2nd Kōkua Mau eNewsletter
October
 2014



Aloha Kōkua Mau, 
 
This is a one of those months with 5 Thursdays!

Our Kōkua Mau meeting is always on the last Thursday of the month, so this time on a 5th Thursday, Thursday October 30. See you next week!

Welcome to our newest Kokua Mau Member - Ho'okele Health Navigators.  They provide practical, hands on help to people who are navigating the maze of healthcare.  Visit their website to learn more.  Thank you to Ho'okele and the  rest of our members who make our work possible. 

In this Issue and from Past Newsletters:
10/30 Kokua Mau Meeting
Book: Being Mortal
Plan ahead: National HealthCare Decisions Day
Updating our Advance Directive
11/11 Pain & Palliative Care Conference
Star Advertiser 9/29 ACP video article
10/30 Story telling workshop
Kokua Mau on HPR
Free Resource: Palliative Care in California
Resource: Dying in America (IOM)
Congratulations to Lisa Dahms
Alzheimer Assoc. Caregiver Orientation Series
Free Library Resource
POLST Legislation Update
Senior Fall Prevention
Thur. 10/30  Kōkua Mau Meeting

This month our guest speakers will be Susan Oppie and Leilani Maxera.

"A Home Funeral (aka family-led deathcare) is an option that relatively few people in our communities know about, yet such an offering can provide an extraordinary opportunity for the family to express a final act of love, and allow for healing and a smoother transition into the grieving process. This presentation will discuss the resurgence of home deathcare, its basic components, and how members of Kōkua Mau can educate their patients and families about home deathcare as an option at the end of life."


Join us for other updates on current activities and networking.  Please let
Jeannette know if you have items for the agenda. 

Thursday, October 30
3pm-5pm
Conference Room 224
Weinberg Building
St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawaii
2226 Liliha Street in Honolulu

Parking is validated and click here for a map and further details.  There will be real coffee and refreshments as well. 

Plan ahead:  On December 4 Dr. Rae Seitz and Robert Eubanks will be giving updates from HMSA's supportive care program and the ACP Decisions videos project. Kōkua
Mau combines November and December meetings because of the holidays so our meeting will be Thursday December 4 3-5pm. Please join us!!

 

Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End

In his bestselling books, Atul Gawande, a practicing surgeon, has fearlessly revealed the struggles of his profession. Now he examines its ultimate limitations and failures - in his own practices as well as others' - as life draws to a close. And he discovers how we can do better.

 

Plan ahead: National HealthCare Decisions Day

National HealthCare Decisions Day is 6 months away and an opportunity "to inspire, educate & empower the public & providers about the importance of advance care planning."

Now is the time to start planning for an event at your facility or organization. Visit their website for lots of good tools to get you started including press releases, posters, letters to stakeholders, etc.
http://www.nhdd.org/tools/

And let us know what you are doing so you can inspire others. 

 

Updating our Advance Directive

Kōkua Mau has an easy to understand 2-side Advance Directive that is used by facilities around the state.

We are in the process of updating the form and will let you know when the new form is ready. The old form will still be valid.

Additionally, several agencies which use the form would like to have translations of the form as they comply with Medicare/Medicaid quality measures. If you are interested in translations of the advance directive form, please let Jeannette know.

 

From past eNewsletters

Register Now: November 11, 2014 Annual Pain and Palliative Care Conference

Register now for Hawaii's premier Palliative Care conference:  the The Fine Art & Science of Pain & Palliative Care, Hawaii's own Queen's Medical Center Annual Pain and Palliative Care Conference.

Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Ko'olau Ballrooms & Conference Center
Kaneohe, Hawaii

Featured Topics
  • Cutting edge of palliative care research
  • Interventional pain management
  • Opioid safety: compassionate,
  • responsible prescribing
  • Novel palliative approaches
  • Rational palliative chemotherapy
  • Normalizing grief experiences
  • Rediscovering grief traditions

Featured Guest Faculty:

  • Jay R. Horton, PhD, ACHPN
  • Thomas J. Smith, MD, FACP, FASCO, FAAHPM

For more information and a Conference Program see our website or contact: cme@queens.org or call (808) 691-7009.  

 

Star Advertiser 9/29 ACP video article

"A new video campaign gives patients a voice on treatment options" by Susan Essoyan was a front page article in the Star Advertiser from September 29.  This article outlines the ACP Decisions videos, which many facilities around the state are using to facilitate conversations on treatment issues.  You can read more about these short, videos from acpdecisions.org and contact Robert Eubanks at HMSA if you are interested in getting the videos for your facility.  HMSA is paying for the license for facilities across the state so there is no cost to you. 

The article is available on-line (but you need to be a subscriber to get full access). Please contact us if you would like a PDF copy of the article.

