HFA's E-Newsletter - April 2012
Volume 12, Issue 4
In this issue:
- Dear E-News Subscriber
- Focus on: Helping Grieving Children and Adolescents
- Join us for the next HFA Lunch 'n Learn Webinar - Grieving Children: How You Can Help
- New "Grief Reach" Funding Opportunity
- There's Still Time to Register for End-of-Life Ethics
- Self-Study Available for HFA Programs
- What's New @ HFA's Hospice and Caregiving Blog
- 5th Annual National Healthcare Decisions Day - April 16
Dear E-News Subscriber:
While artificial nutrition and hydration (ANH) are understood by clinicians to be forms of medical treatment, explaining the benefits and the potential for negative effects to those facing the end of life, and to their loved ones, can be challenging. But if you work in hospice and end-of-life care, it's a topic that comes up frequently. Families often feel that supplying ANH is one of the few things that they can still do, and the idea of discontinuing it goes against an innate desire to care for a person. Cultural and spiritual beliefs reinforce an equation ingrained in us since birth: food+drink = care, with the corollary being that to deprive an individual of that is tantamount to imposing cruel, inhumane neglect.
We know that in many clinical situations, supplying artificial nutrition and hydration is the right action to take, but there are situations at the end of life where it does more harm than good. How is the best way to communicate with families when ANH isn't indicated? When should cultural traditions or religious beliefs trump the complications it may cause? What about medical or other personnel opposed to withdrawal? Can withdrawing, or not withdrawing, complicate grief reactions of survivors? What's the best way to educate the community about ANH?
Hospice Foundation of America will take on these challenging questions in the fall of 2012, with a live, interactive web event featuring experts, families, and you - our audience. Stay tuned for the date and registration details for this important continuing educational program, part of HFA's New Perspectives series.
Amy Tucci, President and CEO
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Focus on: Helping Grieving Children and Adolescents
Children and adolescents, as well as adults, face losses every day, and they do grieve these losses. While adults hope to protect children and adolescents from these painful realities, recognizing the impact of these losses on children's lives is critical. Of course, loved ones die - grandparents, parents, siblings, schoolmates. So do beloved pets - often a child's first experience with death. Other losses do not involve death, but can generate grief reactions. One of the most significant loss situations facing children in our society is divorce. Loss may result in children relocating or going to a new school. As children move into adolescence, there are the more subtle but important losses - loss of identity, loss of roles, loss of self-esteem.
Dr. Nancy Boyd Webb has developed a useful protocol for assessing grief in children.
However, the understanding that grief is not something you "get over" has important ramifications for young people. Losses they experience early in life may be revisited at critical times throughout their lives. The more those who work with children and adolescents realize this, the more equipped they will be to help young people cope with grief and incorporate loss in their lives in ways that are mentally and physically healthy.
Join us for the next HFA Lunch 'n Learn Webinar - Grieving Children: How You Can Help
As hospices across the country increasingly care for patients from diverse backgrounds and cultures, the children and adolescents that are involved in these patient families present a growing complexity of grief-related needs. Learning to identify grief responses of these young ones who are losing or have lost a loved one will enable the healthcare professionals in your organization to provide the best possible care for this vulnerable group.
This program on May 9 from 1-2pm ET explores ways to assist grieving children and adolescents. Panelists include Dr. Kenneth Doka, Dr. David Crenshaw, and Pamela Gabbay. Kenneth Doka, PhD, MDiv, is the Senior Bereavement Consultant to HFA. David A. Crenshaw, PhD., ABPP, RPT-S, is Director and Founder of the Rhinebeck Child and Family Center, LLC, a private practice serving children and families but also providing training and consultation to agencies serving at-risk children. He is a registered Play Therapist Supervisor by the American Association for Play Therapy. Pamela Gabbay, MA, FT, is the Director of Mourning Star Centers and Programs at The Mourning Star Center for Grieving Children in Palm Desert, California where she works extensively with grieving children, teens and their families. She is also the Camp Director for Camp Erin - Palm Springs, a bereavement camp for children and teens.
