National Teleconference at Hospice at Home

March 1, 2010 - PRLog -- Southwest, Michigan, March 1, 2010 - Hospice at Home is offering, free to the public, the Hospice Foundation of America annual live via-satellite teleconference. The national teleconference, entitled Cancer and End-of-Life Care  will be broadcast on Wednesday, March 24  from 1:30 to 4:00 pm and can be viewed at Hospice at Home, 4025 Health Park Lane, St. Joseph.

The teleconference will address care options related to cancer diagnoses as well as loss and grief reactions for patients, families and professional caregivers. The teleconference will also examine psychosocial aspects of cancer, pain management, and ethical issues related to the disease. It will be broadcast live-via-webcast and satellite. Following the teleconference, a panel of local experts will discuss the topic. This program has been approved for three contact hours of continuing education by many professional boards.
           
The teleconference national panel will feature: Yvette Colón, PhD, MSW, Director of Education & Support at American Pain Foundation, Malene Davis, MBA, CHPN, President & CEO at Capital Hospice, Kenneth J. Doka, PhD, MDiv, Professor of Gerontology at The College of New Rochelle and Senior Consultant to HFA, Richard Payne, MD, Director of the Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life, Sherry R Schachter, PhD, FT, Director Bereavement Services at Calvary Hospital/Hospice, and Brad Stuart, MD, Medical Director at Sutter VNA & Hospice.

“This distinguished panel of experts will examine the complexities of end-stage cancer when transitioning to hospice and palliative care from curative treatment including communication skills, practices and protocols which may involve medical, psychological, social, financial, caregiving, and spiritual,” states Debbie Charleston, Director of Education and Clinical Resources at Hospice at Home. “Medical professionals, psychologists, counselors, educators, social workers, nurses, physicians and other health care workers, funeral directors, and clergy, as well as the general public, may be interested in this informative program.”

Hospice at Home is the non-profit community hospice focusing on the patient and family regardless of the patients' diagnosis, treatment choices, or ability to pay. It provides quality care to people adjusting to living with a serious illness, to people facing death, to people anticipating the death of a loved one, or to people healing their grief after the death of a loved one. Hospice at Home places an emphasis on the emotional, social, and spiritual needs of those whom need care and those receiving support services. Serving Berrien, Cass, Van Buren, and Allegan Counties, the care is coordinated by a team of physicians, nurses, hospice aides, social workers, spiritual care counselors, bereavement coordinators, and trained volunteers. Extending this care, Lory’s Place, a bereavement and education center that builds hope and strength for every grieving family, is available to anyone in Southwest Michigan or Northern Indiana.

For more information contact Hospice at Home at 269-429-7100 or 1-800-HOSPICE, or go to www.hospiceathomecares.org.

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Hospice at Home is your non-profit hospice provider for SW Michigan. Offering comfort, dignity, and compassion to the terminally ill through a holistic, non-curative, approach to care, focused on enhancing the lives of patients for their remaining days.