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Better Ending in San Diego
Worcester Nonprofit Invited to Local Conference
Staff and Volunteers Presented Issues Concerning End-of-Life Care
(WORCESTER, MA, 24 April 2006)—National public awareness of the need for end of life care planning continues to grow, and a Worcester non-profit group is helping to get the word out. Better Ending, an initiative of The Central Massachusetts Partnership to Improve Care at the End of Life, recently presented “Meeting the Needs of the Dying: A Snapshot of the Quality of Services to Patients in Central Massachusetts” at the 7th Clinical Team Conference and Scientific Symposium, April 26–28, 2006 held at the Town and Country Resort in San Diego CA. The event was open to anyone interested in hospice and palliative care or other programs that serve the terminally or chronically ill and their families.
Representing the Better Ending initiative was David Kaufman, MD, St. Vincent Hospital and Chair of the Better Ending Healthcare Work Group and Christine McCluskey, Executive Director, Central Massachusetts Partnership to Improve Care at the End-of-Life.
According to Dr. Kaufman, “Many interventions designed to improve the care provided to dying patients are based upon consensus opinion of experts or tactics which seem intuitively reasonable. Little data are available that precisely pinpoints deficiencies in existing care delivery processes or the measurable impact of such interventions. We analyzed all deaths in the city of Worcester, Massachusetts occurring in the year 2004 and surveyed a representative sample of next of kin to determine the importance to decedents of multiple elements of eight domains of dying as well as how effectively these aspects of care were provided. This snapshot of the dying experience in Worcester can provide useful insights into how the healthcare community can improve care to patients and their families at the end of life.”
Additionally, Better Ending participated in “Enhancing Access to Multicultural Communities: Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Materials” a poster session offering the opportunity to learn new ideas through visual materials and handouts in an informal environment. Joanne Calista, LICSW, Central MA Area Health Education Center, Inc, represented Better Ending as Co-Chair of its Diversity Work Group.
The annual Clinical Team Conference (CTC) is specifically designed for the hospice/palliative interdisciplinary team, the heart of quality end-of-life care. This year’s theme, “Today’s education is the key to tomorrow’s quality care,” was especially appropriate for end-of-life care professionals and the issues individuals, families and communities face. The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), the oldest and largest nonprofit membership organization representing hospice and palliative care programs and professionals in the United States, was the sponsor of this annual event.
Better Ending is an initiative of The Central Massachusetts Partnership to Improve Care at the End of Life, a community coalition of professional, civic, business and religious leaders committed to the vision 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, The Central Massachusetts Partnership to Improve Care at the End of Life, Inc. is supported through the generosity of many grantors and in-kind donors including businesses, health care institutions, foundations, and individuals.
For further information, contact Christine McCluskey, RN, Executive Director, Central Massachusetts Partnership to Improve Care at the End of Life, Inc. at (508) 767-9877 or visit www.BetterEnding.org.
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