Traveling the Road in Good Company
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S COLUMN
Supportive Voice Vol. 11 No. 2 Summer 2006
by Sr. Karin Dufault, SP, RN, PhD
Sr. Karin is executive director of Supportive Care Coalition. She can be reached at 503-215-5053 or karin.dufault@providence.org
Have you ever been on trip with special people and been just delighted as each pointed out something you might not have seen or heard without their help? That was the wonderful experience I enjoyed in January in beautiful San Antonio when I joined nearly 300 health professionals for the Coalition’s 2nd national congress, “Recovering Our Traditions II – Journey to Excellence: A Catholic Health Care Perspective on End of Life Care.”
For three days we journeyed together as community, focused on learning as much as we could from each other to advance the ministry of CARE for those with chronic and life-threatening illness. I left the gathering truly inspired and energized by the presenters and the many people I met who are so dedicated to serving those in need of palliative and end of life care and caring. It made me feel very honored to be the executive director of the Supportive Care Coalition. All the planning for the Congress had taken place before I arrived, so I take no credit for its success, but I am most grateful to Sylvia McSkimming and the Planning Committee and to Carol Lieberman for their wisdom in designing and implementing the program.
I’d like to share some of the evaluation responses to give you examples of how some of the plenary speakers touched participants as they shared the “journey to excellence”.
“I now can see myself as part of a larger community of persons dedicated to shifting culture. It is wonderful to see the changes that have and are occurring and to be a unique and important member of the team.”
(re: overall program)
“It was good to hear the Catholic teaching defined so I could help others understand it.” (re: Sheehan)
“Very helpful to be given their tools with permission to use them on our own.” (re: Twohig)
“Awesome, inspiring, touching. Thanks for ideas we can use when we get back to the "farm." We have already decided to do our first presentation on healing presence. We will start with the management group and move to line staff & possibly volunteers.” (re: Taylor)
“Very motivating! After hearing this I will incorporate healing and spirituality into my own life better so that I can promote it to others.”
“What great work she is doing! Very inspirational to me in my work. Gave me a renewed enthusiasm that we (health care) will make a difference if we continue in this (spirituality) initiative”. (re: Puchalski)
“Really appreciated discussion regarding proportionate/disproportionate rather than extraordinary and ordinary. Also excellent reflection on metaphors of starving, disabled, dying”. (re: Kopfensteiner)
“The Native American culture is prevalent in my area and my husband is NA ancestry. I appreciate him in a new way. Our hospital does not have many NA admissions. I have a new insight into why. Sometimes one is too close and needs to step back and reassess.” (re: Oosterwal)
“I really appreciated that I have to remember the trust issue and the responsibility is mine to work to regain trust with this person, this family, this community. I also was struck by the comment that "people inherit a wisdom simply from being near the end of life.” (re: Payne)
“Looked like a good program that could be utilized at many facilities. Videotape clips were extremely well done.” (re: Gordon)
Breakout evaluation responses were equally impressive, and based on this strong positive feedback, the Coalition board of directors has committed to sponsoring a 3rd Congress in 2008. Participant suggestions as to topics they would like to see included in a future conference will help shape the program.
This edition of Supportive Voice includes some articles based on conference presentations. In addition, through the services of Veranda Communications, Inc., we have DVD recordings of all plenary sessions and audio CDs of most workshops so those who were unable to attend can access these wonderful presentations (under Educational Opportunities on our web site). Those who want to repeat sessions at their own facilities may combine the recordings with the PowerPoint presentations used throughout the Congress. The PowerPoints are available on the Coalition’s Web-site, Educational Opportunities section, or can be obtained by contacting carol.lieberman@providence.org.
Ray Duffy and his organization, DIA Learning, produced the beautiful and thoughtful DVD, “Living Well”, that Dan O’Brien, chairman of the Coalition’s board of directors, used in the opening reflection of the Congress. DIA Learning provided all participants with a copy of the DVD for their use. Our environment was further enhanced during breaks by the CD recording, Loom of Love”, a newly released musical tapestry woven with harps and voices of northwest music thanantologists and made available through Sacred Heart Medical Center and Hospice of Eugene, Oregon.
All participants were given the DVD titled: Hospital-Based Spirituality Initiative: Creating Healing Environments. The initiative and the experience of its seven pilot sites were presented on the third day of Congress. You can read about the Spirituality Initiative in the article by Sylvia McSkimming, PhD and Christina Puchalski, MD in this Supportive Voice. Catholic Health Association (CHA) also distributed the DVD to all mission leaders of CHA member facilities and it is clear from the phone calls we are receiving that there is great interest in this work.
Congress participants and faculty have been back to their ministry sites for months now. We hope that what they learned and experienced in San Antonio remains in their minds and hearts and has been shared with their colleagues in a way that has contributed to their own organization’s “Journey to Excellence” in caring for persons affected by life-threatening illness. We also hope that they experienced, as I did, the sense that they are united with fellow travelers from all over the country on this journey. Through the Supportive Care Coalition, we create a learning, caring community “pursuing excellence in palliative care” that is making a difference in our ministries. If your organization is not already among the Supportive Care Coalition Sponsors and you wish more information on how to become a sponsoring organization, do not hesitate to contact me or any of our board members. Information is also available on our web site.
Peace be with you!