Please join us for our joint November and December monthly meeting on Dec. 1, to learn, mingle and network.  This month features Self Care over the Holidays facilitated by Felicia Marquez-Wong, St. Francis Hospice and Pat Nishimoto, Tripler Army Medical Center.  We will also be having a small holiday party following the session so please bring along something to share! 

We have set up a conference call for those who are unable to participate in person.  Conference Dial-in Number (712) 775-7100; Participant Access Code 1079885#. Please let us know ASAP if you will be calling in so we can get you the slides. 

Parking is validated and click here for a map and further details.  Please RSVP to Jeannette for a basic headcount.  (You can certainly come even if you didn't RSVP.)
 
Note: November: No Meeting since time conflicts with Thanksgiving

As a result of attending this conference, spiritual care and healthcare providers will have a deeper understanding on the relevance of spirituality to the overall well-being of patients and their loved ones. Connections will be bridged between the work of medical professionals and religious/spiritual care providers. The day will be divided into two sections, which can be attended separately.

In the morning, Dr. Puchalski will lead us on a journey towards creating healing environments for the people we are called to serve. In the afternoon, she will facilitate small group discussions on how our organizations can increase our effectiveness in providing spiritual care.

For program details and registration download the PDF file.

This conference is with Dr. Christina Puchalski, MD in collaboration with Pacific Health Ministry and Hospice Hawai'i

Advance Care Planning (ACP) conversations with clients are increasingly recognized as best practice and reimbursements rates from are now available.  HMSA has adopted the Medicare codes and will recognize them in their P4Q program. These codes will be recognized for people with HMSA as a primary or secondary payer.

As of January 1, 2016, Medicare began reimbursing healthcare providers for advance care planning (ACP) discussions with Medicare beneficiaries. Authorization for payment is set forth in the November 2015 Final Rule, published by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

To help you better understand the new reimbursement rules, we have two free tools for you.   Please visit our website to access the PDF files.

• ACP by the Medicare Learning Network
• FAQs: Advance Care Planning Under Medicare - from Kokua Mau for Hawaii

As you prepare your patients and clients for ACP conversations, we encourage you to look at the free resources available from Kokua Mau.  Having these conversations is an important, but often a difficult and emotionally challenging task and we have resources to help you. The Starter Kit from The Conversation Project is a great resource available for free to all in Hawaii and there is also now a Starter Kit for people with dementia.  

Help us to get our community talking. We have renamed our Speakers Bureau to the Let's Talk Story Program and we are ready to go out into the community to get conversations going.  A team of 19 speakers are ready to go. We have two avenues you can explore to get 'THE Conversation' started.

• Let's Talk Story program
• Free Screening of "Being Mortal"

The goal of our Let's Talk Story Program in a nutshell:

• Learn how to talk with your loved ones about what matters most to you.
• Share about the kind of care you want to receive with your doctor. You'll feel more confident and ready for the future.

Kōkua Mau wants to get our community talking about wishes for care at the end of life. Our new Let's Talk Story Program will go out to community organizations, churches and temples with our free, 2-hour interactive sessions facilitated by Kōkua Mau's trained experts. We know these are not easy conversations but they are some of the most important that you will ever have. Please help us spread the word about this great opportunity to facilitate "The Conversation."

Our goal is to help individuals and families understand decisions they may need to make and find resources and information in our community to talk about their wishes for care at the end of life.

If your group or somebody you know is interested in a free workshop on this important topic, contact Kōkua Mau at info@kokuamau.org or (808) 585-9977.

Please visit our website for more details and download the PDF of the flyers for our Let's Talk Story program.

• Lets Talk Story Program Flyer 1
• Lets Talk Story Program Flyer 2

In response to popular demand we have created (hot off the digital press) our brand new Kōkua Mau FaceBook page. We hope FB to become an additional avenue to share information about Advance Care Planning and available resources in Hawaii with a wider community.

Go to www.facebook.com/kokuamau and check it out. If you are on FB please do what you do best, such as liking us and/or sharing our events or post. If there is anything else you would like to see on our FB page, please let us know.