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Walk-in registration available for this Friday's Annual Meeting
The Washington End of Life Consensus Coalition
2011 Annual Meeting
Friday, November 11
9:00am-2:15pm
Radisson Hotel Seattle Airport
18118 International Blvd, Seattle, WA 98188
Pre-registration is now closed. If you haven't registered, walk-in registration the day of the conference begins at 8:30am. The cost of attendance is $25 - cash, credit cards and checks will be accepted onsite.
This year's annual meeting will feature a keynote presentation, six short presentations from representatives from communities across the state highlighting local end-of-life initiatives, as well as an optional train-the-trainers session on the Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form. Lunch and a continental breakfast will be provided.
Our keynote speaker this year is Gerri Haynes, RN, speaking on "How to encourage, create and stimulate end-of-life conversations within families and communities." Gerri is a palliative care consultant and a clinical associate faculty member of the UW School of Nursing. She is a past president and board member of Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility and organizes service trips to the Middle East.
Also featured at this year's meeting will be six short vignettes from communities around the state. Included will be:
Katie Evermann Druffel, LICSW, director of social work, and Dennise Stannard, BSN, RN, ELNEC, director of medical/surgery& birth place, at Pullman Regional Hospital. Their presentation will include an overview of their quality of life team efforts (including ethics committee, end of life nursing education consortium, comfort care order set, ventilator withdrawal orders, hospice respite contract, Death with Dignity opt-in & POLST education).
Maureen Horgan, LICSW, Stepping Stones Clinical Manager at Providence Hospice of Seattle will present on the Pediatric Task Force—a collaboration between WSHPCO pediatric palliative care and pediatric hospice providers and community- and hospital-based pediatric palliative care providers. The goal of the task force is to develop processes and policies for the implementation of pediatric concurrent care in Washington state and to provide support and education to pediatric providers related to pediatric palliative care issues. Maureen has been leading this group and representing Washington providers on the NHPCO Pediatric Concurrent Care Committee.
Trudy James, MRE, hospital chaplain and owner of Heartwork Consulting, will present "A Gift for Yourself and your Loved Ones." In the past 2 ½ years Trudy has facilitated 25 series (3 to 5 sessions) of end of life planning groups—in churches, retirement centers, senior centers, assisted living facilities, homes; over three hundred men and women, ages 40 to 90, have participated. Topics include the value of completing or updating end of life paperwork, and deciding who could best speak for them if they could not speak and how to choose that person. Other topics include becoming comfortable discussing and envisioning their own death, and learning the value of speaking up about their desires clearly to family members, health care providers and agents. They also receive resource lists, a bibliography, information on legacy planning, memorials/funerals, etc. Some report that the work has allowed them to live more fully in the present. Trudy's presentation will include a brief demonstration, findings, stories and handouts.
Elizabeth Marshall, MD, director of Life and Wishes Task Force at the Everett Clinic. Dr. Marshall has headed up a new effort at The Everett Clinic to raise consciousness about the importance of addressing end of life well, as an ethical imperative. The program includes patient education classes, physician education classes, changes in the EMR to facilitate end of life conversation and documentation (EPIC), and interfacing with the greater medical community of Snohomish County around these issues.
Georganne Trandum, RN, division manager, Palliative Care Outreach, Franciscan Health System, and Palliative Care Outreach in the South Sound Region with Franciscan Health System. FHS was one of the first in the nation to consider palliative care in the clinic setting to ease patients at risk of dying. They created the question, "Would you be surprised if the patient you are examining were to die in one year?" FHS has won 2 major national awards for innovative care for the at risk population. While FHS started their program in the clinic setting and ran that for 14 years, they have changed the focus to the home setting for the past year. A highly skilled ARNP or PA-C travels to the home for a 1.5 to 2 hours assessment and exam touching on all aspects of health, quality of life, goals of care, advance directives and spiritual assessment. Symptom management and a treatment plan are initiated and followed. Providers are the consulting eyes and ears in the home for the course of care. Data from the results of this new program will be provided in the talk.
Don't forget, at the close of the meeting there will be an optional two-hour (2:15-4:15pm) train-the-trainers session on the Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form, co-led by Drs. Stu Farber and Bruce Smith, titled A Narrative Approach to Completing a POLST. This session will discuss how the POLST form can be an introduction to important conversations with patients to document their goals of care, and will familiarize attendees with the key components of caring conversations in order to share these with their colleagues. Attendance at this educational session is free with registration to the annual meeting.
The meeting is open to anyone interested in end of life issues. Contact Jodi Smith at (206) 441-9762 or (800) 552-0612 if you have any questions about the meeting.
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Living Will Registry falls prey to state budget cuts
In May, 2011 the Department of Health notified physicians and patients participating in the Washington State Living Will Registry (LWR) that, as a result of cuts in the 2011-13 state biennial budget, on July 1st the Registry will be effectively ended (no new documents will be accepted after June 20, 2011).
The good news is that individuals who have registered with the LWR will maintain a lifetime registration with the U.S. Living Will Registry, a private corporation. Registrants do not have to resubmit documents they previously submitted.
If you are a physician or patient participating in the Living Will Reigstry, click here to find out more.
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POLST form and program revisions for 2011-12
In late 2010, the Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form was reviewed and revised by the Washington POLST task force, a sub-committee of the Washington End of Life Consensus Coalition (WEOLCC).
