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The Better Ending Partnership is a non-profit community coalition whose vision is that all persons in Central Massachusetts live their last days in this life as comfortably as possible, in the setting of their choice, according to their expressed wishes, while they and their families are supported by a caring community.
Founded in 2002 by retired surgeon Dr. H. Brownell Wheeler of the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) and civic leader William P. Densmore, the Partnership includes volunteers from health care facilities, faith groups, the legal profession, social service agencies, and other community members. Established as the Central Massachusetts Partnership to Improve Care at the End of Life, it became a non-profit corporation in 2004, and renamed the Better Ending Partnership in 2007.
Since 2002 Executive Director Christine McCluskey has presided over volunteer work groups who monitored and implemented projects using over 100 volunteers. Designed by work groups, the projects educate diverse populations in the community. These earlier work groups included health care systems, faith groups, attorneys, financial planners, social service agencies, employers, unions and professional associations, and funeral directors.
Current work groups include hospice and palliative care services, symptom management, advance care planning, extended care facilities, and community education. Each work group is charged with developing projects to achieve our long term goals of improving access, quality and competency in the provision of end of life care in Central Massachusetts. The impetus for this expanded direction was the SODIUM study, which looked at end of life care from many aspects.
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