Past Topics

September 4, 2024

We welcome back Thalia DeWolf, RN, CHPN, Director of Nursing Education, American Clinicians Academy on Medical Aid in Dying www.ACAMAID.org. Most of you know Thalia and have heard Thalia present here in our forum, or at conferences far and wide around the world on medical aid in dying.
 
Over the lunch hour (11:30am-12:45pm) Thalia will discuss recent changes in the law, changes in the care of patients, and changes within the Academy’s work with respect to MAID. We will leave plenty of time to talk and ask questions!

August 7, 2024

No meeting

July 3, 2024

No meeting

June 5, 2024

Patricia Murphy, Founder of Josie’s Place for Bereaved Youth, https://josiesplace.org/.

After encountering parent loss as a child, Pat became a student of grief, and later took on deep training and leadership within the Dougy Center, which is world renowned for their creative grief support of children, https://www.dougy.org/.

Whether you are curious and want to learn more and/or a caregiver seeking additional knowledge and support, this presentation promises an incredible journey through the last 25 years of Josie’s Place for Bereaved Youth. Pat is a master story-teller, and her presentation will take us through what she has learned leading grief groups for bereaved children the last 30 years here in San Francisco. Pat brings humor, heart, and tremendous perspective to her work, and her strategic planning around supporting children, teens, and their families amidst their grief has garnered many accolades. Yet, many still do not know of the huge network Pat has created to support young grievers. Pat will highlight the “greatest hits” from her 30+ year career as founder and facilitator at Josie’s Place. This will be a very special presentation, and those who can attend will be richly rewarded with heartwarming tales and insights.

May 1, 2024

Paul Puccinelli, LMFT. Paul is a dedicated and compassionate Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with a private practice in Marin County.  Although Paul offers services in support of children and couples, Paul has developed a deep understanding of and specialization in working with individuals living with Parkinson’s Disease (PD), as well as the dedicated caregivers who support them. Click here to learn more of Paul’s work: https://www.interfaithcc.org/paul-puccinelli.

Paul’s presentation to our group was entitled, Parkinson’s Disease: Understanding, Coping, and Living Well. This presentation provided insights into Parkinson’s Disease as a chronic condition, its progression, the most up to date treatment options, and some available local resources. 

April 3, 2024

Stephanie Schmautz, who is Senior Director of Companioa, Institute on Aging’s comprehensive dementia services program. She has more than 20 years’ experience working with Independent, Assisted Living and Dementia Senior Living Communities in San Francisco, and is currently focused on engaging families affected by dementia and Alzheimer’s disease, identifying areas where support is needed, and offering solutions for comprehensive dementia care from dementia-specialized home care services to vibrant social day programs for aging adults. Her work with Northern California’s aging community, gives her unique insight into the challenges families face as they navigate their way through a loved one’s dementia diagnosis.

March 6, 2024

A discussion with representatives from Humane Prison Project. We will host Susan Barber, Director–Prison Palliative Care Program, Fernando Murillo–Training Manager, Palliative Care Initiative, and Lisa Deal–Executive Director.

They will explore these (and maybe more!) topics:

1) Impact of institutional end of life/death & dying in prison/impact on cell mates

2) Uniqueness of volunteers that are prison inmates/impact on volunteers of training and the work

3) Barriers to compassionate release.

February 7, 2024

We will begin with a round of introductions and announcements, and then I will lead a short meditation on the themes of “releasing and receiving” as we give care. Following the meditation we’ll explore our experiences together.

January 3, 2024

First, we welcome Connie Borden as incoming Co-Chair of SFEOL this year, and we bid adieu with infinite thanks to Sandy Fish who will continue in the network, and in her work at Humane Prison Hospice Project, performing live, acting, writing, and meditating! Thanks so much to you both!

Second, this year SFEOL turns 25! To that end, we will continue to meet each month, as has been our practice, the first Wednesday of the month, 11:30am to 1pm (what we have always done). Please come, and please feel free to invite others.

Third, tomorrow actually, we will begin with a round of introductions and announcements, and then I will lead a short reflection on the themes of caring for others, feeling cared for by others, and exploring what caring feels like in our bodies as we enter a new year around the sun.

December 6, 2023

No December Meeting.

November 1, 2023

No November Meeting.

October 4, 2023

This month we welcome Jennifer Moore Ballentine, MA. Jennifer has more than 20 years’ experience in palliative care education and policy, program design and evaluation, and nonprofit leadership. As CEO of the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California, she leads a team dedicated to improving care for people with serious illness and those who care for them. CCCC is California’s go-to organization for information, advocacy, and education on advance care planning, palliative care, and the POLST program. Jennifer’s previous positions include executive director of the Cal State University Shiley Haynes Institute for Palliative Care; Vice President, Hospice Analytics; Executive Director, Life Quality Institute; and Director of Professional Programs, Colorado Center for Hospice and Palliative Care. She participates in national initiatives to improve the quality and delivery of palliative care and has served as a member of the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine Roundtable on Quality Care for Persons with Serious Illness since 2017; NHPCO Palliative Care Council, since 2018; Patient Quality of Life Coalition, since 2017; and C-TAC Regulatory Council, since 2020. She earned an MA in End-of-Life Studies, with graduate honors, from Regis University, Denver; a Professional Advancement Certificate in Gerontology from University of Colorado–Colorado Springs; and a BA, Phi Beta Kappa, from Oberlin College.

Jennifer will come and share updates from CCCC, and its strategies for this upcoming 2024.

September 6, 2023

We will be warmly welcoming Rick Beeman. With degrees in Theatrical Design, Accounting, and Theology, Rick Beeman has had numerous careers over the years including ordained minister, working in network television, event production, commercial real estate, and a restaurant chef. Throughout those forty years, Rick has also served as a chaplain in Bay Area retirement communities. During Covid, he founded Ars Moriendi Project, where he currently serves as the Executive Director.

Ars Moriendi Project is a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to facilitating, not a “good death,” but the best life possible to the very end. The emphasis is on providing education, resources, and advocacy, for elders relating to aging, dying, and death. The foci are on Advance Care Planning—knowing, protecting, and exercising one’s end-of-life rights; generating Conversations with family, friends, and caregivers, about end-of-life concerns and desires; and Documentation of the lives of elders.

Rick is a YouTuber, videographer, documentarian, and author, in addition to his chaplaincy.

My Dying Wishes: How I Want to be Treated as I Go and After I’m Gone, a comprehensive guide to completing an Advance Directive.

Advance Directive Essentials. the accompanying volume to My Dying Wishes

Program: Revisiting the “Green Eggs and Ham Phenomena” –Strategies for Increasing the Use of Advance Directives

The number of people with an Advance Directive seems to be dropping. Projections of people with Advance Directives have moved down from nearly 40% to closer to 30% over the past 20 years. Why might this be and what can be done to increase the use of Advance Directives.

There are inherent hesitations for getting people to complete an Advance Directive—fears of talking about death; thoughts that Advance Directives mean you are “giving up;” unwillingness to turn over healthcare decisions to someone else; to name a few.

Over the past few years, he has been developing strategies for increasing their use, from writing books, listening to thoughts and fears, and observing real situations complicated by unnecessary obstacles, lack of cooperation, unhelpful regulation.

After a brief presentation will be an open discussion on the issues and strategies for expanding the use and effectiveness of and alternatives to classic Advance Directives.

August 2, 2023

No August meeting.

July 5, 2023

If your holiday break can continue, or if you’re otherwise freely going about things tomorrow, you are invited to join us for a guided, fun, and meaningful workshop on giving and receiving care, in the form of condolences, and verbal support.

Dana Amarisa will lead us tomorrow, and entitles/describes her presentation thusly:

Connecting with Confidence: The Simple Steps to Writing and Saying Condolences that Truly Help

Join us for an inspiring workshop led by author and condolences coach, Dana Lacy Amarisa, where she offers the simple yet counter-intuitive steps to saying and writing truly helpful condolences. Her deep insights and kind, straightforward style have helped hundreds of people break through their fear of foot-in-mouth syndrome, allowing them and their griever to reach a healing connection. This engaging and interactive conversation will help you find the words to make the connection you desire.

So much grief goes unseen and unhealed because we don’t know what to say in those moments that matter. Amarisa’s practical and profound workshop helps bridge the gap between us and those who need our support.

After her own losses, Amarisa studied condolences for 15 years and then wrote Condolences Pocket Guide: What to Say and Not to Say to Grievers (https://amzn.to/3CZtOnb). She founded the Be a Bridge Condolences Project to help change the conversations we have with grievers to the deeply meaningful connections so many of us are looking for (https://www.beabridgecondolences.com).

June 7, 2023

No June meeting.

May 5, 2023

No May meeting.

April 5, 2023

For our upcoming April 5th meeting, we will meet over Zoom as we have been (not in-person). In April, we welcome Dr. Stanley A. Terman. Dr. Terman is board-certified in psychiatry and a “grandfathered-in” bioethicist based on his writing and teaching. He is a former member of the faculty at University of California, Irvine. He founded and continues to lead the not-for-profit organization Caring Advocates. Since 2005, his career has focused on developing advance care planning protocols whose goal is to reduce end-of-life suffering of patients and their loved ones from all terminal illnesses, especially advanced dementia. Some of his recent publications are available on his author page at SSRN: www.tinyurl.com/TermanDementiaArticles .

