HFA's E-Newsletter - January 2012
Volume 12, Issue 1
In this issue:
- Message from Amy Tucci, President and CEO
- Focus on: New Book on End-of-Life Ethics
- Support HFA's Living with Grief® Program
- Announcing Webinars with Ken Doka
- What's New @ HFA's Hospice and Caregiving Blog
- Upcoming Conferences and Educational Opportunities
Message from Amy Tucci, President and CEO
Belated Happy New Year from Hospice Foundation of America!
HFA is well underway with its spring Living with Grief® program, End-of-Life Ethics. Available on DVD in April 2012, this program will feature an expert panel and interviews with individuals who have been intimately involved with ethical decision making, as well as experts who have had a part in shaping the ethical and legal standards surrounding advanced illness and death in the United States. The program includes interviews with Julia Quinlan, the mother of Karen Ann Quinlan; Bill Colby, a lawyer who represented the family of Nancy Cruzan before the U.S. Supreme Court; and George Felos, the attorney for Michael Schiavo, the husband of Terry Schiavo.
As always, HFA will also publish a book by experts to accompany the program, and like all of HFA's books, the 2012 publication easily stands on its own. Available for pre-purchase now, this 300-page book examines end-of-life ethics in innovative ways and includes chapters by physicians, ethicists, and other noted scholars. By taking a case-study approach, the book reinforces that real-life ethics situations occur daily in hospices and other institutions offering palliative and end-of-life care. Chapters include challenging cases involving issues of surrogacy; decision making when the patient is a child or adolescent; conflict between health care professionals and family; and palliative sedation. While each case is unique, each chapter shares the perspective that ethics continue to evolve. As Foreword author Richard Fife writes, "Because of the strong moral and spiritual traditions of hospice; because of the compassion of hospice and respect for life; and because hospice has always been seen as not just for the dying but for the living, end-of-life ethics will always be a concern."Focus on: New Book on End-of-Life Ethics
We often think of ethics as the unchanging framework that shapes our personal and professional lives. In reality, ethics are always evolving. This is certainly true in end-of-life ethics. While there are some agreed-upon principles that guide ethical decision making at the end of life, newer models of thinking reflect this evolution. We spoke with Dr. Kenneth Doka, who recently co-edited HFA's new book on end-of-life ethics. The book uses a case study approach as a tool to illustrate real-life issues and encourage dialogue and discussion. But as another co-editor, Charles Corr, writes: "No single case can illustrate all possible challenges. No single family represents all the decisions that might be made by other families. Each journey... is an individual pathway through a disease trajectory that is always complex...." While Corr was specifically referring to Alzheimer's disease, his statement rings true in many end-of-life situations.
Support HFA's Living with Grief® Program
As part of its mission, HFA makes a sizeable investment each year to produce its Living with Grief® program. With generous support from sponsors, we are able to keep the program registration fees extremely low for Site Coordinators, who in turn can provide a free program to their own participants. Without outside support, HFA's program fees would need to increase substantially to cover the costs of developing this quality educational product year after year. This year, HFA is pleased to announce that End-of-Life Ethics is underwritten in part by the Foundation for End of Life Care and Dignity Memorial Funeral Providers. Additional support comes from Allen Mooney & Barnes Investment Advisors, LLC, Columbus Properties, Hospice Choices, and Jewish Home Life Care.
Has your organization considered becoming a sponsor? Showing your support for hospice and end-of-life care by sponsoring HFA's 2012 Spring Program is a low-cost, effective way to reach tens of thousands of health, clergy, social service and allied professionals nationwide. Your support of hospice professionals is a valuable donation to the quality of care in communities nationwide. Other audience members include professional academics, researchers, and undergraduate and graduate level college students.
A participant in our fall program, Beyond Kübler-Ross stated that, "Your programs are excellent and offer wonderful education for hospice staff, volunteers and the community." Your organization will have exposure for an entire year to viewers of our two and a half hour educational program, taught by leading experts in the field. This year's topic is a must-see for any professional working in the field of bioethics, advanced or terminal illness. Estimated audience size for Hospice Foundation of America programs each year is 97,000, based on reports from more than 1,000 program sites nationwide and in Canada.
Announcing Webinars with Ken Doka
Join Dr. Kenneth Doka on February 15 at 12:30pm ET for a webinar on "Disenfranchised Grief in the 21st Century: New Problems, New Strategies." Dr. Doka, an internationally-known expert on this topic, will discuss his concept of disenfranchised grief, grief that is not openly acknowledged, socially sanctioned, or publicly mourned. The presentation will explore the contexts and causes of disenfranchised grief as well as complications arising from disenfranchisement. The seminar emphasizes the cultural factors that can disenfranchise grief, and will include a strong emphasis on interventive strategies that can enfranchise grief. This webinar is the first in a series of new HFA programs, "Webinars with Ken Doka." Stay tuned for an announcement of additional subjects that Dr. Doka will address, and speakers he will host, for easy, accessible and valuable continuing education. Register here.
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 and follow us on Twitter.
Upcoming Conferences and Educational Opportunities
The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization's annual report, "Facts and Figures: Hospice Care in America," released this week shows the number of patients served remains fairly constant at 1.58 million in 2010 (a slight rise from1.56 million served in 2009). Yet a statistic of concern to hospice and palliative care professionals is the drop in both median and average length of service. View more information about this new resource.
This newsletter is sent to over 8,000 subscribers every month to keep you informed of what is happening in the fields of hospice, grief and bereavement, and caregiving, as well as what's new at HFA. Privacy Statement: In no case will we share e-mail addresses. See the full text of HFA's Privacy Policy.
This newsletter is published by Hospice Foundation of America
Amy Tucci, President and CEO
http://www.hospicefoundation.org
© Hospice Foundation of America 2012
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