Palliative Care Institute Creating a palliative community where people with serious illnesses don t have to be cured to heal
What is the Palliative Care Institute? The Palliative Care Institute is a partnership with Western Washington University, Whatcom Alliance for Health Advancement (WAHA), Community Organized Group for Health (COGH), Whatcom Family & Community Network, PeaceHealth Palliative Care, and Whatcom Hospice to transform palliative care in the Whatcom community and support the human responses to living and dying. The Institute has been designed to create a Palliative Community by providing a space where people with serious illnesses don t have to be cured to heal. What is Palliative Care? Palliative care is specialized health care for patients, of any age, with serious illness. Palliative care assists with managing difficult symptoms and also creates the space for an open discussion on treatment choices and care planning. The goal in palliative care is to improve quality of life for patients and their families.
Blueprint for Community Excellence at End of Life A movement is taking hold in America that is supported by mounting evidence and propelled by personal conviction. The central idea of this movement is quite simple: death is best understood as a natural part of life, and we are better off as a culture if we act as if this were true. In April, 2014, the Whatcom Alliance for Health Advancement (WAHA) convened a Task Force composed of experts and community leaders who were asked what it would take to transform Whatcom County into a center of excellence for all those with and impacted by serious life-threatening illness. The Task Force put forth the Blueprint for Community Excellence at End of Life, identifying five key elements for success: 1) advanced care planning; 2) community-based palliative care services; 3) shifting the community culture; 4) improved provider training; and 5) sustainable financing. An End-of-Life Coalition comprised of healthcare and social service providers, educators, and community leaders from a variety of fields has been established to further the community vision articulated in the Blueprint by aligning and advancing the recommendations. Elements of the Whatcom Palliative Community Activated Community Health Provider Competency Capacity to Support Advanced Care Planning Availability of Palliative Care Practice across continuum
The Palliative Care Institute Advisory committee is comprised Becki Van Glubt received her RN-to-BSN from Western Washington University in December 2014. As a student, she was an active participant in Palliative Care Summer Institute for Heal without Cure. She is currently employed at PeaceHealth North Cascade Cardiology in the congestive heart failure clinic with a focus of providing outpatient navigation with end stage heart disease. Her long term goal is to continue with her education and work on a master s degree in nurse education. Bree Johnston (MD, MPH, FACP) is the Director of Palliative Care for the PeaceHealth System and for PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center in Bellingham, Washington. She continues to be a Professor of Clinical Medicine at UC San Francisco. She is board certified in palliative medicine, geriatrics, and internal medicine. Dr. Johnston serves as the Chair of the American Board of Internal Medicine question writing committee for the geriatrics exam, and has served on numerous national committees and task forces. She has written numerous articles, book chapters, and edited medical textbooks, and been featured as a speaker at many national and international conferences. Her areas of expertise include care of elders with advanced chronic illness, care of people with dementia and their caregivers, and palliative care. She lives in Bellingham Washington with her husband and son. Casey Shillam (PhD, RN-BC) is the director of the Nursing Program at Western Washington University. Her clinical practice background is in the care of older adults as a pain management specialist and a care coordinator for patients with chronic complex health conditions. She is currently a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Executive Nurse Fellow. Carola Williams works at Western Washington University with the Nursing Program. She has been an active member with the Palliative Care Initiative and is committed to seeing healthcare changes in Whatcom County. Devyani Chandran (MS, PhD) received her Masters in Social Work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences in Mumbai India and her PhD in Social Welfare from the University of Kansas. Her expertise lies in prevention theory and intervention particularly in the areas of aging, end of life care, and HIV/AIDS and older adults. She has been involved in projects that focus on collaborations between academic institutions and community-based organizations including efforts to evaluate social capital programing offered to Latino and Somali immigrant communities in Minnesota and the Palliative Care Institute in Western Washington University. Hope Corbin (PhD) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health and Community Studies at Western Washington University. Dr. Corbin investigates collaboration in a variety of settings including community-campus, communityfamilies-schools, international professional partnerships and North-South partnerships. She is the originator of the Bergen Model of Collaborative Functioning (BMCF) and has widely published the results of her research. Dr. Corbin is a member of the Editorial Board for the journal Global Health Promotion and Associate Editor of the journal Health Promotion International. Geof Morgan (PhD) has been the Director of the Whatcom Family & Community Network in Bellingham since 1993, focusing on grassroots organizing efforts to build the capacity of neighborhoods to support thriving children and families. Prior to that, he was a songwriter, recording artist, and performer. Geof is grateful to be able to bring his musical and facilitation background to helping build the palliative care conversation in the community and to work with such as stunning group of advocates.