Dr. Terman’s presentation is entitled, Traditional Advance Care Planning May Not Work, So Consider a Heretic’s Innovative Strategic Protocol.

(Dr. Terman notes that a secular heretic is a person who holds opinions about ideas, principles, or practices that differ from widely accepted, conventional, and/or established ones.)

First, Dr. Terman will explain why one cannot rely on the requests in living wills or the healthcare instructions of surrogates  to determine end-of-life care – especially for patients living with advanced dementia.

Second, he will explain how he interviews and records on video, people’s preferences for future treatment that depend on the conditions they reach. Planning principals (persons engaged in ACP) can use the illustrated patient decision aid, “My Way Cards” that he created in 2009, which can be understood by people who have a grade-three level of reading comprehension, to generate their “Natural Dying Living Will.”

Dr. Terman will then expand on the role of the planning principal during his presentation. For example, if a planning principal judges a future condition would cause irreversible, severe suffering, she can decide to request the cessation of assisted oral feeding and hydrating, which order is added to Comfort-focused Care orders. If the future condition would cause moderate suffering, then Selective/Limited Treatment may be appropriate.

The resulting requests are designed to be easily translated into POLST orders. Planning principals can make their advance decisions and sign three to seven “Future POLSTs” during ACP  as they engage with their provider in one POLST Conversation.  Planning principals do not need to be seriously or terminally ill, frail, or expected to die within a year). They just need to fulfill the requirements to complete ACP.

Strategic Advance Care Planning requires more effort than traditional ACP, but it will likely be more effective than traditional ACP in fulfilling patients’ end-of-life goal-concordant care.

Dr. Terman’s approach emphasizes the right of each person to express her autonomy by refusing treatment that has become non-beneficial or that will cause harm as it considers the fair distribution of family and society financial and medical resources. (Note: this sentence reflects the four principles of bioethics.)

March 1, 2023

For our upcoming March 1st meeting, we will meet over Zoom as we have been (not in-person). Dr. Dawn Gross. Dr. Gross is a palliative care physician whose focus is patients with serious illness. She manages complex symptoms and facilitates conversations on advance care planning and her patients’ goals for any treatments they receive. And, she thinks of her work as a combination of patient care, scientific curiosity and storytelling. She is committed to transforming taboos around talking about death and empowering her patients to live their lives fully all the way through the final days.

Dr. Gross earned her medical degree and a doctorate in immunology from Tufts University School of Medicine. She completed a residency in internal medicine at Tufts Medical Center, followed by a fellowship in hematology at Stanford Medicine.

Gross is also the host of “Dying to Talk,” a radio program that aims to transform end-of-life conversations.

Presentation Title: Navigating the Sea of Grief

This session will break down and rebuild how we, as individuals and a society, can begin to relate to grief as an injury. This is not about Five Stages of grief or bereavement leave. This is about phases of healing and how society has already built structures to support resilience. We’ve just not included the invisible injury of grief into the systems we’ve created. Given supportive environments, we can eventually thrive. This session will offer a map, an overview of the terrain, of The Sea of Grief, so that as you or someone you love encounters it, you will have a reference point and tools to guide you to more calm waters and ultimately safely back to shore.

February 1 , 2023

For our upcoming Feb 1st meeting, we will meet over Zoom as we have been (not in-person). We will welcome Paul Puccinelli and Nancy Belza of the Dyalogues Team.

Paul Puccinelli, LMFT is a psychotherapist and a healing circle facilitator. Paul is also the Co-founder and COO of Dyalogues, a public benefit company which offers direct guidance for people of all ages navigating the landscapes of serious illness and grief. It is Paul’s hope that we can explore ways of deepening our capacity to connect, advocate for ourselves and each other, take time to heal when needed, and to communicate or discover what matters most to us or the ones we care for.

Nancy Belza is Founder and CFO of Dyalogues, Inc., a consulting, education and training company whose vision is a world where Communicating Love is at the heart of every conversation.  Nancy is an international consultant, speaker, and trainer, supporting individuals and groups through life-changing conversations that empower people, teams, families, and communities to live at their fullest capacity.

Paul and Nancy will lead us in a presentation on life transitions. While transitions may bring feelings of fear, anxiety, and uncertainty, they can also generate feelings of hope, excitement, and promise. In this highly interactive and fun workshop, you will be guided in an exercise designed to help you facilitate complex conversations so everyone comes away with an experience of feeling heard, understood and empowered. By practicing how to uncover what is most important, we give ourselves the best opportunity to live life fully today and through our final exhale.

Three Learning Outcomes:

• Learn to initiate meaningful conversations to support clients going through life transitions such as Elderhood, loss of a loved one, care planning, and end-of-life care and wishes

• Learn to utilize a creative approach to discover and define personal values and reduce the stress of life transitions

• Apply techniques to uncover and name a client’s core values and practice utilizing them as guideposts during life transitions

Attendee Engagement:

• Participants will be introduced to an exercise to help clients discover and define personal values, communicate those values, and feel empowered and prepared to navigate the transitional journey ahead, at any age and at every stage.

January 4, 2023

For our upcoming 1/4/23 meeting, we welcome Christopher Taktak, who is the founder of Pisces, an eco-friendly water cremation service. Christopher is a licensed funeral director, crematory manager, and a recent graduate of Columbia University. His mission is to provide grieving families with a safe, stress-free, and sustainable farewell.

Christopher will be discussing the eco-friendly and gentle process of aquamation — otherwise known as water cremation. He will be discussing the process from a technical and regulatory standpoint, as well as the green disposition movement at a wider scale.

December 7, 2022

No December meeting.

November 2, 2022

For our upcoming Nov 2nd meeting, we welcome Kim Bateman, Ph.D., who is a Clinical Psychologist, Author, College Administrator/Professor, Workshop Facilitator, and Storyteller. Her award-winning book, “Crossing the Owl’s Bridge: A Guide for Grieving People who Still Love” offers folk tales, case stories, and examples of creative responses to bereavement. She teaches Death and Dying at the collegiate level, has a TEDx Talk- “Singing Over Bones,” and a chapter in “And Death Shall Have Dominion” on “Symbolmaking and Bereavement: The Temples at Burning Man.” Her Death Dialogues Blog and education efforts explore End-of-Life issues such as medical aid in dying, creating personal narratives for crossing over, and compassionate responses to suicide. Website: http://www.kim-bateman.com

Her presentation is entitled, Symbolmaking: Creative outcomes in bereavement

Using psychological theory, a short folk tale, and unique examples Dr. Bateman will discuss how the end of a material relationship can be seen as the beginning of an imaginal one. She will profile people who have developed ways to stay in connection symbolically with the deceased to keep loving. This talk may be of interest to the bereaved as well as those who support the bereaved.

October 5, 2022

We welcome Dale Borglum, PhD, of the Living/Dying Project. Dale will talk with us about the qualities of body, mind and heart that enable us to find healing when life is most challenging for us and for those we care for. What practices will awaken these qualities in us? Join us for a lively reflection on these items and more.

September 7, 2022

We welcome Diane Shader Smith.Diane is a writer and cystic fibrosis advocate whose daughter, Mallory Smith, was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis (CF) when she was three years old. From age nine to her death at the age of twenty-five, Mallory kept comprehensive diaries, recounting her chronic illness, her relationships, and her determination to speak out about her experience. Diane Shader Smith now speaks out about CF, especially about the patient experience and the critical role parents play in treating a child with chronic illness. She also educates audiences about a treatment for superbugs called phage therapy, which was named after Mallory because her case inspired its discovery, and which has had positive results among patients who have received the treatment.

Salt in My Soul: An Unfinished Life is a compilation of Mallory Smith’s diary entries, edited by her mother and published posthumously. This extraordinary memoir is a snapshot of coming of age, an intimate portrait of a young woman living her life, struggling with who she is, what she hopes to accomplish, and what she fears. Despite the daily challenges of endless medical treatments and an understanding that her illness would keep her from leading a normal life, Mallory wrote with a determination and spirit that shine through the pages. In her words, “I am limited in what I can do, but not in what I can say.” Mallory chronicled her many hospital visits and the medical insights she gleaned, along with her relationships with family and friends and her hopes and desires for herself and the world. With this presentation, Diane Shader Smith provides a brilliant portrait of a brave young woman navigating normal adolescent and young adult experiences, set against the backdrop of a chronic illness. (Salt in My Soul was recently optioned for production by the Oscar-nominated directors who were responsible for two groundbreaking documentaries, The Invisible War and The Hunting Ground).

August 3, 2022

We welcome Judy Thomas, JD. Judy is CEO of the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California (CCCC), a statewide partnership of healthcare providers, nonprofit organizations and associations, state agencies, and individuals working to ensure all seriously ill Californians receive quality, compassionate care. CCCC brings together multiple organizations, often with divergent interests, to develop, implement, and promote improved healthcare practices and standards across the continuum of care. CCCC also has national impact on transforming the culture of care for people who are seriously ill through advancing the cause of palliative care in America.