The webinar traces the ways that attitudes and orientations toward death and grief change throughout childhood and adolescence. Special attention is placed on intervention approaches, developed from the newest theoretical models in the field that can assist individuals of different ages. This webinar is developed for a range of professionals in the field including psychologists, counselors, clergy, social workers, nurses and other healthcare workers, as well as educators, teachers and school-based personnel. Register today.
New "Grief Reach" Funding Opportunity
Grief Reach is a partnership between the National Alliance for Grieving Children (www.childrengrieve.org) and the New York Life Foundation. In 2011, the Grief Reach program, made possible by a $750,000 grant from the New York Life Foundation, provided grants ranging from $5,000 to $100,000 to 22 grief support programs throughout the United States to bring grief support services to youth from low-income households who represent underserved racial and ethnic communities not previously served. This year the New York Life Foundation, in partnership with the National Alliance for Grieving Children, will be committing $750,000 in grants again this year. The Request for Proposals (RFP) opens April 16.
There's Still Time to Register for End-of-Life Ethics
Order a site registration in April for HFA's End-of-Life Ethics program and receive a complimentary two-month bulk subscription of Journeys: A Newsletter to Help in Bereavement. Available for viewing April 19, 2012 on DVD only, End-of-Life Ethics is a must-see for clinicians, ethics committee members, volunteers and non-clinical staff. During the program, you will be able to see and hear from those directly involved in historic legal cases like Quinlan, Cruzan and Schiavo, as well as case studies for viewers to ponder along with our expert, in-studio panel. CE certificates (three hours) are available for one year following the DVD release date.
It is very easy to show the program at your location. HFA provides you with all the materials you need, including step-by-step instructions and helpful brochures and flyers to promote the site in your area. Register today and show the program at a time convenient for you.
When registering, don't forget to order companion books for your audience! End-of-Life Ethics: A Case Study Approach, is written by ethicists and clinicians and provides a rich guide to ethical decision making using case studies that explore current ethical issues in depth. The book examines end-of-life ethics in innovative ways and includes chapters by physicians, ethicists, and other noted scholars. 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.
Self-Study Available for HFA Programs
HFA's self-study courses provide an economical and convenient way to earn continuing education hours at home and add a valuable resource to your professional library. Included with your self-study packet is a full-length DVD (approximately 2.5 hours), companion book, program guide (with program information), and detailed instructions. Continuing education credits (3 hours) are included in the cost of your registration.
The first 100 people to sign up for the End-of-Life Ethics self-study program in April will receive a copy of a new book, The Best Care Possible, by Ira Byock, MD. HFA is proud to feature Dr. Byock on the first program in HFA's new audio series, Professional Speaking. "A Conversation with Ira Byock" is available at no charge on HFA's website and on iTunes, to listen online or download to your phone, mp3 player, or computer.
Spirituality and End-of-Life Care, winner of a recent Telly Award, is a 2.5 hour video produced in 2011 as part of HFA's Living with Grief® educational series. The program features interviews with hospice professionals working with patients at the end of life, as well as moving vignettes with individuals facing their own death or the death of a loved one. The program discusses the differences and relationship between spirituality and religion, while also addressing spirituality during illness, death and grief; spiritual assessment and empowerment, and life review. Order a self-study course now.
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:
- Family Caregiving Awards Announced
- Improving End-of-Life Care for People with Intellectual Disabilities
- Supporting Grieving Children: National Poll Results
- National Social Workers Month - What Do Hospice Social Workers Do?
Subscribe to the Hospice and Caregiving blog feed and follow us on Twitter.
5th Annual National Healthcare Decisions Day-April 16
National Healthcare Decisions Day (NHDD) exists to inspire, educate and empower the public &providers about the importance of advance care planning. National Healthcare Decisions Day is an initiative to encourage patients to express their wishes regarding healthcare and for providers and facilities to respect those wishes, whatever they may be. NHDD is a collaborative effort of national, state and community organizations committed to ensuring that all adults with decision-making capacity in the United States have the information and opportunity to communicate and document their healthcare decisions. For more information, go to www.nhdd.org.
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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