions, national and international experts will challenge the audience to explore new options with the goal of improving patient outcomes. For more information, go to: www.ccfcme.org/pm2012

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This newsletter is published by Hospice Foundation of America
Amy Tucci, President and CEO
http://www.hospicefoundation.org
© Hospice Foundation of America 2011

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