April 2007 

Welcome to Connections.  The current edition of Connections and archives of previous editions are located in the ‘What’s New’ section of www.LIVEpartners.org.  Please forward this e-newsletter to your staff, coalition members and other organizational partners using the 'forward a friend' prompt at the bottom.

Virginia Tech Tragedy… All of us at Caring Connections and NHPCO extend our deepest condolences to the many people affected by the tragic shooting at Virginia Tech.  Our thoughts and prayers go out to all those suffering and affected by this incomprehensible violence.  Resources for hospice professionals dealing with public tragedy, including NHPCO's message of condolence, are available at NHPCO’s Web site. Caring Connections also has articles relating to the shooting at Virginia Tech available at www.caringinfo.org that may be of interest to the public and those supporting their communities. We hope these materials offer some useful information and insight at a difficult time.

JPSM Article Supports Caregiver Training Program… “Benefits of Training Family Caregivers on Experiences of Closure During End-of-Life Care” in the April issue of the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management examines the results of Caregiving at Life’s End, a national train-the-trainer initiative to help family caregivers find a sense of meaning, purpose, and value in the experience of caregiving. The training program equipped each trainer with the ability to plan and conduct a comprehensive caregiver training in their local community.  Evaluations demonstrated caregivers trained by Caregiving at Life’s End had significant improvement with comfort in carrying out tasks, closure experiences and caregiver gain.

National Caregiving Award Applications Now Being Accepted… The National Alliance for Caregiving and MetLife Foundation are recognizing the important contributions of community agencies and other organizations that support family caregivers in the areas of Caregiver Education, Technology and Caregiver Support.  There will be two awards in each of these categories, one for organizations working in communities of less than 100,000 and those in communities greater than 100,000.  In addition, there will be a special Alzheimer’s Award for a program that innovatively supports Alzheimer’s caregivers.  The application deadline is May 15, 2007.  For more information, go to the National Alliance for Caregiving’s Web site at www.caregiving.org.

RWJF Issues Call for Proposals for New Community Health Program… The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s new initiative, New Routes to Community Health, supports local partnerships among immigrant organizations, media production centers and established community institutions to foster collaborations to improve immigrants’ health, work life and civic participation.  Up to eight grants of up to $225,000 each will be awarded in two phases.  The brief proposal deadline is May 17, 2007.  For more information, go to www.rwjf.org/cfp/newroutes.

Bill Colby's Second Op-ed Available… Caring Connections is pleased to announce the second installment of their media outreach initiative with Bill Colby, NHPCO’s Senior Fellow.  Colby’s newest op-ed, Remembering Terri Schiavo, combines a non-judgmental "big picture" look at the Terri Schiavo case together with practical advice about advance care planning.  The op-ed was published recently in Florida’s Sun-Sentinel.

All of Bill Colby’s articles from Caring Connections are available at www.LIVEpartners.org* (under ‘What’s New’) and are non-exclusive, which means any newspaper can run it and you are free to use it in whatever way you deem appropriate.  We encourage you to submit the article to the op-ed editor of your local paper or any reporter you know more closely.  Also, feel free to use the articles in newsletters, websites or other ways that might be useful.  Colby’s previous articles have been published in the USA Today, Kansas City Star, Philadelphia Inquirer, Palm Beach Post, and elsewhere. 

Lotsa Helping Hands… Caring Connections and Lotsa Helping Hands have partnered together to provide a web-based resource for friends, family, colleagues and neighbors to assist caregivers in need.  This is a free resource available for NHPCO members and LIVE Partners to offer in your respective communities.  To access this valuable resource, go to www.caringconnections.lotsahelpinghands.com. 

The site is specifically designed to organize caregiving volunteers and has an easy to use, private, online group calendar that enables volunteers to sign up for any number of errands or events, check their current commitments and have reminders emailed to them.  More information and a flyer template are available at www.caringinfo.org or call 1.800.658.8898.

New Spanish Language Materials… Caring Connections has new one-page educational materials available in Spanish and English on topics such as grief, advance care planning, long term care, hospice and palliative care. You can preview the resources in the ‘What’s New’ section of www.caringinfo.org and purchase from NHPCO’s Marketplace.  Caring Connections also offers a Latino Outreach Guide to help your organization engage local Latino communities about end-of-life care, and includes PowerPoint presentations in Spanish and a flyer about the bilingual Spanish language HelpLine, Linea Cuidando con Carino, 877/658-8896. 
 

New Pediatric Brochures… Caring Connections has four new educational brochures written specifically for parents of seriously ill children.  The brochures, available in both English and Spanish, can be previewed at www.caringinfo.org (under ‘Resources’) or purchased from NHPCO’s Marketplace.  The brochures cover pain, grief and communication issues. More information is available for parents of seriously ill children at www.partnershipforparents.org (Spanish version, www.padrescompadres.org). Both Web sites were created by the Children’s Hospice and Palliative Care Coalition.

*Look Out!...LIVEpartners.org will soon be merging with caringinfo.org.  Stay tuned.

Magnified and Sanctified: Jewish Ritual, Reality and Response at the End of Life, May 31, Durham, NC… Register now to explore Jewish traditions and practices around illness, death and grieving – and learn to translate that understanding into better end-of-life care.  Physicians, social workers, rabbis, chaplains and scholars will lead more than 15 workshops examining Jewish perspectives on a variety of end-of-life issues.  Anyone seeking knowledge about the intersection of Jewish traditions and end-of-life care are welcome -- health, spiritual care and social service professionals; family caregivers; scholars and students; and laity of all faiths.  The conference is being presented by the Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life.  Learn more and register online at www.iceol.duke.edu.

Time is Running Out to Present at NHPCO’s Clinical Team Conference, November 30-December 1, New Orleans, LA… Proposal submissions are now being accepted for NHPCO's 8th Clinical Team Conference, Scientific Symposium and Facility-Based Hospice Forum: Purpose, Passion, Performance. The deadline for submission is April 30.  For more information, visit www.nhpco.org/ctc2007. 

Community Partnership for End-of-Life Care, Winston-Salem, NC… On April 25, the Community Partnership for End-of-Life Care of Winston-Salem, NC, co-sponsored an important symposium, Improving End-of-Life Care for the Underserved: Choices, Power, Action.  The symposium was held at a local church and featured national key-note speakers including Richard Payne, MD, Bernice Catherine Harper, MSW, MScPH, LLD, and Gwendolyn London, DMin.   With the support of local universities, Hospice and Palliative Care Center, and Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life, the Community Partnership for End of Life Care brought together over 150 participants from around the region to discuss better access to end-of-life care for the African-American community and others.

If you have community engagement resources that you would like to include in “Connections,” please contact Ashley Hammarth at ahammarth@nhpco.org.