Free and open to the public, Fairfield’s Egan School & Kanarek Center will host an advance directive workshop, co-sponsored by the Connecticut Coalition to Improve End-of-Life Care.
On Wednesday, November 13, the Marion Peckham Egan School of Nursing & Health Studies and the Kanarek Center for Palliative Care Nursing Education will host an educational forum, Tell Us More: An Advance Care Planning Workshop, with featured speaker Donna Coletti, MD, MS, FACOG, Scholar-in-Residence Palliative Care. Co-sponsored by the Connecticut Coalition to Improve End-of-Life Care, the event will take place from 5:30 until 7 p.m. at the Egan School’s Kanarek Center for Palliative Care, and is free and open to the public.
The workshop will address questions surrounding an advance directive (“living will”), in which individuals can write their goals for medical care in the event that they become seriously ill and cannot speak for themselves. Experts say only about 20 to 30 percent of Americans have completed an advance directive even though all people ages 18 and older are encouraged to have one.
"The 'Tell Us More Event' intends to shed light on the importance of giving voice to individuals' wishes, so that family members and health care providers can strive to uphold these wishes in a respectful and dignified manner," said Director Eileen O'Shea, DNP, APRN, PCNS-BC, CHPPN, of the Kanarek Center for Palliative Care Nursing Education. "Uncertainty about end-of-life care leaves a great deal of ambiguity for health care providers to render care that meets an individual’s wishes, values, or beliefs."
Clinical providers recognize that it is understandable why people might put off discussing the topic of serious illness and death, but also say that it’s essential to have this family conversation in advance. Ideally, it is an ongoing discussion that should start in the living room, not in the hospital waiting room when it may be too late.
Tell Us More: An Advance Care Planning Workshop will feature a keynote address from Dr. Coletti, and attendees will hear from other experts in the field of palliative care. They will also participate in roundtable discussions on legal issues, spiritual care, and advance directive writing with Richard Newman, JD and Laura Taets, MSW.
Register today by visiting fairfield.edu/advancedirectives.