Under Judy’s leadership, beginning in 2007, CCCC led a successful statewide effort to implement Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST), a standardized medical order form to indicate specific types of life-sustaining treatments a seriously ill patient chooses. By discussing and documenting a person’s choices, the POLST form helps patients and caregivers provide wanted care and avoid unwanted, potentially intrusive services. Through advocacy and legislation, community coalitions, and provider education, Judy and CCCC have changed the way we plan for and provide care for seriously ill Californians.

She is also an attorney with over 25 years in health care. Before law school, she worked in the early field of managed care as a computer programmer for the nation’s first preferred provider organization. Later, as a lobbyist for LeadingAge California and the California Hospital Association, she focused on aging and long-term care issues. Formerly a partner in the Sacramento-based law firm of Hunter, Richey, Di Benedetto & Brewer, Ms. Thomas specialized in healthcare law and took an interest in issues affecting people with serious illness. She is a graduate of the University of California, Davis, where she received both her Juris Doctorate and her Bachelor of Science degree.

In 2020, Judy was appointed to the California Master Plan on Aging Stakeholder Advisory Committee. She is a Past Chair of the National POLST (Physician Order for Life Sustaining Treatment) Paradigm Task Force, working to ensure POLST forms are interpreted consistently across the country. She has served on the Donate Life California advisory board, and is Past President of the California Culture Change Coalition, which was formed to make nursing homes great places to live and work.

Judy will be hosting a wide open q/a with those in attendance. She will give us her thoughts on topics such as: the current status of Advance Care Planning as a strategy to improve those at the end of life, the role of psychedelics in improving end of life care, and the role local networks like ours can take in effectuating California’s Master Plan on Aging. Bring other questions and topics with you, as this will be a guided participant-led discussion!

July 6, 2022

We welcome Anita Hannig, PhD. Dr. Hannig is associate professor of anthropology at Brandeis University, where she teaches classes on medicine, religion, and death and dying. In recent years, Anita has emerged as a leading voice on death literacy in America, giving interviews for the Washington Post, USA Today, and the Boston Globe. Her writing has appeared in Cognoscenti, Undark Magazine, and the Seattle Times, among other publications. Anita earned her BA in Anthropology from Reed College and her MA and PhD in Anthropology from the University of Chicago.

Anita will be discussing her new book, The Day I Die: The Untold Story of Assisted Dying in America (Sourcebooks) — an intimate investigation of what it means to determine the end of our lives. The Day I Die reframes how we understand the potential of medicine, not as a way to extend life, but to ease the process of dying. Drawing on her experience as both a researcher and a hospice volunteer, Anita argues that assisted dying is not a failure of palliative medicine but a vital complement to it. Yet she also asks what happens when palliative care and hospice run out of answers.

NPR journalist Diane Rehm has said about The Day I Die: “Copies of this book should be in every doctor’s office in the country, to educate patients and doctors themselves!”

June 1, 2022

For our upcoming June 1st meeting, and given that May was mental health awareness month, I (Nate Hinerman, PhD, LMFT) will lead an hour-long workshop that presents simple, easy-to-use, helpful techniques to manage thoughts and feelings that often arise in difficult caregiving circumstances. Drawing from straight-forward, proven, cognitive-behavioral methods, we will learn more about our caregiving “buttons,” and how we can re-structure cognitions when these buttons get “pushed” or triggered. We will also actively engage theoretical and practical implications for those times when we may tend to over-react emotionally, or behaviorally in the clinic or at the bedside (or on the couch for that matter :). No previous therapeutic, or helping professions experience required! Just bring yourself, and a willingness to consider new ways of thinking and coping in the world of caring for others!

May 4, 2022

For our upcoming May 4th meeting, we are excited to be joined by Fran Johns, a Board member and volunteer for End of Life Choices CA!

Fran Moreland Johns is a freelance writer for local, national and online publications whose focus is often on end-of-life issues. She is the author of Dying Unafraid (Synergistic Press, 1999) and of related stories published in a number of magazines and anthologies. She holds a BA in Art from Randolph-Macon Woman’s College and an MFA in Short Fiction from the University of San Francisco.

Dying Unafraid grew out of Johns’ experiences as a writer, a hospice volunteer and a volunteer with AIDS groups and the elderly. She served as a bedside volunteer and on the board of Compassion & Choices of Northern California for more than a decade – also working to pass the California End of Life Option Act – and is a founding member of the San Francisco Bay Area Network for End of Life Care. She has presented end-of-life issues papers at international conferences sponsored by London-based Progressive Connexions in Prague, Budapest, Lisbon and Bruges in recent years.

Johns’ other primary focus has long been on interfaith causes – she was a two-term member of the board of the San Francisco Interfaith Council – and on reproductive justice issues. Her book Perilous Times: An inside look at abortion before – and after – Roe v Wade was published in 2013. Her online presence is at franjohns.net and on Facebook at FranMorelandJohnsWriter.

Born in Brazil to Methodist educational missionary parents, Johns grew up in Virginia and raised her three children in the Atlanta area. She has five flawless adult grandchildren. She moved to San Francisco in 1992 to marry her college sweetheart Bud Johns. Until his death in 2019 they enjoyed traveling the globe, exploring new ideas, and working to support the arts and progressive causes. She continues to support their mutual interests in music and the arts, nuclear disarmament, and social justice issues. In her generally nonexistent spare time she works on the short story collection she hopes some day to publish.

Fran will first update us on End of Life Choices California, which provides Californians the information and support to successfully navigate their legal end-of-life options. Then, we will discuss her latest book, Marshallville Stories. This volume is a collection of stories depicting life in a small Virginia town in the 1940s — the happiness, heartbreak and humor that saw America through the turbulent years of World War II and its challenging aftermath. In Johns’ fictional Marshallville a small but proud college anchors the community alongside family businesses handed down from one generation to the next. The lives of surrounding farm families and of workers at the nearby mill complete the intricately-woven fabric of this slice of life in a simpler but important time. And always, the train rolling through on Main Street was king.

America had yet to deal with the looming issues of women’s rights, racial justice and societal change, but the Marshallvilles of the 1940s — and the close-knit communities that defined the life of that time — provided a sturdy foundation for what lay ahead. Here, with the truth that fiction offers, is a glimpse into a pivotal era with all its faults and foibles, seen through the lens of fond remembrance.

Last, please note there is a new GERI PAL Podcast and upcoming JPSM article! See here for more info! https://geripal.org/poetry-palliative-care-podcast-with-mike-rabow-and-redwing-keyssar/

April 6, 2022

We are excited to be joined by DorAnne Donesky, PhD, ANP-BC, ACHPN, who is an adult nurse practitioner and professor emerita at University of California, San Francisco. Dr. Donesky is the founding faculty and nurse lead for “Practice-PC,” a longitudinal interprofessional palliative care continuing education course for practicing clinicians. The 6th Practice-PC cohort will begin in September, 2022.

Clinically, DorAnne has over 25 years of experience in pulmonary symptom management and palliative care—supporting patients with chronic lung disease through clinic visits, pulmonary rehabilitation, clinical research, and Better Breathers support group facilitation. Currently she works per diem as a nurse practitioner on the inpatient palliative care team at Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa, CA. She is a fellow of the American Thoracic Society and a fellow of Hospice and Palliative Nursing through the Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association, a Cambia Sojourns Scholar, and a Macy Faculty Scholar.

Dr. Donesky will lead a discussion about having difficult conversations with family members, and practitioners. She will use materials from the VitalTalk paradigm to expand our conversation. VitalTalk is a training organization for clinicians seeking to advance their communication skills.

The premise of our meeting? We believe that effective, empathic and honest conversations between a clinician, patient and their family are the cornerstones of patient-centered care. But, despite best efforts, too few (patients & clinicians) are taught/shown/modeled/trained on or get to practice critical patient conversations.

And yet…. 99% of clinicians report understanding the importance of advance care planning, yet more than 60% of physicians say they never received formal training, and only 14% actually had these conversations with their patients. 46% of physicians said they were uncertain of what to say in these situations. These are national data; the data in our state of California are comparable (largely).

Inadequate clinician communication skills impact not only patients from intake to discharge but the entire health ecosystem; arguably, it’s the most expensive line item hospitals don’t see.

Many of you requested a talk this year about having productive, supportive family meetings, raising difficult conversations, and navigating patient care with doctors and nurses in clinical settings. This presentation will address all three.

March 2, 2022

For our upcoming March 2 meeting, we are thrilled to be joined by our dear friend, Brian de Vries, Ph.D., who is professor Emeritus of Gerontology at San Fran­cisco State University, with an adjunct appointment at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, BC.  He received his Ph.D. from the University of British Columbia in 1988 and completed a post-doc at the University of Southern California the following year. Dr. de Vries is a fellow of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA), past Board member of the American Society on Aging (ASA) and former co-Chair of the LGBT Aging Issues Network constituent group. He was appointed to the Institute of Medicine’s Board on the Health of Select Populations Committee which authored the influential book: The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender People: Building a Foundation for Better Understanding.   Dr. de Vries has co-edited numerous professional journals and acclaimed academic books as well as authored or co-authored over 125 journal articles and book chapters on end of life preparations and experiences, the social and psychological well-being of midlife and older LGBT persons, among other topics.