of practitioners, educators, and community members. Lois Longwood is the WWU Extended Education Director of degree and professional programs. Lois has been involved with the WWU RN-to-BSN program and the Palliative Care Institute beginning with initial development efforts. Mary Ann Percy lived in the New York area most of her adult life and moved to Bellingham after fifteen years in southern California. There she spent nearly ten years working in palliative care, hospice, and spiritual care, including medical bio-ethics, advance care planning, community and professional education, with extensive experience in clinical and educational roles. She is passionate about improving the end of life experience for patients, families and caregivers. She is a graduate of Binghamton University (BA) and Queens College (MS). Marie Eaton (PhD) Professor Emeritus from Fairhaven College. Over her thirty-nine years at WWU, she taught about death and dying, childhood, food pathways, memoirs, and songwriting. Chaired the WAHA End of Life Steering Committee and is active on the PCI Advisory Group. Current writing focuses on how contemplation and reflection help us negotiate the strong emotions that arise as we face our world s challenges. Longtime member of Motherlode, four woman band performing songs that tickle the funny bone and open the heart. Meg Jacobson (MD) has been the Medical Director of Whatcom Hospice since 2003. She is board certified in both Family Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine. For 25 years, Dr. Jacobson practiced family medicine with her husband, Dr. Richard McClenahan. Together, they have raised three wonderful sons; their most significant accomplishment. Dr. Jacobson is also passionate about palliative care, and has been a staunch advocate for improving end of life care in our community. Nancy Poulin (RN, BSN) is a Nursing Instructor and Research Assistant at Western Washington University. After providing and coordinating care for those with complex chronic conditions for over thirty years as a registered nurse, she is thrilled to be a part of the PCI Heal Without Cure effort. She strongly believes this convening of talent, passion and personal and professional experience is moving us all to a better health experience. She also co-created and provides leadership for the Care Coordination Community of Practice in Whatcom County. She lives in Bellingham Washington with her husband and son and enjoys cycling, backcountry skiing, hiking, and kayaking. Richard Scholtz and his wife Helen have lived in Bellingham since 1973. He was one of the founders of Antioch College West: the parent of Antioch College Seattle. Since moving to Bellingham, his work has been a self-employed educator/ consultant/musician/project manager. He has lived with an artificial aortic valve since 1987. In 2001, Richard was invited to become a community partner in reimagining health care, and he has been involved in a number of local health related projects including creating and co-directing a research project funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that explored the question: What is health and where does it come from? Sara Weir (PhD) is a professor of Political Science at Western Washington University. She earned her PhD at the University of Washington in Seattle and spent two years as a doctoral fellow at Interstudy, in Excelsior Minnesota. Her academic work focuses on health policy, the politics of serious illness, and aging and intergenerational relations. Dr. Weir is a scholar, teacher, caregiver, and patient. She loves nature and animals, spending her free time hiking in the woods with her two dogs Ruby and James.
How you can get involved? Advocate for palliative care Attend a WAHA workshop on Advanced Care Planning Complete your advanced health care directive (HCD) Become active in the PCI work groups Volunteer for Hospice or Life Passages Ask your health care providers to talk about your HCD Attend Death Cafe, Art of Death, or other community events Normalize the conversation: everybody dies wwu.edu/bsn WhatcomAlliance.org
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Contact PCI@wwu.edu (360) 650-7780 COGH Community Organizing Group for Health