What does it mean to live with a Chronic Condition and love being alive? This question will be explored through photography, choreographed movement, music and spoken word, followed by dialogue. Skye Burn, a 69-year old woman, will demonstrate her recovery from rheumatoid arthritis through movement and song. She will share her healing strategy.

Richard Scholtz, a musician, lives with an artificial heart valve which has required being on coumadin for 30 years. Richard will speak from long experience working as a community partner in local and national efforts to re-imagine healthcare.

Helen Scholtz lives with chronic allergies and a sinus condition. Her photographs reveal intimate connection with the vitality and tenderness that is all around us.

Choreographer Pam Kuntz collaborated in creating this performance.   

Tickets at the door.

Photo by Helen Scholtz

Most modern burial practices have significant ecological footprints.

Recompose is developing a process that gently converts human remains into soil, so that we can nourish new life after we die. Their goal is to offer recompositon as an alternative choice to cremation and conventional burial. 

The Palliative Care Institute, Fairhaven College and the Sustainable Action Fund have invited Recompose CEO Katrina Spade to explain how their modular system uses nature's principles to return us to the earth, sequestering carbon and improving soil health.

They have calculated carbon savings over a metric ton per person. Recomposition allows us to give back to the earth that supports us all our lives.

Come join us for an informative and provocative conversation.

Open to the community.

The Palliative Care Institute will host an Empathy Card making station at the Bellingham Farmer's Market.

A 'Get Well Soon" card is often not appropriate when one of your family or friends is diagnosed with a serious or life-threatening illness.

The Empathy Card Project provides an opportunity for you to design and make a card that speaks truthfully from your heart.

Drop into our booth at the Market to learn more about the Palliative Care Institute's work and to make a card for someone you love. You won't have to struggle to find the right words, as we'll have lots of sayings and thoughts that will help you express your caring.

Thinking about advance care planning when the diagnosis is Alzheimer's can be challenging. The Conversation Project is sponsoring a Community Call to discuss how to include Alzheimer specific programming into advance care planning.  PeaceHealth's Hilary Walker will be one of the respondents, describing the new ACP+D programming in Whatcom County.  Click on the Registration link below to register.

One of the challenges of serious illness is the management of pain, and in recent years, we have seen an upswing of addiction to pain medications.  In this performance art piece, Pippa Breakspear recounts her own experience of opioid addiction to prescription pain medications and her work with clients suffering from the same condition in her role as a Chemical Dependency Counselor.  

The Spring 2019 Palliative Care Conference will focus on ways to address the totality of the patient’s relational existence—physical, psychological, social, cultural, and spiritual. 

REGISTRATION IS OPEN until May 15th.  Any late comers can register at the conference.

CME - This activity meets the criteria for up to 6 hours of Category I CME credit. These credits are often accepted by many professional organizations.  Please check with your own professional association to determine applicability to the continuing education requirements for your own license.  (See full Accreditation Statement below)

Conference keynote speakers will provide discussion with embedded case studies to illustrate the interdisciplinary nature of palliative care, and break out sessions will provide a chance to explore some other topics in depth.  The conference is still being planned, but current confirmed sessions include

Keynote Speakers

Casey Shillam, PhD, MSN, RN – Treating the Whole Person.  Dean, School of Nursing, University of Portland. Shillam will present a model for thinking about holistic care.

Jennifer Kett, MD - Pediatric Palliative Care: Treating the Whole Infant, Child, or Teen.  Kett specializes in complex critical care, working as part of an interdisciplinary team at Mary Bridge Hospital in Tacoma that provides family-centered care for children with chronic or life-threatening illnesses. She will address the special challenges of working with critically children and youth.

Arika Patneaude, MSW, LICSW - Embracing Cultural Humility in Palliative Care.  Patneaude is part of the interdisciplinary team at Children's Hospital and will help us explore how cultural perspectives and beliefs intersect with access to and implementation of palliative care. 

Break-Out Sessions

Not If But When: Books for Young People about Death and Loss:  Thom Barthelmess, Youth Services Director, Whatcom County Library; Sylvia Tag, Curator, Children’s Literature Collection, Western Washington University Libraries  & Marie Eaton, Community Champion, Palliative Care Institute.

Children who are facing a serious illness or have experienced a death in their family can be reassured by stories of other children who have had a similar experience. These stories help them understand better what has happened in their own family while at the same time offering the comforting knowledge that they are not alone in their feelings. In this session we will explore how books provide a way to begin these conversations, giving the child permission to talk about death and communicating that we are interested in her feelings and questions.

There Is Always Hope: The Essence of Spiritual Care: Tessie Mandeville, Chaplain, PeaceHealth St Joseph's Medical Center

The Healing Power of Music in Palliative Care: Linda Allen, DM, Certified Medical Musician, Hospice of the Northwest.

Special Considerations for Adolescents & Children​: Jennifer Kett, MD 

Honoring a Family’s Goals about a Meaningful Life and Death: A case study: Lauren Schmidt, MSW, LICSW, palliative care consultant in the Division of Bioethics and Palliative Care at Seattle Children’s Hospital.

REGISTRATION FEES (includes lunch, coffee and snacks)

Scholarships are available. Contact pci@wwu.edu

On-site registration will be space available at the REGULAR prices.

Accreditation Statement: This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements of the Washington State Medical Association through the joint providership of PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center and Western Washington University. PeaceHealth St. Joseph is accredited by the WSMA to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center designates this live [type of educational activity] activity for a maximum of 6 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

This activity meets the criteria for up to 6 hours of Category I CME credit to satisfy the relicensure requirements of the Washington State Medical Quality Assurance Commission.

How much medical care would you want if you had Alzheimer's disease or another type of dementia?

In collaboration with experts in the fields of geriatrics, neurology, and palliative care, Dr. Barak Gaster has developed an advance care directive specifically designed to support decision making in families dealing with dementia. 

Dr. Gaster will present this directive and discuss how these kinds of documents can help plan for and improve care.

Co-sponsored with PeaceHealth Hospital and the Alzheimer's Society.

Many workshops are scheduled in the next few months to help you explore your own choices with trained facilitators to help you prepare your advance directive. As you may know, only about 30% of Americans have talked with their loved ones about their choices at the end of life, and even fewer have put these choices into writing.  Are you ready to document your choices?  

This workshop is facilitated by Hilary Walker, the Advance Care Planning Coordinator at PeaceHealth St Joseph's Medical Center. All workshops are open to anyone in the community over 18 years of age; choose the one that fits your schedule.  

Quick link to register: peacehealth.org/yourvoiceyourchoice

Many workshops are scheduled in the next few months to help you explore your own choices with trained facilitators to help you prepare your advance directive. As you may know, only about 30% of Americans have talked with their loved ones about their choices at the end of life, and even fewer have put these choices into writing.  Are you ready to document your choices?  

This workshop is facilitated by Hilary Walker, the Advance Care Planning Coordinator at PeaceHealth St Joseph's Medical Center. All workshops are open to anyone in the community over 18 years of age; choose the one that fits your schedule.  

Quick link to register: peacehealth.org/yourvoiceyourchoice

Many workshops are scheduled in the next few months to help you explore your own choices with trained facilitators to help you prepare your advance directive. As you may know, only about 30% of Americans have talked with their loved ones about their choices at the end of life, and even fewer have put these choices into writing.  Are you ready to document your choices?  

This workshop is facilitated by Hilary Walker, the Advance Care Planning Coordinator at PeaceHealth St Joseph's Medical Center. All workshops are open to anyone in the community over 18 years of age; choose the one that fits your schedule.  

Quick link to register: peacehealth.org/yourvoiceyourchoice