Friday, August 06, 1999
Seminar plots care, support for dying
BY SUE MacDONALD
The Cincinnati Enquirer
It seems reasonable that after millions of years of living and dying, humans would have figured out the dying part.
But a two-day program this week was a concession that the . health system doesn't do a very good job handling death and a strong commitment to change by a Catholic Healthcare Partners (HCP).
In a system geared to keeping people alive, the goal of the local health-care organization is to also provide comfort-driven medical treatments, pain management, paperwork, support groups and emotional-social-psychological services for dying and death.
“We spend a lot of money on people in the last six months of life, and a lot of the time, we do things that are very important in the emergency department but not very important for the people who are dying,” says John Abeles, senior vice president for learning at development at CHP.
The two-day session at the Marriott Northeast in Mason brought a variety of CHP employees under one roof to share ideas and write a care plan that can be adopted quickly.
Poignant stories of Tristate families helped CHP participants understand the depth of issues faced by patients and families struggling for life while facing death.
Brian Chamberlain of Amelia said his wife's excellent technical care for breast cancer was seemingly sabotaged by the unavailability of a private room, her being paired with extremely ill roommates and getting poor sleep because of frequent interruptions, as well as the unwillingness of hospital workers to answer simple questions.
“This is not a chart. This is not an account number,” Mr. Chamberlain told the group, holding up a photograph of his wife, who died in March after a three-year battle with breast cancer. “This is Becky, who was a wife, a daughter a mother, a sister.”
Joann Tudor of Milford said patient and family needs range far beyond the medical treatments and decisions. Only from support groups did she find out about insurance matters, funeral planning and health options not offered by her doctor. Her husband Mark, 37, died in 1996 from cancer.
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GET TO IT
Seminar plots care, support for dying
Cordray gets ready to run
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