2nd Kōkua Mau eNewsletter
January
 2015


 Aloha Kokua Mau, 

Happy 2015!

We hope you had a great holiday season. There are lots of educational and networking events coming up so we have added a second January newsletter.  We  hope to see you there.  And please remember to join or renew your Kokua Mau membership for 2015.  Click the Join Kokua Mau button to the right for full details.  Thank you for your support. 

Register for Feb. 18 & 19, 2015 Virtual Palliative Care Conference

Learn How to Begin or Enhance a Community-Based Palliative Care Program.

Wed. Feb. 18 and Thur. Feb 19
7:30 am to 12:45 PM
Location: HMSA

We are hosting our second virtual palliative care conference 'Creating the Future of Palliative Care". Hosted by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) on February 18 & 19, 2015  in Hawai'i.

We meet at HMSA at 7:30 am HST (12:00 noon EST). We watch the live stream together. Seating is limited, sign up today. Registered participants will get a separate mailing about handouts, room and parking details.

A discounted registration fee of $40 per day ($65 both days) is offered to all Kōkua Mau members.

Non members pay $60 per day ($100 for both days).  

 

In this Issue and from Past Newsletters:
Save the date: Sat. 3/28 POLST Training

POLST Training for APRNs and Physicians.

Saturday March 28, 2015
12:30-4:30pm.
(Registration and lunch beginning at 11:30am)

Kōkua Mau, Hawaii Hospice and Palliative Care Organization invites you to a 4 hour training for providers who are actually completing the POLST.
 
This interactive session will be a combination of lecture, video, case study and role play.  The faculty are experts from our Hawaii community, all with direct experience of discussing and completing POLST.
 
Full details and registration materials to follow.

Sat. 1/24 Death Cafe Honolulu

The Death Café Honolulu is a free event with tea, cake and conversation about death and dying.

The objective is to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives.

Saturday, January 24th
4:30-6:00pm at
Nā Mea Hawai'i
1050 Ala Moana Blvd, Suite #1000, Honolulu (map)

Please RSVP to or on www.meetup.com

Learn more at www.facebook.com/DeathCafeHonolulu & www.DeathCafe.com

For a flyer please see our website

 

Thur. 1/29 Kōkua Mau monthly meeting

The first 2015 Kōkua Mau monthly meeting will be Thursday Jan. 29 when Bob Kane and several Iolani students will be presenting about their hospice class, an elective for seniors which trains them as hospice volunteers to work with people in the final days of life. 

Thursday, January 29, 2015
3pm-5pm
Conference Room 224
Weinberg Building
St. Francis Healthcare System of Hawai'i
2226 Liliha Street in Honolulu

We will have students attending to take questions and share their experiences to date. Francesca Pennino (Harley School Class of 2005) about the program: "Hospice class has taken the darkness, the invisibility of death away.  It has allowed me to look at death as a part of every being's life and to see how beautiful it can, and should be for every person.  The program has allowed me to see the insurmountable importance of dying with dignity and has shown me how so many going through the dying process are not given this care.  The program has ignited in me an inextinguishable fire to help others, a passion that I cannot ever put into words nor will ever be satisfied. I am continually restless with the desire to reach out to others. The hospice program has truly opened my eyes to the incredible simplicity of doing just this. While big changes in the world may not come quickly, small changes are what bring us there, whether it be sitting with a dying woman, or holding a hand."

Learn more about the upcoming e-book available with the film release.

Join us for other updates and please let Jeannette know if you have items for the agenda. 

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

Mon. 2/9 Palliative Salon

Please join us for the next Palliative Salon with the topic: Existential/Spiritual and Ethical/Moral Issues in Palliative Care

Mon. February 9th, 2015
5:30-7:30pm
Bodhi Tree Meditation Center ((Nu'uanu)
654-A N.Judd St, Honolulu - Directions

All Welcome. Free event with free parking - We request small donation to the meditation center to help cover their expenses. Potluck - informal/pupus.  
 
Note from hosts: Please do not park beyond the monkeypod tree or up the driveway.

Books and News
 
The new book by Dr. Angelo Volandes

Congratulations to Dr. Volandes!

The book, The Conversation: A Revolutionary Plan for End-of-life Care, by Angelo Volandes is being released this week by Bloomsbury Press.  The book is a part memoir and part guide about how American medicine fails patients with serious illness and offers a better approach to improve how Americans live as well as possible for as long as possible. 

Dr. Volandes is also the driving force behind the ACP videos and many of you might have met him during his visits to Hawaii.

"Just Forget About It" by Mary Jo Bennett

Congratulation to Kokua Mau's own Mary Jo Bennett. Her article "Just Forget About It" was just published in the New Age Journal.

 

New ACP Videos Released: Palliative Care & Advance Directive

ACP decisions has released several new video resources including:

"Palliative Care: An Introduction" introduces patients and families to palliative care.

"Healthy Adults Video" Less than half of American adults have an advance directive.  As a result, many families are unaware of their loved one's health care wishes and preferences during a medical crisis. ACP Decisions has created a video support tool to help healthy adults learn  more about advance care planning.