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The title of Brian’s presentation is, “The COVID-19 Pandemic and LGBT Older Canadians: A Focus on ACP,” and he describes it thusly:

COVID-19 has been described as the first pandemic in a century. In fact, there have been other pandemics and epidemics since the Spanish Flu of 1920, including Tuberculosis, Polio, SARS, H1N1, and HIV/AIDS. Worldwide, 38 million people are living with HIV/AIDS (HIV.gov); in North America, lesbian and especially gay and bisexual men, have been, and continue to be, disproportionately affected. Furthermore, HIV/AIDS has been a pivotal dimension in the LGBT rights movement through community confrontation of the stigma and discrimination encountered by persons living with HIV/AIDS and the failure of governments to address the health crisis as it unfolded. We proposed these experiences impact ways in which lesbian, gay and bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons experience the COVID-19 pandemic, including Advance Care Planning: they may experience greater distress and coping difficulties with COVID-19 than heterosexual age-peers; alternatively, they may be better prepared and report more prosocial behaviors.  We explored these possibilities through an online survey of 4380 Canadians aged 55+ conducted August 10-October 10, 2020; almost 7% (330) identified as LGBT+ and about one quarter (1143) reported having “been affected by one or more” of the pandemics listed above.

If you’ve heard Brian present his leading-edge research in the past, you know how compelling and well-developed his reports and presentations are. If you have not, please do attend, because Brian is a gifted presenter, and this most recent study aligns deeply with core threads from our past, and recent meetings.

February 2, 2022

SFMMS Panel on Palliative Care Topics

Steve Heilig of the SFMMS with Monique Schaulis, MD, et al.

For our February 2 meeting, we will be joined by Monique Schaulis, MD, who practices palliative and emergency care at Kaiser Permanente San Francisco and is the immediate part-president of the San Francisco Marin Medical Society.  Dr. Schaulis received her MD from the University of Chicago, a BA from Wesleyan University where she majored in Latin American Studies, and a Master’s in Public Health from UC Berkeley. She serves as faculty for Vital Talk, a non-profit dedicated to improving physician/patient communication, and was on the board of the National Clinicians Conference on Medical Aid in Dying.

She will be joined in discussion by SFEOL co-founder Steve Heilig of the SFMMS, where they recently produced a journal theme issue on palliative care featuring many local leading lights in that arena. Authors from the journal will be invited to join in as well in what should be a wide-ranging informal dialogue.  We hope you can be with us!

SAN FRANCISCO MARIN MEDICINE

Palliative Care Advances and Reflections

https://www.sfmms.org/news-events/san-francisco-marin-medicine/current-issue.aspx

January 5, 2022

Friendly Check‑in

One year ago, for the first meeting of the year, we simply hosted a friendly check-in, without a formal agenda, for anybody who wished to join in and share a bit of fellowship with others.  We will do so again this Wednesday (hopefully without the now-infamous Capital insurrection that took place as we were meeting then!)

December 01, 2021

Celebration Of Life

Isabel Stenzel, LCSW, MPH

Grief during the holidays can be a time of reflection and resilience. Join us as we engage next Wednesday in processing some of the abundant grief we have all experienced, and carry, as a result of living through the last few years… We hope this time together in community will be a supportive way to end 2021.

Isabel Stenzel, LCSW, MPH, Manager, Bereavement Department at Mission Hospice and Home Care will offer practical information about grief and will also offer an opportunity to share in a ritual and/or community experience. Please bring a photo of your deceased beloved(s) and/or an object that connects you to them.

November 03, 2021

TWO GODS Film Screening

This month we welcome the directors of the film, TWO GODS, and we will also screen the film, which has a run time of 80 minutes.

TWO GODS is an intimate documentary about faith, renewal, and healing. The film follows a Muslim casket maker and ritual body washer in New Jersey, as he takes two young men under his wing to teach them how to live better lives. Inside a corner casket shop in East Orange, laboring amid the sawdust and the long pine boxes, casket makers work with mentors in the Islamic burial tradition. Hanif, a Black Muslim casket maker who finds spiritual grounding in his work, brings two boys from the local community under his tutelage; 12-year-old Furquan and 17-year-old Naz, neither of whom have fathers at home. Hanif teaches Furquan and Naz the practices of Islamic burial rituals as they assist him with his work. Having formerly served time in prison, Hanif continues to grapple with past mistakes and new challenges, while his faith and community helps him guide his young charges on their own paths toward healing and embracing life. TWO GODS explores the juxtaposition of grief and the rituals of death with the vibrancy and potential of adolescence. The documentary turns an empathetic lens on Muslim American stories, ultimately crafting a moving portrait of both the intimate moments and the complexities of the everyday Muslim American experience.

October 06, 2021

Reimagining A Pediatric Palliative And Hospice Care Coalition For California

Dr. Christy Torkildson

Christy is the acting lead for the Steering Committee working towards a sustainable Pediatric Palliative and Hospice Care Coalition for California. She was the founding program director for George Mark Children’s House and has worked in the palliative and hospice world for over two decades. She is the Chair and co-editor of the Pediatric e-Journal, the longest consistent publication focused on pediatric palliative and hospice care in the US and supported by NHPCO. Christy is an RN and earned her PhD from UCSF with and emphasis on family nursing and health policy.

Christy’s presentation is entitled, “Reimagining a Pediatric Palliative and Hospice Care Coalition for California.”

September 01, 2021

The Psychedelic Medicine Resurgence – Dr. Dave Smith, MD

This month we welcome Dr. Dave Smith! “Dr. Dave” is a living legend, who right out of UCSF medical school founded the famous Haight-Ashbury Free Clinics in the 1967 “Summer of Love”, sparking a national free clinic movement; his clinic motto “Healthcare is a Right, Not a Privilege” has been quoted by Presidents Clinton, Obama, and Biden. He is also a founding pioneer of the specialty of Addiction Medicine and has received the highest awards for public service given by the University of California, California Medical Association, and many more.

As a firsthand witness to the wide use of psychedelics such as LSD, MDMA, psilocybin, ketamine, and others for many decades, with he has watched with fascination as a new era of mainstreamed research into these substances has arrived, for such indications and depression, PTSD, and yes, end-of-life issues such as the fear of dying and death.  He has just authored a forthcoming paper on the psychedelic resurgence and will join us with his longtime friend and colleague (and SFEOL co-founder) Steve Heilig, with whom he has co-chaired two conferences with some focus on this topic as well, for an informal discussion of these fascinating issues and potentials.

Dr. Dave’s presentation is entitled:
…And now for something a bit different….
THE PSYCHEDELIC MEDICINE RESURGENCE:
An Informal Professional, Historical, and Personal Chat
David E Smith, MD

August 4, 2021

This month we welcome Connie Borden. Connie has worked professionally as a Nurse Practitioner in Hospice and Palliative care for 26 years. She is also a 4th Dan Shintaido Instructor with 35 years of study and teaching. She has presented body movement techniques at CHAPCA and NHPCO conferences in the early 2000’s and presented to the Global End of Life Conferences in 2018 and 2019.

The title of Connie’s presentation to our group is, “Body Movement to Enhance Caregiving.”

The program Connie will lead us in includes a variety of body movements, followed by 20 minutes of discussion. (This program can be done seated as well without a problem!)

Connie will teach us:

1. To soften and release tension before or after caregiving, at start or end of day
2. To use voice to let tensions release
3. To enhance means to nourish one’s inner world.
4. To warmup through moving center of body/legs to provide a sense of remaining
5. grounded.
6. To relax the head and neck, including some self-massage. Will increase blood flow and
7. relax muscles for better meditation.
8. To engage and activate the arms/upper body

Then, Connie will guide as through a seated Eiko Dai which includes:

1. Movement that connects past, present and future
2. Movement to move out of one place into another
3. Building a rainbow bridge – that allows spirits to pass from one place to another
4. Creating the sound Ahh
5. Creating the sound Ohhh
6. Creating the sound of UMm
7. d. Adding arm movements while vocalization
8. e. Overtone chanting. It can be part of bereavement

Last, we will conclude with a meditation, one which introduces  10 positions to bring calmness and peace within.

July 07, 2021

“Caregiver: A Love Story” Screening

Dr. Jessica Zitter

This month we welcome Jessica Nutik Zitter, MD, MPH. As you know, Jessica is a strong advocate for a new approach to caring for the dying, in part due to her work in Critical Care and Palliative Care medicine here in Northern California. Having herself participated in the default and indiscriminate use of technology on dying patients,  with its resultant suffering, Dr. Zitter has come to view this situation as a public health crisis, and her new film takes up this theme. To know Jessica is to know she is committed to reorienting our care of the dying to a more collaborative process whereby the patient, rather than her organ or disease, is the primary focus of care.

