2012 Minnesota Hospice & Palliative Care Conference Keynote Speakers
Sunday, April 15, 2012 Pre-Conference
Dr. Richard Heinrich will present Suicide in hospice: End of life Clinical, Ethical and Legal Perspectives
This presentation will focus on what choices people have at the end-of-life and how ethics influence these decisions. Heinrich specifically delves into the patient-centered approach which represents the current consensus on what is permissible and impermissible based on the last 40 years of medical, legal, and ethical research. Attendees will utilize case studies to participate in small group discussions on end-of-life decisions.
Richard Heinrich, MD, is Medical Director of HealthPartners Hospice & Palliative Care, and directs HealthPartners’ Geriatric Psychiatry long-term care consulting. Heinrich recently completed a Masters Degree in Bioethics from the Medical College of Wisconsin, emphasizing in end-of-life choices. His research interests include developing state of the art hospice care through effective and efficient team functioning; and developing materials and training for professionals to facilitate effective end-of-life conversations. Specializing in palliative and end-of-life care, his personal and professional mission is to provide end-of-life education for patients, families and clinicians both within HealthPartners and the broader community.
Monday, April 16, 2012
Dr. Tom Hutchinson will present Whole Person Care: A new healthcare paradigm.
In an era of rapidly developing scientific knowledge and expertise (from the details of genetics and molecular biology to the latest developments in information technology) it is easy to believe that the answers to better care must lie in newer and improved technology. Whole person care takes a broader view of the healthcare mandate, combining the best technology aimed at curative treatments with a diametrically opposed process – the facilitation of healing. By combining curing and healing, whole person care integrates the physical aspects of personhood with the psychosocial and existential/spiritual ones to better understand how to respond to suffering experienced by the whole person. Dr. Hutchinson will review the McGill framework for understanding and practicing whole person care to provide the best possible outcome for patients and their families.
Dr. Tom Hutchinson is a Professor in the Department of Medicine and Director of McGill Programs in Whole Person Care at McGill University. An honors graduate from the National University of Ireland, he trained as an Internist and Nephrologist at McGill University. Dr. Hutchinson worked with Dr. Alvan Feinstein at Yale University as a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar. Dr. Feinstein led a revolution in medical research that included the patients’ subjective experiences and reported symptoms to be used as a source of research data. Upon completion of his experience at Yale University, Dr. Hutchinson returned to McGill where he combined the clinical practice of Nephrology and Internal Medicine with research on the clinical determinants of survival in patients with kidney failure. Concern for the lived experience of patients with kidney and other chronic diseases, as well as for their caregivers, led Dr Hutchinson to meet pioneering therapist Virginia Satir and to complete a 4 year training course in Family Therapy at the McGill Institute for Community Psychiatry. Dr. Hutchinson published a book on the stories of kidney patients in 1998.
In 2002, in order to enlarge his focus on the quality of patients’ lived experience, Dr. Hutchinson changed his clinical practice to Palliative Medicine and joined Dr. Balfour Mount in developing McGill Programs in Whole Person Care. The Programs are aimed at enlarging the Western Health Care mandate from cure and prolongation of life to an equal concern with patients’ quality of life. The Programs seek to study, understand and promote the role of health care in relieving suffering and promoting healing in acute and chronic illness as a complement to the disease focus of biomedicine. The McGill approach to whole person care has recently been published by Springer in a book edited by Dr Hutchinson entitled “Whole Person Care: A New Paradigm for the 21st Century.” Dr Hutchinson’s current research and academic interests include quality of life in patients with chronic disease; teaching mindfulness as a form of self-care for patients and healthcare practitioners; teaching mindful medical practice; effective teaching of healing and whole person care to medical students.
Monday, April 16, 2012 Lunch Address
Don Schumacher, PsyD will present What’s Ahead for Hospice and Palliative Care
Don will discuss the changes that hospices are facing due to healthcare reform and increased regulation scrutiny. He will talk about what’s ahead for hospices, and why; and how to prepare today for the coming changes. His “view from Washington” will provide a “not to be missed” summary of what is and what the future will hold for hospice and palliative care providers.
Don Schumacher has over 30 years of experience in hospice and palliative care and is a globally recognized authority and active public speaker both domestically and internationally on topics such as strategic planning for hospices, palliative care policy development. He currently serves as President and CEO of the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Frank Ostaseski will present Being a Compassionate Companion
This session explores the essential aspect of compassion and its integral role in healing. Compassion is that innate capacity that enables us to open to suffering, to profoundly care without being overwhelmed. The beauty and function of compassion serves to establish a trustworthy connection, support mutual well-being, develop resilience and allow us to stay present in the territory of unanswerable questions.
In the relationship with those we serve, the practice of compassion is equally important to the delivery of good pain management or symptom control. Yet, rarely is it acknowledged as our most available and effective resource, offering immeasurable value to all interventions. Without the presence of compassion caregiving becomes a series of mechanical or technological efforts that exhaust everyone and heals no one. Frank will draw on 30 years of teaching mindfulness-based approaches to care to explore how to sustain the fearless receptivity of compassion and illustrate its impact on those facing life threatening illness and loss.
Frank Ostaseski is a Buddhist teacher, international lecturer and a leading voice in end-of-life care. In 1987, he co-founded of the Zen Hospice Project, the first Buddhist hospice in America. In 2004, he created the Metta Institute to provide innovative educational programs and professional trainings that foster compassionate, mindfulness-based care.
Mr. Ostaseski’s groundbreaking work has been widely featured in the media, including the Bill Moyers television series “On Our Own Terms”, the PBS series “With Eyes Open,” “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” and in numerous print publications. AARP magazine named him one of America’s 50 most innovative people. In 2001, he was honored by the Dalai Lama for his many years of compassionate service to the dying and their families.