You can read more about these short videos at acpdecisions.org or our website and contact Robert Eubanks at HMSA if you are interested in getting the videos for your facility.  If you are already using the videos, you will see these listed in the menu.

Save the Date: Feb. 7 - Living Age Friendly: Kupuna to Keiki

On February 7, 2015, Mayor Kirk Caldwell, along with Kaiser Permanente and the AARP, will present Living Age Friendly: Kupuna to Keiki.

Sat. Feb. 7
8:30 am to 12:30 PM
Japanese Cultural Center
2454 South Beretania Street

This free community event will give the public a first look at plans to create an age-friendly Honolulu and provides an opportunity for the public to offer insight on what our city must do to meet our community's needs.

RSVP or call 1-877-926-8300 (toll-free). Questions? kupuna2keiki@gmail.com or call 808-285-7272.

 

2015 Membership Drive

As 2015 kicks off we encourage you to please renew your Kōkua Mau Membership now. Or become a new member as a great New Year's resolution? And yes, membership is tax-deductible for 2015.  

Membership and donations are an essential part of keeping Kōkua Mau fiscally sustainable. Individual Membership starts at $40. We especially encourage organizational membership by community leaders that support our mission. Please contact Jeannette for details.

And indeed, with all donations going into programs we don't offer you a t-shirt or a tote bag with our logo, but we can offer you: the low cost version of a virtual Kōkua Mau mug.
How do I join?
 
Please download our membership form and put it with a check in the good old postal mail.

Online: chose your membership level and click the Donate Now button on the right hand side of the webpage. Please put 'membership' in the 'Designation (Optional)' field, click 'add to giving cart' and follow the subsequent steps. We know, the free version of network for good does not look exciting but it is free. Thank you!
 
Benefits of Joining Kōkua Mau?

Kōkua Mau, as a local non-profit, community-benefit organization is fueled by the passion of dedicated volunteers with a lean budget and every penny spent on making our work possible. (We are not a state agency!) 

Expanding networking and education for professionals. 
Kōkua Mau continues to provide professionals an opportunity for education and networking through:
  • Kōkua Mau e-newsletter providing updates on local and national events, resources and research
  • Kōkua Mau website is well visited and constantly updated
  • Monthly Kokua Mau meetings, which usually include a speaker, local updates and networking opportunities
  • Palliative Pupus - our cutting-edge, clinical case discussion
  • Palliative Care Salon - a chance to talk and reflect with colleagues
For over 15 years, Kōkua Mau has been a voice for outstanding hospice and palliative care and services in Hawai'i, providing high-quality information, trainings and ever growing networking opportunities.
 
Please contact Jeannette with any questions.

From past eNewsletters

Tue. 2/3 Dementia-Capable Professionals

Dementia-Capable Professionals: Legal and Ethical Issues and Cognitive Impairment

This is a special presentation in February to find out why it's important to consult attorneys who are "dementia-capable" when assisting those with memory loss and their families. Also, learn about assessing capacity and balancing autonomy and protection from abuse, neglect and exploitation.
 
Tuesday, Feb. 3
8:30am to Noon
Pomaika'i Ballrooms at Dole Cannery

735 Iwilei Road, Honolulu, HI  96817

Continental Breakfast will be provided. Parking will be $6 per vehicle with validation at Dole Cannery (movie parking)

Register online with EventBrite. Admission: $16.82  per person ($15 plus online fees)

If you have any questions about the event or registration process, please contact Jody Mishan or call 295-2624

Please register ahead of time online. Not accepting credit cards at the door.

CEUs for social workers pending approval by NASW Hawaii Chapter.
Presenters:

David Godfrey, JD, is a senior attorney to the American Bar Association Commission on Law and Aging in Washington, DC. He is responsible for the ABA's role in the Administration on Aging funded National Legal Resource Center and for producing the National Aging and Law Conference. He is a board member of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys. Prior to joining the Commission he was responsible for elder law programming at Access to Justice Foundation in Kentucky. Mr. Godfrey earned his BA with honors at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, and his JD cum laude from the University of Louisville School of Law in Kentucky. He has presented on legal and ethical issues and dementia capability for Administration on Community Living for their Alzheimer's Disease Supportive Services Program (ADSSP) educational Webinar series.

Daniel Marson, JD, PhD is a clinical neuropsychologist, licensed attorney, and tenured full professor in the Department of Neurology at University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), where he directs the Division of Neuropsychology and UAB Alzheimer's Disease Center. He graduated from Carleton College, University of Chicago Law School, and Northwestern University in Clinical Psychology. He lectures nationally on competency in neurocognitive disorders and has over 100 publications on this topic. He's been a principal investigator on multiple NIH grants and his work on financial capacity in the elderly has appeared in the New York Times, USA Today, and on NPR. Dr. Marson is a fellow and past president of the National Academy of Neuropsychology. He frequently serves as an expert witness in civil and criminal matters.

This event is being sponsored by the Hawaii Executive Office on Aging, The Hawaii State Bar Association, National Legal Resource Center's National Elder Rights Training Project, the American Bar Association, Miyasaki LLC, and Kahala Nu

Best wishes and Happy New Year!

Jeannette Koijane
Executive Director
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