Dr. Zitter’s first book, Extreme Measures: Finding A Better Path to the End of Life, offers an insider’s view of intensive care in America and its impact on how we die. Her work was featured in the 2017 Oscar- and Emmy-nominated short-documentary “Extremis.” Her forthcoming documentary, “Caregiver: A Love Story” examines the rising public health crisis of family caregiver burden.

This month, Jessica will screen all 35 minutes of “Caregiver: A Love Story,” and take your questions and reflections after the film.

June 02, 2021

Present Through The End

Kirsten DeLeo

This month we welcome back, Kirsten DeLeo, who integrates her 40 years as a a meditation teacher, author and trainer in the field of contemplative care offering training programs and retreats worldwide. In her first book, “Present Through The End. A Caring Companion’s Guide For Accompanying The Dying”, Kirsten shares her decades of experience supporting terminally ill patients and their families and teaching caregivers. It also offers down-to-earth advice and simple tools inspired by her many years of Buddhist contemplative practice — great resources that will be of benefit to anyone caring for someone approaching dying.

Kirsten DeLeo has been one of the earliest SF EOL members. She teaches contemplative end-of-life care with the Authentic Presence training and is the author of “Present Through The End”. Kirsten moved to Ireland a few years ago. She will join us for a special session to reflect on our connections, community and shared experiences supporting people at the threshold of life and death. Bring yourself, your stories and your good hearts. You can find out more about Kirsten on her website kirstendeleo.com, or authentic-presence.org.

May 05, 2021

Condolences Pocket Guide: What To Say And Not To Say To Grievers

Dana Lacy Amaris

This month we welcome author and blogger, Dana Lacy Amarisa, who integrates her 40 years as a writer/educator with her experiences as a griever into an illuminating new look at how we can bridge the gap that often exists between us and a grieving friend. “It’s counter-intuitive what’s needed to support someone in grief. I’m here to help change the conversations we have with grievers by offering a few key-but-simple shifts that open the way to meaningful consolation.” Amarisa’s kind, insightful, straightforward style shines through in her inspiring Q&A sessions. Check out her new book, Condolences Pocket Guide: What to Say and Not to Say to Grievers, on Amazon, and her blog and website at, http://www.beabridgecondolences.com. In a time like ours, I especially enjoyed reading Dana’s careful guideposts for consideration when consoling a bereft family member, friend, or colleague.

During her presentation, Dana will offer her experience and insights on how to console others, especially during an era of COVID. She’ll talk about condolences that hurt, those that help, and why, in addition to these topics:

• Paying our respects, with respect
• Why questions, pep-talks, spiritual ideas and “advice stye” condolences often fall flat
• Elements of meaningful consolation
• Practical tips on what to say and do right after the loss, as well as later on

April 07, 2021

The Many Faces Of Love

Dr. Dale Borglum

This month we welcome Dr. Dale Borglum, Founder of the Living and Dying Project, https://www.livingdying.org/. Dale is a pioneer in the conscious dying movement and has worked directly with thousands of people with life-threatening illness and their families for over 30 years. In 1981, Dale founded the first residential facility for people who wished to die consciously in the United States, The Dying Center.

Dale has taught and lectured extensively on the topics of spiritual support for those with life-threatening illness, on caregiving as a spiritual practice, and on healing at the edge, the edge of illness, of death, of loss, of crisis. Dale has a BS from UC Berkeley and a PhD from Stanford University. He is also the co-author of Journey of Awakening: A Meditator’s Guidebook, Bantam Books and has taught meditation for the past 35 years. Given the experiences of 2020 especially, Dale will present on “The Many Faces of Love.” How can we open the injured heart? How can we work with the grief that blocks the heart’s opening? What role do lovingkindness, compassion, devotion, forgiveness, and gratitude have? And, what are the differences between relative love, sacred love, and absolute love? Dale will guide us through each of these topics, and, as always, take your questions.

March 03, 2021

Beyond The Boundaries, An Artist’s Rendition

Dr. Beverly Ayling-Smith

This month we welcome Dr. Beverly Ayling-Smith, an Associate Research Fellow at the International Textile Research Centre, University for the Creative Arts, UK. An artist and researcher, her Doctoral research examined how cloth can be used as a metaphor for loss and how it can connect with the emotions of the viewer.

Beverly has exhibited widely in the UK and internationally; she has work in the Whitworth Art

Gallery collection in the UK and in collections in the USA. She has presented her research at

conferences and has had her work published in the UK. For more on her work, see  www.beverlyaylingsmith

Dr. Smith’s work centers on the emotional dimensions in the words loss, absence and grief. She uses textiles in her work as we experience them in all aspects of our everyday lives and have built up a vocabulary not only of words but of feelings and memories which we associate with them. We touch, handle, see, wear and use them. This experience allows us to think about their involvement in containing the history of our lives, our emotions and our memories.

For example, she often use bedsheets as the main fabric in her work, either whole or as fragments. In her words,  “Bedsheets act as silent witnesses to many natural processes in life such as birth, puberty, pleasure, disease, decay and death. They bear witness to passions spent before sleep and dreams forgotten on waking. Although we endlessly strive to clean and launder them, they remain keepers of our memories, dreams and tears.”

Dr. Smith will show us work from her upcoming exhibit, “Beyond the Boundaries.” We will be able to view her work, and then have a conversation with Beverly about her process, and how she uses it to heal others.

February 03, 2021

California’s Final Master Plan For Aging Unveiled Palliative Care And Advance Care Planning Included In Initiatives

Judy Thomas, JD, CEO, California Coalition for Compassionate Care

This month we welcome Judy Thomas, JD, and CEO of the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California, a statewide partnership of healthcare providers, non-profit organizations and associations, state agencies and individuals working to ensure all seriously-ill Californians receive quality, compassionate care. The Coalition for Compassionate Care of California brings together multiple organizations, often with divergent interests, to develop, implement, and promote improved health care practices and standards across the continuum of care. The California coalition also has national impact on transforming the culture of care for people who are seriously ill through advancing the cause of palliative care in America.

Judy’s presentation is entitled, “California’s Final Master Plan for Aging Unveiled Palliative Care and Advance Care Planning Included in Initiatives.” She will answer your questions, and share more about the local “playbooks” we can begin developing to assist in this massive project.

Consider the following:

California’s Health & Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mark Ghaly and California Department of Aging (CDA) Director Kim McCoy Wade  announced yesterday the release of California’s first-ever Master Plan for Aging (MPA).  The MPA is designed to provide a comprehensive framework that will prepare the state for significant demographic changes in the years ahead, including the growth of the 60-and-over population to 10.8 million people by 2030.

The final MPA includes a 10-year blueprint for promoting healthy aging and outlines 5 Bold Goals and 23 Strategies for leaders in government, business, philanthropic, and community-based organizations to collaborate on creating age-friendly communities for all Californians.

The MPA’s Five Bold Goals for 2030:

Housing for All Ages and Stages. We will live where we choose as we age in communities that are age-, disability-, and dementia-friendly and climate- and disaster-ready. Target: Millions of New Housing Options to Age Well.

Health Reimagined. We will have access to the services we need to live at home in our communities and to optimize our health and quality of life. Target: Close the Equity Gap in and Increase Life Expectancy.

Inclusion and Equity, Not Isolation. We will have lifelong opportunities for work, volunteering, engagement, and leadership and will be protected from isolation, discrimination, abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Target: Keep Increasing Life Satisfaction as We Age.

Caregiving That Works. We will be prepared for and supported through the rewards and challenges of caring for aging loved ones. Target: One Million High-Quality Caregiving Jobs.

Affording Aging. We will have economic security for as long as we live. Target: Close the Equity Gap in and Increase Elder Economic Sufficiency.

The MPA will be powered by more than 100 action-ready initiatives that have already been adopted by state agencies and are prepared for implementation, in partnership with stakeholders and the Legislature.

Palliative care and advance care planning are specifically addressed in three of the initiatives:

Initiative 49 = Highlight to Medi-Cal plans and providers the value of palliative care to improve patient outcomes and support patient and family choices for care.

Initiative 50 = Identify ways to promote care wishes – such as Advance Planning Directives and Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment – for all ages.

Initiative 74 = Develop approach for patient representatives for residents of skilled nursing facilities without capacity, representatives, or written care wishes.

“This Master Plan on Aging advances bold, innovative, uniquely Californian solutions for issues that we will all confront within our own families and communities, if we have not already—and does so with a sustained focus on equity that we need to lift up everyone,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “The Plan reflects more than a year of hard work, research and sustained engagement to drive the partnerships that will improve lives for the older Californians of today and tomorrow. I thank everyone who contributed to this tremendous blueprint for the work to come.”

With goals and strategies for leaders in government, business, philanthropy, and community-based organizations to collaborate on creating age-friendly communities for all Californians, the MPA sets a series of ambitious targets that will be used to track progress and provide accountability.

The final plan also includes a Local Playbook to assist state and local government, communities, and private and philanthropic organizations in building environments that promote an age-friendly and disability-friendly California.