One change of particular significance is the relocation of Antibiotics and Artificially Administered Nutrition sections from the front of the form to a new section on the back titled Additional Patient Preferences. This revision and others can be reviewed on WSMA POLST webpage. The form will continue to be published on bright green paper, and earlier versions of the form, first made available in Washington state in 2001, will continue to be honored.
The POLST page includes instructions for patients, providers and institutions on how to order the form. Limited quantities are available free of charge for WSMA members, and a downloadable form is provided for providers and institutions who may wish to print their own (instructions are also provided). Also included are related educational materials, including a patient brochure, training DVDs and a streaming educational video. Please note: POLST educational materials are being reviewed for potential updates to reflect the recent changes in the form. The site will be updated if and when any changes are made.
The 2010 revisions were approved by the WSMA and the Washington State Department of Health (DOH), the program’s co-sponsors. The revision process reflects a commitment by the WSMA and DOH to review and consider revisions to the POLST program every two years. The form was last updated in December of 2008.
The Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) form and program are designed to improve the quality of care people receive at the end of life. It is based on effective communication of patient wishes, documentation of medical orders on a brightly colored form and a promise by health care professionals to honor these wishes.
If you have any questions about the POLST form and program, please contact Graham Short at (206) 956-3633 or via email at gfs@wsma.org.
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The Washington End of Life Coalition 2010 Annual Meeting post-meeting wrap-up
Over 70 new and returning members attended the 2010 Washington End of Life Consensus Coalition (WEOLCC) annual meeting on Friday, November 12, at the Red Lion Hotel, SeaTac.
Download the meeting minutes. [PDF]
The meeting featured the keynote presentation, “Caring for Our Elders and Caring for Ourselves: Invitation to a community dialogue,” co-presented by Coalition steering committee members Stu Farber, MD (associate professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the UW School of Medicine), and Bruce Smith, MD (medical director, Hospice & Nursing Home Services at Group Health).
Also featured at the meeting was a 'State of the State' of end-of-life care in Washington that included presentations on legislative issues and the Living Will Registry by steering committee member Robb Miller (executive director of Compassion & Choices), an update on hospice by steering committee member Anne Koepsell (executive director of Washington State Hospice and Palliative Care Organization), and a brief update on the POLST program by steering committee member and POLST Task Force co-chair Sharmon Figenshaw.
The following presentations can be downloaded: (all files are PDF)
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Newsletter
Read the October 2011 issue of the WEOLCC newsletter. [PDF]
Archived newsletters:
March 2011
February 2010
January 2009
To receive the Coalition's newsletter, contact Graham Short at (206) 956-3633.
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About us
The Washington End of Life Consensus Coalition (WEOLCC) began its work in June 1997. While acknowledging that effecting change in our families, communities, and health care institutions will require long-term vision and effort, the Coalition believes that efforts both immediate and long range need to be brought to bear to significantly improve care for the dying. The Coalition will annually revisit its goals and its work toward them to ensure that it is responding to short-range needs in care for the dying while allowing its long-range work to evolve, as end-of-life care itself evolves.
Membership of the WEOLCC is a broad-based cross-section of individuals and organizations across the state interested in bettering end of life care. Coalition members meet once a year at the WEOLCC annual meeting, usually in the fall, where the course of action for the upcoming year is determined. The Steering Committee of the WEOLCC meets quarterly to create an action plan for reaching the goals set forth by the Coalition (download and read the meeting minutes [PDF] from the 1st quarterly meeting of 2011).
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Vision and Mission Statements
Vision
Our vision is a community where people are empowered to make knowledgeable choices regarding their end of life that are known, respected, and honored.
Mission
Our mission to promote caring conversations about living and dying well within all communities across Washington state.
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Values statement
- We foster conversation to build common ground, increase understanding and collaboration, reduce polarization, and increase open honest discussion where everyone's diverse perspective is honored.
- We value the development of rich relationships that support leadership and facilitate networking for professionals and lay people involved in/working with serious illness and end of life issues.
- We believe the end of life is a natural important life cycle event.
- We value helping patients and families live the best life they can until they die.
- We believe that patients, families and communities should be empowered to choose care based on their values and goals.
- We believe in building diverse coalitions that create consensus in ways that improve the end of life experience for every person in the state of Washington.
- We believe that everyone in the state of Washington should have access to excellent end of life care.
- We support access to hospice and palliative care for all citizens in the state of Washington.
- We celebrate the successful events that have gone before in end of life care.
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Join the WEOLCC!
To join the Washington End of Life Consensus Coalition, just contact Coalition staff member Graham Short at (206) 956-3633 and ask to join. It's a simple as that.
There are no annual dues. Members will receive the WEOLCC newsletter (via email or mail), as well as email minutes from the quarterly steering committee meetings.
Coalition members will be invited to participate in a yearly WEOLCC annual meeting, typically in the fall, where the direction of the Coalition's work for the next year will be determined.
Other opportunities to participate will be detailed in the newsletter and quarterly steering committee minutes.
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WEOLCC Steering Committee
Anne Koepsell, RN (Chair)
Linda Wrede-Seaman, MD (Vice Chair)
Sharmon Figenshaw, ARNP (Chair Emeritus)
Char Barrett
Stuart Farber, MD
Therese Johnson, LMHC
Nancy Lorber
Robb Miller
State Representative Jim Moeller
Donna Oiland
Deborah Swets
Sonja Zimmer
Graham Short (staff)
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