Hospice Advocacy Efforts - August Offers Some Opportunity

Bobbe Donsbach, a patient care coordinator, attended—making the long trip from Lewistown, Montana. Amanda Dunnem, a hospice aide from Buchanan, Michigan, also attended, as did David Isom, a hospice director from St. George, Utah, and Carrie Landau, an RN case manager from Tucson, Arizona. There were 180 attendees in all, and 75 percent of them were hospice staff and caregivers who provide care at the bedside.

The event was the Advocacy Intensive held here in Washington on June 18 and 19. It was a strategic effort, organized by NHPCO and HAN, to cut through the noise and get our message heard on Capitol Hill during this particularly vocal election year.

Our goal was to convene a small but diverse group who could share the stories of hospice care that would resonate beyond the usual rhetoric. And as I shared in last month’s NewsLine message, we could not have asked for better representation.

The attendees met with 250 Congressional offices, including influential members of the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee. Both the hospice staff and many members of Congress came away from these meetings knowing more—and eager to do more.

 Among the most significant was the meeting between Bobbe Donsbach and Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), chair of the Senate Finance Committee. It was the first time that Senator Baucus met directly with a member of the hospice IDG in his Capitol Hill office, and  quite telling that he spent a half hour with just one constituent.

While this event was clearly a success, the month of August is an opportune time for all members of the hospice community to build on that success. Members of Congress will be in their home states and many will be quite willing to visit the hospices in their area. This is vitally important because seeing is believing.

If you are intimidated or hesitant about reaching out, please don’t be! Just as HAN staff supported the attendees of the Intensive, they are also here to support you. As a start, please see the resources they’ve developed—Free Basic Advocacy Training, Tip Sheets, an In-district Advocacy Toolkit, and more. You can then email them with specific questions.

 Please join us in this advocacy work! 

Call for Proposals for 2013 MLC is Open

Proposals are being sought to present at NHPCO's 28th Managment and Leadership Conference: Cutting Edge of the Care Continuum, April 25-27, 2013. The Call for Proposals is NOW OPEN through Friday, July 20, 2012 at 11:59pm (EST)
The 2013 MLC will stimulate cutting-edge thinking and highlight innovation by showcasing a variety of healthcare providers that have successfully implemented continuum services and programs to improve the access and quality of patient care and services. By offering participants unparalleled access to thought leaders and hospice and palliative care experts, the MLC will equip participants with ideas, strategies and tools to lead (not follow) the development and expansion of the care continuum.

Learn more about the conference focus on the Call for Proposals web page: http://nhpco.confex.com/nhpco/MLC13/cfp.cgi.

Ladies Home Journal follows a Hospice Nurse

Ladies Home Journal follows a hospice nurse from Gilchrist Hospice in an amazing article in the July 2012 issue, "It Doesn't Have to be Sad: The Life of a Hospice Nurse."

Do not miss the photo essay linked in the article, http://www.lhj.com/community/your-stories/hospice-nurse/.

Thank you to Gilchrist Hospice for representing the field so well! Gilchrist is a Circle of Life Award winner - that's what drew attention to the work they are doing. NHPCO communications team also worked with the journalist on this piece as well and are pleased to see awareness about hospice care in such an important publication with a wide reach.

(article URL: http://www.lhj.com/community/your-stories/hospice-nurse/ )

Memorial Day is a Time of Remembrance

Memorial Day is Monday, May 28. For many Americans, this day marks the beginning of summer. Yet, Memorial Day has a much more significant meaning. The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, an organization familiar with the issues involved in loss and grief, offers some thoughts to consider as America celebrates this important holiday.

In addition to the festive events of the day, such as picnics, concerts and parades, Memorial Day provides an opportunity to honor those who have made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of our nation. It allows us to show support to the families and loved ones of those who have lost their lives in defense of freedom and our country.

In recent years, Americans serving in conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq have been lost. For their families and loved ones – who may be our neighbors, friends and coworkers – grief may be fresh and painful. Memorial Day is a time we should reach out and comfort them and let them know that we recognize and honor the sacrifice their loved one has made.

Additionally, this day of remembrance is particularly meaningful to our nation’s Veterans who, amidst Memorial Day activities, deserve support and recognition of their service and the losses they may have experienced.

U.S. Veterans may be mourning brothers and sisters in arms who were lost during World War II, Korea, or Vietnam.  Past traumatic memories and losses are often rekindled. This is a natural part of grieving and calls for our compassion and support.

Hospice organizations throughout the country are answering the call to serve our Veterans through NHPCO’s We Honor Veterans initiative. They know that supporting those around us can be as simple as lending an ear or holding a hand.

Additionally, hospice and palliative care professionals, who deal with loss on a daily basis, remind us that sharing the range of thoughts, emotions and reactions we experience is important. Whether it is pride or shame, grief or hope, fear or fatigue, it is healthy to acknowledge what we are feeling.

In supporting those who are grieving – whether it is a recent loss or one from years past – we honor those who have sacrificed so much.

NHPCO’s Caring Connections offers information about grief at www.caringinfo.org/grief.

What about Schools? Creating Systems to Support Children, Families, and Communities

NHPCO invites you to share the May 2012 issue of our ChiPPS E-newsletter offering a PDF collection of articles that explore some issues involving schools and the role of pediatric palliative and hospice care in creating systems to support children, families, and the community. The goal in this edition of the newsletter is to help encourage a dialogue with educators and school personnel to help them to work more closely and more effectively with providers of pediatric palliative and hospice care to meet the complex needs of children with life-threatening or life-limiting diseases and their family members.
ChiPPS is NHPCO's pediatric workgroup and we invite you to share the May 2012 e-newsletter and look over other resources available at nhpco.org/peditarics.

Thank you to all those who contributed articles to this edition of the newsletter.

Reaffirming Hospice through a New National Campaign Begun by NHPCO

The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization has contracted with Hill + Knowlton Strategies to develop and launch a “Reaffirming Hospice Campaign.” This national campaign will reinforce the vital importance and quality of hospice to policy makers, healthcare professionals, and baby boomers.

This one-year campaign begins later this month with a qualitative research phase and focus groups. The campaign will then move on to quantitative research, campaign development and execution over the subsequent several months. The first phase of the campaign will help policy makers gain a thorough understanding of the complex issues surrounding hospice care delivery, so decisions made are both fiscally sound and programmatically correct. The second phase will focus on motivating healthcare professionals to refer to hospice earlier while motivating consumers to request it.

Read NHPCO's press release online.

Free Teleconference - "A Life of Service"

Service rests on the basic premise that all life is intimately connected and interdependent. The impulse to serve emerges naturally and inevitably from this way of seeing.
Metta Institute and NHPCO present a free teleconference, “A Life of Service," on Tuesday, May 8, from 3:00-4:00pm ET, and will be taught by Rachel Naomi Remen MD and Frank Ostaseski. Please join us for the free, special offering.

Register online: http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=4ctiab44&oeidk=a07e5uw708cf7508867&goback=%2Egmp_1908528%2Egde_1908528_member_111670708.