“It has been an honor and an incredible experience to represent palliative care as a member of the MPA Stakeholder Advisory Committee,” said CCCC’s CEO Judy Thomas.  “We are excited to see palliative care and advance care planning included in the final Master Plan, and we are committed to continuing our work with the Administration, lawmakers, and stakeholders to implement the Master Plan and ensure the needs of individuals with serious illness are accurately represented.“

January 06, 2021

SFEOL New Year’s chat!

Strategic Planning with Nate, Steve, and Sandy

Rather than presenting a guest speaker this month, we will host an informal, open discussion for anybody who wishes to simply join in the spirit of conviviality and talk.  For this online gathering, hosts Nate Hinerman and Steve Heilig and Sandy Fish invite you to reflect and remark on whatever related to end-of-life issues and developments you wish.

Perhaps we can start with questions like:  What do you think are the most significant developments since SFEOL was founded over 20+ years ago?  What would you most like to see transpire as we move forward?   And what are our biggest challenges?  But really, the topics are up to you.  Or, you just might like to say hello?

Join in if you wish and can, to say hello and kick off this new era and SFEOL’s 22nd year.

December 04, 2020

This Vulnerable Human Life

Frank Ostaseski

November 04, 2020

A Post-Election Meditation To Soothe The Soul

Rob Rosborough, Esq.

October 07, 2020

Multiculturality And Palliative Care Education: What We Have Learned About Community Education Around The World Through The Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Foundation

Rodrigo Luz

September 02, 2020

Changes In Worlds: The Hidden History Of Dying In The West.

Nate Hinerman, PhD, MFT

August 05, 2020

Vulnerable Populations, And How COVID Is Impacting These Communities

Marvin Mutch

July 01, 2020

End Of Life Choices California

Lynne Calkins and Fran Johns

This month we welcome End of Life Choices California (EOLCC), a volunteer-based non-profit committed to thoroughly explaining all the different options for dying well and how to achieve them; including stopping life-preserving  medical treatments, seeking palliative care, entering hospice, voluntary stopping eating and drinking with the support of hospice, palliative sedation, and medical aid in dying. This presentation will offer practical tips, and other helpful ideas for our patients and loved ones as they navigate the various options available to Californians pertaining to the processes of dying, from beginning to end. Their website is here: endoflifechoicesca.org

Lynne Calkins, Founding Director of EOLCC, will be joined by our very own Fran Johns, author, EOLCC volunteer, and co-founder of our own SFEOL group, to lead the presentation and the subsequent discussion and Q/A. Please join us, and feel free to have lunch during the presentation! We’ll do our usual check-in, and then speakers will take the “stage” at 12:15.

June 03, 2020

Grief And Anxiety In The Time Of COVID19 (Via Zoom, Details Included)

Isabel Stenzel, LCSW

April 01, 2020

No Meeting Due To The Virus, April 1

March 04, 2020

Professional Identity And Interprofessional Tension On The Palliative Care Team

DorAnne Donesky, PhD, ANP-BC, ACHPN

February 05, 2020

Beyond Compassion Burnout

Dale Borglum, PhD

December 04, 2019

“Permission To Grieve”

Dawn Gross, MD, PhD

November 06, 2019

Present Through The End. A Caring Companion’s Guide To Accompanying The Dying

Kirsten DeLeo

October 02, 2019

Family Caregiving 101 – Understanding The Needs Of Family Caregivers And Resources To Support Them

Christina Irving, LCSW

September 04, 2019

Balanced Resilience For Care Partners Living With Parkinson’s Disease

Judy Long, Interfaith Chaplain

August 07, 2019

Medical Aid In Dying: Ethically Challenging Cases (And A Pharmacology Update!)

Lonny Shavelson, M.D.

July 03, 2019

There Is No SFEOL Meeting In July, Due To The Holiday!

June 05, 2019

Josie’s Place For Bereaved Youth And Families

Patricia Murphy

May 01, 2019

King Lear, Live!

Courtney Walsh and We Players’ Artistic Director, Ava Roy

April 03, 2019

A Meditation On What Matters

Dale Borglum, PhD

February 06, 2019

A Dance With Death: The Final Days Of Kelly Johnson

Fran Moreland Johns

January 02, 2019

No meeting

November 07, 2018

Go Wish Workshop!

Dr. Dawn Gross, Nancy Belza, and Paul Puccinelli, LMFT

August 01, 2018

Mindful Caregiver Education For Family Caregivers

Roy Remer, Zen Hospice Project

June 06, 2018

End Game Documentary

Please join us as we screen one of the hottest new documentary films, End Game (https://www.netflix.com/title/80210691). Facing inevitable outcomes, terminally ill patients meet extraordinary medical practitioners seeking to change our approach to life and death. This is their story. Come and join us, as we watch, and then digest, this film together. This session will enable and empower you to show the film and use the toolkit in your places of work and worship as well!

I am happy to get you lunch as well. Just let me know? Box lunches are 15.00, and are obtained from http://picnixsf.com/.

May 02, 2018

Mike Hill’s latest documentary film, Hippocratic

Please join us as we screen Producer and Director Mike Hill’s latest documentary film, Hippocratic (http://hippocraticfilm.com/). This is an amazing story about the essence of palliative care, and how Dr. MR Rajagopal helped to forge its presence throughout his native India. This really is a wonderful film: smart, compelling, and inspiring. To me, this ranks among the best cinematic portraits of the aims of palliative care, and what it takes to achieve them. I know many of you attended the UCSF presentation with Dr. Raj last month– here’s a chance to see the film! (Unfortunately, Mike and Dr. Raj will not be joining us, but they expressed they’ll be with us in spirit)

April 04, 2018

The Heart Of The Matter – Conscious Living, Conscious Dying

Dale Borglum, PhD

March 07, 2018

If Your Mind Does Fade Someday, Your Plan Better Be Adequate And Effective

Stanley A. Terman, PhD, M.D.

February 07, 2018

Applying the Basic Chaplaincy Principle of “Ministry of Caring Presence” to Clinical Care

Rev. Robert Drake

December 06, 2017

Compassionate Communities: Making Dying And Death EVERYONE’s Business!

Dr. Kathy Kortes-Miller

November 01, 2017

Dying To Make A Difference

Mary Matthiesen

October 04, 2017

Film Screening: Voices Of Grief

Kathy Sparnins Executive Director and Co-Producer, Voices of Grief

September 06, 2017

Let’s Play A Game!

Dr. Dawn Gross, MD, PhD

August 02, 2017

A Poetry Cafe!

Redwing Keyssar, RN

June 07, 2017

The Power Of Two

Isabel Yuriko Stenzel Byrnes, LCSW, MPH. This was a further discussion about her life story. The first of these conversations took place on February 1, 2017.

May 03, 2017

Five Invitations

Frank Ostaseski

April 05, 2017

Symbol-Making And Bereavement

Dr. Kim Bateman, Dean, Psychologist

March 01, 2017

Hosting Death Cafes

Susan Barber

February 07, 2017

Applying the Basic Chaplaincy Principle of “Ministry of Caring Presence” to Clinical Care

Rev. Robert Drake.

February 01, 2017

The Art Of Saying Goodbye

Isabel Yuriko Stenzel Byrnes, LCSW, MPH. A further conversation about her life story took place on June 7, 2017.

January 04, 2017

Now Care Planning– Peaceful And Timely Transitions For Patients Who Lack Effective Living Wills

Dr. Stanley Terman, PhD, MD

December 07, 2016

Being In The World

Dale Borglum, PhD

November 02, 2016

Caregiver Resilience And Well-Being: Sustainable Caregiving, Part 2

Judy Long

October 05, 2016

Delving Into Dignity

Dr. Chloe Martin

September 07, 2016

Caregiver Resilience And Well-Being: Sustainable Caregiving

Judy Long

August 03, 2016

The California End Of Life Option Act. What Now, And How To?

Dr. Lonny Shavelson

June 01, 2016

Contemplative End-Of-Life Care: Awake At The Bedside

Kirsten DeLeo

May 04, 2016

Private Film Screening: A Flight From Death: The Quest for Immortality

April 06, 2016

Support Meeting

Jerrigrace Lyons, and Monica S. Flores

March 09, 2016

How Much Suffering Can We Bear Witness To In Our Work?

Kirsten DeLeo

March 02, 2016

Roy Remer Presenting

Roy Remer, Zen Hospice Project

February 03, 2016

Hippocratic Hypocrisy Meets End-Of-Life Reality In California: How Physician-Assisted Dying Came To Legal: A Personal And Professional Reflection

Steve Heilig, MPH

Steve is a healthcare ethicist, editor, epidemiologist, environmentalist, and ethnomusicologist based in San Francisco. Steve was trained in public health, economics, and biology at five UC campuses, and he has worked with many nonprofit organizations and hospitals and in biotechnology, and has authored over 500 articles on a wide range of topics, as well as over 100 diverse book reviews for the San Francisco Chronicle. With particular interest in reproductive health and rights, death and dying, environmental science and policy, and addiction medicine, he has lectured at the University of California, Stanford, and Harvard, is co-editor of the Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, San Francisco Medicine, and the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, and is currently formally affiliated with the San Francisco Medical Society, California Pacific Medical Center, and Commonweal. He has drafted dozens of health policies for the California Medical Association and AMA. He has served on numerous hospital clinical ethics committees, is a trained hospice volunteer and former director of Zen Hospice Project, and served on the boards of The Shanti Project, Planned Parenthood, and other service organizations. He is also a widely-published music journalist and author of fiction, poetry, and literary criticism. He was a founder of the SFEOL.