10/30 Storytelling Training

 

A special day-long free training entitled: "Community Enrichment Through Storytelling: How your Stories Build Connection and Provide Direction"

Presenter: Jay Golden, Storyteller Trainer and Co-founder of
Wakingstar

October 30, 2014, Thursday
8:30-4:00pm-see agenda for schedule.

Details and registration at this link:
https://training30oct2014.eventbrite.com
Hawaii Public Radio Interview

On Friday September 12, 2014 Hawaii Public Radio aired an interview with Jeannette Koijane on Kōkua Mau for their Helping Hands segment.  You can hear the 5 minute interview at: 

http://hpr2.org/post/helping-hand-kokua-mau


Free Resource: Palliative Care in California

Up Close: A Field Guide to Community-Based Palliative Care in California describes the main characteristics of these programs, the challenges they face, and the promising practices they have developed. 

The Field Guide is available online.

 

Resource: Dying in America- New IOM Report

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has released an extensive, book-length report on the state of end-of-life care in the United States today, providing a number of recommendations for how to move the field forward in the years to come. The 507-page document, titled "Dying in America," was funded by a $1.5 million anonymous donation, and has been spurred by the "death panel" controversy surrounding end-of-life care that emerged during the debates surrounding the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The report concludes that the US medical system as it stands is ill prepared to provide the end-of-life care that Americans need, and that there exists a significant discrepancy between the care that individuals receive at the end of life and what they actually desire.

We have included links here to key portions of the report which show that Hawaii is on the right track for improving care at the end of life although we all have much work to do. 

Congratulations to Lisa Dahms from MMMC Palliative Care!!

Congratulations to Lisa Dahms from Maui Memorial Medical Center, Palliative Care for being nominated for the Mana `Olana - Nurse of Hope awards by the Hawaii Oncology Nursing Society. 

Caregiver Orientation Series - Alzheimer's Assoc.

Caring for someone who has Alzheimer's disease or a related disorder is perhaps one of the biggest commitments a person can face. The Alzheimer's Association - Aloha Chapter offers several educational programs for family members caring for loved ones with Alzheimer's. Most of these programs are free of charge.   

Free Library Resource

Are you looking for articles on palliative care and end-of-life issues?    Here is a great FREE resource to get copies of articles sent to you.  You can email requests to library@hospicewr.org or visit their website.

The End-of-LIfe Library and the Katie Dolesh Family Reference Collection at Hospice of the Western Reserve provides an on-line catalog, virtual library services and professional library assistance.

POLST legislation signed into law as Act 154!

Please help us publicize the changes to POLST by submitting an article to your newsletter at work or for your professional organization.  We have created a sample article for your use that you can cut and paste off the Kokua Mau website page.  If you would like a copy of the article for lay audiences, a pdf of the POLST form in small for a visual in the article or additional information, let Jeannette know.

All POLST materials on the Kōkua Mau website have been update to reflect the main improvement that APRNs will be able to sign a POLST - now called Provider Orders for Life Sustaining Treatments.

FAQ:
  1. All POLST forms filled out and signed by a physician before July 1, 2014 remain valid!  
  2. The 'old' POLST forms with the word 'physician orders' are still valid. We recommend that you only use the new POLST form (Provider Orders) after July 1, 2014.  It has a new added section E and quite a few wording changes and clarifications.
Thanks to a great collaborative effort, including many Kōkua Mau members, in getting the new expanded POLST legislation signed into law! Gov. Abercrombie signed the bill (HB2052) on June 30 and Act 154 went into effect on July 1. more

Many individuals and organizations represented and actively supported the POLST Task Force so this was truly a statewide hui. Thank you for your support, testimony, expertise and countless last minute emails!

Please visit the Kōkua Mau website (including a picture with the Governor) for the new POLST forms and handouts.  Our Kōkua Mau website is the central source for (up-to-date) POLST information for Hawai'i.
Senior Fall Prevention Campaign

Great new resources from the Hawaii Department of Health - Senior Fall Prevention Campaign.

Falls are the most common type of unintentional fatal and nonfatal injury in Hawai'i each year:
  • fatal unintentional injury averaging over 108
  • nearly 21,000 emergency room visits for nonfatal unintentional injury
  • and 2,700 hospitalizations (nonfatal)
More than three quarters of the people are aged 65 or older and the risk of fatal falls increases dramatically as people age.  The emotional and fiscal burden associated with fall injuries is significant.

Our local Fall Prevention Consortium has pulled together
great resources to help you and those you care for prevent falls, including wonderful videos by Kokua Mau's own filmmaker Janette Sargent-Hamill. 

 

Best wishes,

Jeannette Koijane
Executive Director
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