Note: there will NOT be a hosted lunch at this event.

January 04, 2016

Now Care Planning– Peaceful And Timely Transitions For Patients Who Lack Effective Living Wills

Dr. Stanley Terman, PhD, MD

December 02, 2015

When Death Comes Early: Pediatric End Of Life Care

Dr. Nancy Iverson

October 07, 2015

Good Grief Workshop

Ann Randolph

August 06, 2015

The Consequences Of Working With People Who Suffer: Recognizing Compassion Fatigue And Burnout

Dr. Patrick Arbore

July 05, 2015

Josie’s Place: A Model For Grieving Children

Pat Murphy

June 03, 2015

Truth-Telling In Medicine

Dawn Gross, MD PhD

May 06, 2015

Last Acts Of Kindness, Revisited

Redwing Keyssar

April 11, 2015

Prison Terminal: The Last Days Of Private Jack Hall

Edgar Barens

March 04, 2015

Compassion And Attunement With Suffering

Frank Ostaseski

February 04, 2015

Talk, Discussion, and Book Signing

Katy Butler, Author, “Knocking on Heaven’s Door: The Path to a Better Way of Death”

January 07, 2015

Spiritual Support For The Dying

Dale Borglum

November 05, 2014

Celebrating Human Greatness

Facilitated by John O’Grady, Esq.

October 01, 2014

The Grace In Dying: How We Are Transformed Spiritually As We Die

Kathleen Dowling Singh

September 03, 2014

The Palliative Care Quality Network – PCQN

Steven Pantilat, MD, Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco

May 04, 2014

A Doctors Take On Death

Dr. Margaret “Molly” Bourne, Hospice by the Bay Medical Director

April 02, 2014

Pallium India USA

Sunshine Mugrabi, Hetal Sheth

March 05, 2014

What Are Home Funerals And Natural Death Care And Green Burials

Jerrigrace Lyons, Founder, Final Passages

February 05, 2014

Compassion As Antidote To Burnout

Dale Borglum, PhD

December 04, 2013

Advance Care Planning Workshop

Lael Duncan, MD

November 06, 2013

Listening To Lizabeth

Sandy Fish

October 02, 2013

A Tale Of Two Tribes

Dr. Jeff Kane, MD

September 04, 2013

Singing To Heal Yourself And The World

Kate Munger

May 01, 2013

Finding Hope After Loss

Dr. Gloria Horsley MFC CNS Ph.D

April 03, 2013

The State Of Community-Based Palliative Care Models

Judith Redwing Keyssar, RN, BA, Director of the Palliative Care Program at Seniors at Home

March 06, 2013

A New Method To Make Difficult Decisions: Obtain A Consensus Of Substituted Judgment

Stanley A. Terman, Ph.D., M.D., Psychiatrist and CEO of Caring Advocates, Carlsbad, CA

February 06, 2013

Navigate Aging & Inheritance Battles To Save Relationships

John E. O’Grady, JD

November 07, 2012

The Heart Of Listening

Meg O’Shaughnessy

October 03, 2012

Elder Abuse: What Is It

Shirley Krohn, Senior Assembly Member for California Senior Legislature

August 01, 2012

Enhancing The End Of Life For Patients And Families With Dignity Therapy

Brenda Bentley, MA, PhD Candidate

June 06, 2012

Considering The Results Of “The Final Chapter: Californians’ Attitudes And Experiences With Death And Dying”

Steve Heilig, MPH and Nate Hinerman, PhD

May 02, 2012

The Death Experience

Dr. Russ Granich, Chief of Palliative Care and Community Based Medicine, Kaiser Permanente

March 07, 2012

Cultural Competency In End Of Life Care

Maria Moreno, MPH, Health Services Researcher, Sutter Health Institute

February 01, 2012

Given The Great Need, How Can We Motivate People?

Dr. Stanley Terman

December 07, 2011

Cultivating Reflective Habits Of Care

Nate Hinerman, PhD, University of San Francisco

November 02, 2011

End-Of-Life Issues in The Islamic Tradition (Part 2)

Ameena Jandali, Content Director, Islamic Networks Group (http://www.ing.org/)

Part 1 of this program was offered on October 05, 2011

October 05, 2011

End-Of-Life Issues in The Islamic Tradition (Part 1)

Ameena Jandali, Content Director, Islamic Networks Group (http://www.ing.org/)

Part 2 of this program was offered on November 02, 2011

September 07, 2011

The Role And Mission Of Pallium India

Presenters: Hetal Sheth and Sunshine Mugrabi

June 01, 2011

POLST Panel Discussion, Followed By Q/A

Catherine McGregor, RN, MSN Coalition for Compassionate Care of California; Mark Apfel, MD, Medical Director Anderson Valley Health Center; Jeff Newman, MD, Sutter Health Institute for Research and Education

Our June networking meeting will feature a lively, interactive discussion concerning POLST, including how to identify the target populations most suitable for POLST, and how to skillfully and sensitively facilitate a POLST conversation with a client/surrogate. Catherine McGregor, RN, MSN Coalition for Compassionate Care of California, Mark Apfel, MD, Medical Director Anderson Valley Health Center and Jeff Newman, MD, Sutter Health Institute for Research and Education will offer ideas and answer questions, as well as guide an active learning exercise.

May 04, 2011

Life Changing Decisions: From Donation To Transplantation

Lori Coleman, RN, CPTC, and Manager of the Heart, Lung and Liver Transplant Unit at California Pacific Medical Center

Lori’s talk will include a detailed discussion of all the major aspects of the transplant programs she oversees. Lori will also describe the transplant and donation systems, and how they operate, including the role of end of life care and education amidst these processes. Lori’s long history and accomplished expertise in the field promises to foster a rich dialog, so please bring your interests, your questions, and RSVP.

April 11, 2011

The “Good” Death

Guy Micco, MD, Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Berkeley

We are very lucky this month to welcome back Guy Micco, MD, Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Berkeley. Guy also serves as the Director of the UCB Resource Center on Aging and as Co-Director of the UC Berkeley Program for the Medical Humanities. His presentation is provocatively entitled, “The ‘Good’ Death,” and he will explore with us contemporary attitudes and their impact on how we care for a person at the end of their life. What happens at the end of life? Do we care about an individual’s experience beyond our concern to alleviate ‘suffering’? What do we do with attitudes that suggest the ‘old,’ having lived a long life already, now have less to live for? These questions frame Guy’s literarily inspired presentation, where he will draw from two classics, “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” and “Alcestis”.

March 02, 2011

Death Makes Life Possible

Marilyn Mandala Schlitz, PhD, President for Research and Education at the Institute of Noetic Sciences and Kathleen Erickson-Freeman, Facilitator

February 02, 2011

Debut Of My Way Cards

Dr. Stanley Terman

Dr. Stanley Terman, founder, CEO and medical director of Caring Advocates, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that helps people plan and carry out their end-of-life wishes. Dr. Terman created and has recently updated a new tool for Advance Care Planning, My Way Cards, to create a Natural Dying—Living Will (Natural Dying—Advance Decision). Two primary goals of sorting My Way Cards include: 1) to inform people what it is like to live with Advanced Dementia (and other terminal illnesses) using plain, straightforward descriptions that have almost no medical jargon or medical diagnoses, supplemented with illustrative line drawings to enhance understanding; and 2) to create a legal document that will be an effective Advance Directive.  In his presentation, Dr. Terman will elaborate how through the process of sorting the cards, Advance Care Planners can make decisions about over 48 different items relevant for end-of-life care. Each item represents a symptom, loss of function, unwanted behavior, or conflict with lifelong values. The process of sorting the cards results in informing future decision-makers how the Advance Care Planner feels about each item. The overarching goal of Dr. Terman’s research is to avoid future conflicts so that people can avoid a prolonged, burdensome process of dying such as lingering for years in Advanced Dementia with unrecognized and untreated pain and suffering.

More information about Dr. Terman’s new My Way Cards can be searched in your browser or at these older sites https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/my-way-cards-stanley-terman/1113664424 and https://caringadvocates.org/card-sorting.php

January 12, 2011

Last Acts Of Kindness

J. Redwing Keyssar, RN, BA

November 10, 2010

In The Heart Of The Deathless

Ivana Steigman, MD, PhD

October 13, 2010

Joy Of Caring Project: Mindfulness-Based Dementia Care

Marguerite Manteau-Rao, LCSW

We are very lucky to welcome Marguerite Manteau-Rao, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and Registered Art Therapist, who has a mindfulness-based psychotherapy private practice in Menlo Park. Marguerite serves adults & families facing the psychological difficulties associated with chronic pain, illness, aging, and end-of-life. Marguerite is also a MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) instructor, and maintains an ongoing Vipassana meditation practice. She writes about her mindfulness practice, as well as end-of-life and dementia care, both for the Huffington Post and her blog, Mind Deep.

Marguerite’s presentation is entitled, “Joy of Caring Project: Mindfulness-Based Dementia Care.” This presentation was inspired by her experience with her mother who suffers from Alzheimer’s, and her work with clients and Zen Hospice residents. Her presentation suggests that traditional support, including education and behavior modification have not been very effective at reducing caregiver distress. Such approaches often fail to address:  1) caregivers’ difficulties in disengaging from habitual ways of responding to challenging behaviors; and 2) how to manage internal resources of stress over the long run.

Marguerite’s Joy of Caring approach combines the Zen Hospice model of mindful care community, with the Mindfulness-Based Elder Care (MBEC) model, and a mindfulness-based view of dementia. Using this lens, elements of dementia that are traditionally experienced as liabilities in the care relationship can be transformed into unique opportunities for personal growth and mindfulness practice. This presentation will discuss ways to achieve such transformation.

September 08, 2010

Compassion Fatigue: Tricky Symptoms & The Return To Balance

Rev. Jennifer Block, Education Director & Chaplain at Zen Hospice Project

August 05, 2010

The Good News About Alzheimers: How Mindfulness Can Heal Patients And The Ones Who Care For Them

A recent article from Marguerite Manteau-Rao, LCSW, ATR, MBA can be found at:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-good-news-about-alzhe_b_689844

July 02, 2010

We Are On The Move To End Alzheimers At Vintage Golden Gate!

We Are On the Move To End Alzheimer’s at Vintage Golden Gate!

A recent article from Marguerite Manteau-Rao, LCSW, ATR, MBA can be found here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marguerite-manteaurao/the-good-news-about-…“

June 09, 2010

Why Sort Illustrated My Way Cards? To Create Effective Living Wills For Advanced Dementia

Stanley A. Terman, PhD, MD, Caring Advocates, Carlsbad, CA

May 19, 2010

American Society On Aging Presents: Legacy: Emerging Professionals Serving Older Adults.

Michelle Dowds and Emily Schmidt.

Legacy is the next generation of professionals committed to serving and promoting a positive view of older adults. It is a forum for emerging professionals to network with peers, raise awareness about the needs of the aging community, and participate in professional development through educational presentations and community service.

Legacy was founded by Michelle Dowds, Community Outreach Coordinator, Seniors At Home, a division of JFCS, and Emily Schmidt, Community Relations, Providence Place—Dementia Care Assisted Living.

May 12, 2010

Degriefing: Transforming Grief

Lyn Prashant, MA, FT, CMT

April 14, 2010

Preparing For Death Now: How Alive Are You Willing To Be?

Dale Borglum, PhD – Founder and Executive Director of The Living/Dying Project

March 03, 2010

Topic: A Community-Based Approach To Improving Palliative Care

Jeffrey Newman, MD, MPH

February 03, 2010

A Burden Of Means: Recent Debates In Catholic Health Care Ethics At The End-Of-Life

Nate Hinerman, PhD

January 06, 2010

Physician Order For Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST) Community Training

Nate Hinerman, PhD, and Connie Borden, RN, MSN, ANP

POLST Training, including how to integrate POLST with other advance planning documents, and how to use POLST as a tool to facilitate conversations about wishes and values for the end of life.

November 05, 2009

When Blossoms Fall: Buddhist Practices At The End Of Life

Tova Green, LCSW

October 07, 2009

Green Options & Innovations In Funerary Care

Kathy Curry, Forever Fernwood Funeral Home

September 02, 2009

POLST Implementation In California

Erin Henke POLST Program Manager, California Coalition for Compassionate Care

July 05, 2009

Inspired Or Tired? Making Sense Of What We Do

Jennifer Block Director of Public Education, Zen Hospice Project

Serving and caring for people at the end of life means being fully present to both the pain and joy of human existence. We who are involved in end-of-life care & advocacy, after-death care, and bereavement care, can become weighed down by the constancy of sickness, death, and grief in our work lives, or we can become celebrants of life and champions for healing. Jennifer will lead us in examining our beliefs and attitudes about life and death so that we can be effective — and happy — caregivers and advocates in the increasingly important and precarious arena of end-of-life care. If you have ever wondered about the meaning of your work, and how it relates to the bigger picture, this presentation is for you. And if not, come find out how to best support your colleagues who seem to be losing sight of it all.

Since 2004, Jennifer Block has served as the director of Public Education for the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco , California , creating curriculum, teaching workshops, offering spiritual care, and providing community outreach. In her current role, Jennifer shares the mission and learning of Zen Hospice Project nationally through the many curriculum she has created from her years of hospice and chaplaincy service. Jennifer also provides training and spiritual care to volunteers, clinicians, and caregivers, as well as friends and families facing the spiritual and emotional issues related to end-of-life care.

June 03, 2009

Unraveling The Relationship Between Health Care Literacy

Rebecca Sudore, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco

May 06, 2009

Watching Them Let Go: The Residential Pediatric Hospice Experience

Diane Malek, MSW, LCSW, Psychosocial Manager, George Mark Children’s House.

In her presentation and slide show Diane will describe what it’s like to watch parents watch their children drift off to death.

Diane’s role at George Mark includes helping parents move from absolute resolve to having their child survive to seeing them take on tasks, skill sets, and a knowledge base of medical information they never wanted to have.

Diane also will discuss the current day to day activities at the House, and what it is like to have a growing number of bereaved families they are working with over time.

February 04, 2009

From Crisis To Empowerment: Necessary Actions From Diagnosis To Dying, Death, And Grief

Beatrice Toney Bailey, lecturer and author of book, “Farewell My Friend”

January 07, 2009

The “Right To Know” End Of Life Options Act

Stephen Jamison, Ph.D. (California Director, Compassion & Choices)

November 05, 2008

Addressing Cultural Diversity At The End Of Life

Pat Forman, MPH, MATP (Consultant and Coach)

October 01, 2008

Addressing Religious Diversity At The End Of Life

Evan Ardley, PhD, D.Min. (Spiritual Services Manager, Hospice By The Bay)

Update: Paid Family Leave Act

Lilian Miwa Maher (Paid Family Leave Act Outreach Coordinator)

September 30, 2008

National Prize Recognizes Excellence In End-Of-Life Care

The Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Award. Nominations due September 30^th. Please see this link for more info:   http://www.thehastingscenter.org/PhysicianAwards/

September 03, 2008

A Presentation On Compassion Fatigue

Rev. Jennifer Block, MA (Public Education Director, Zen Hospice Project)

August 06, 2008

Organizing One’s Affairs At The End Of Life

Cari Hays, MSPM, (Executor Consulting Services) and Maggie Watson (author, A Graceful Farewell)

July 02, 2008

Proposed Changes To Laguna Honda’s Hospice Unit

Derek Kerr, MD

June 19, 2008

National Geriatrics And Palliative Care Symposium

Sponsored by Kaiser Permanente

This conference brings together health care providers who are caring for the elderly and for patients with advanced illness across all venues of care to improve communication with patients, their caregivers and families.

June 04, 2008

For Profit Versus Nonprofit Models Of Palliative Care And End-Of-Life Care

Catherine Dodd

May 30, 2008

California Coalition For Compassionate Care Workgroups & Membership Meeting

Contact Nate Hinerman for more details

May 15, 2008

Partners In Caring: A Seminar For Faith Leaders On End-Of-Life Care

Sponsored by Sacramento Healthcare Decisions & Compassionate Care Alliance

This one-day program taught by physicians enhances the skills of faith leaders in supporting congregants at life’s end. Appropriate for community clergy, rabbis and priests, health ministers, congregational nurses, staff and volunteer chaplains.

May 07, 2008

This Conference Brings Together Health Care Providers Who Are Caring For The Elderly And For Patients With Advanced Illness Across All Venues Of Care To Improve Communication With Patients

Various Speakers.

Patrice Villars, Associate Director, Hospice and Palliative Care Veterans Affairs Medical Center

Connie Borden, Palliative Care Coordinator at St. Mary’s Medical Center

Kathy Doctor, Clinical Team Manager for Pathways Palliative Home Care and IV Programs

Sandee Wishon, Clinical Outreach Director at Hospice By The Bay (Palliative Care and Pediatric Programs)

April 17, 2008

National Health Care Decisions Day/Hospice Foundation Of America National Teleconference

Co-Hosted by Hospice by the Bay & Pathways Hospice

Living with Grief Videoconference – Children and Adolescents

April 02, 2008

Music Thanatology

Kate Munger

March 27, 2008

Conference – Compassion In Action: Shaping The Future Of End-Of-Life Care

Santa Clara University, Center for Performing Arts Santa Clara, CA

March 05, 2008

The Similarities And Tensions Among The Definition And Delivery Of Palliative Care Hospice Care And End-Of-Life Care

Anne Hughes, RN, PhD, Adv Practice Nurse in Palliative Care, Laguna Honda Hospital and Rehab Center

February 06, 2008

Updates From The California Coalition For Compassionate Care

Judy Citko, JD, Exec Dir California Coalition for Compassionate Care

Conference Planning Meeting