The Greater Washington Partnership urges you to hurry to submit your registration form for the ELNEC training that will be held at the VA Medical Center on April 16 and April 23 from 8:30 am - 4 pm. Interest in the training has been high, and space is quickly running out. Only five more registrations will be accepted.

In addition, we are pleased to announce that we will be offering two scholarships for half the registration fee to long-term care nurses. These scholarships will be awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis. To apply for the scholarship, please contact Yolande Nanayakkara, GWP Executive Director, at yolanden@gwpartnership.org as soon as possible.

ELNEC (End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium) provides training in the specialized knowledge and skills required to provide the highest quality of care to patients and families facing the end of life. ELNEC training is divided into eight modules: Palliative Nursing Care; Pain Management; Symptom Management; Ethical Issues in Palliative Care Nursing; Cultural Considerations in End-of-Life Care; Communication; Loss, Grief, and Bereavement; and Final Hours. Modules 1-4 will be taught on April 16, and modules 5-8 on April 23. A registration fee of $60 includes training, study materials, as well as breakfast, lunch, and a snack on both dates. CEUs will be available for nurses.

For the past several months, the Partnership has been seeking opinions on how the DC Comfort Care Order might be made easier for patients and families. Numerous physicians, nurses, attorneys, and social workers in our community have already provided us with their recommendations. You still have time to share your ideas!

Please tell us what you think and hel improve quality of care in our community. There are a few ways that you can send us your thoughts:

The Partnership will be forwarding all feedback that we receive about the Comfort Care Order to the DC Department of Health (DOH). DOH has requested the Partnership's input on how the Comfort Care Order might be improved. The information that we send to DOH will be taken into consideration when the formal Protocol that implements the Comfort Care Order is revised later this year.

The Partnership is joining with EMS Street Calls to educate and inform the Washington DC community about the importance of palliative care.

Street Calls is an exciting new initiative from DC EMS to identify and locate the twenty-five individuals who most frequently use EMS services each month, assess their needs for health care and social services, and connect them with the resources and information that they require. Frequent callers are referred to alternative resources that may be better suited to their needs than emergency medical services including primary care physicians, clinics, Medicaid, and housing programs. Street Calls has tracked their initial cohort of twenty-five for the past nine months. Their interventions have resulted in an 80% reduction of calls to EMS.

The Partnership and Street Calls will work together to educate the community on how pain and symptom management can prevent or reduce the seriousness of medical emergencies.

The collaboration between Street Calls and the Partnership will launch during EMS Week, which begins May 19.

April 16, 2009 is National Healthcare Decisions Day! The National Healthcare Decisions Day Initiative, now in its second year, is a collaborative effort of national, state and community organizations committed to promoting advance care planinng.

The Greater Washington Partnership will be celebrating National Health Care Decisions Day with the launch of our new Advance Directive Toolkit for DC residents, which will offer information specifically tailored to members of the Washington DC community on advance care planning, including policies specific to the DC region and available local resources.

For more information about how your organization can also help to promote the importance of advance care planning, please visit www.nationalhealthcaredecisionsday.org.

DC Develops Ombudsman Office for Medicaid Program

In an effort to achieve greater accountability for the DC Medicaid Program, the District of Columbia is developing an Ombudsman Office that will work to ensure the safety and well-being of Medicaid beneficiaries in need of care and services to which they are entitled, as well as promote excellence and confidence in the DC Medicaid program. To read more about the new DC Ombudsman Office, including a list of services to be provided, please click here to review information that was presented about this program by Maude Holt to the DC Coalition for Long-Term Care, of which the Partnership is a member.

Virginia Senator Mark Warner Calls For National Conversation On End of Life Care

In a speech to hospital executives this past month, Virginia Senator Mark Warner called for the initiation of a national conversation about end-of-life care in order to improve quality of care and reduce health care spending.

"We leave it to families to resolve these extraordinarily difficult decisions with little guidance," Warner said. "Other industrialized nations have dealt with the end-of-life issue. It's time we did as well."

Read more about Warner's speech from The Virginian-Pilot and from UPI.

Health Care in the Media:

FDA Acts to Halt Marketing of Certain Unapproved Prescription Opioid Analgesics

(from FDA News, 3/31/09)

"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today warned nine companies to stop manufacturing 14 unapproved narcotic drugs that are marketed in several dosage forms and are widely used to treat pain." Read more..

(from Eureka Alert, 3/09/09)

"Few physicians are eager to discuss end-of-life care with their patients. Yet such conversations may result in better quality of life for patients and could lower national healthcare expenditures for cancer care alone by tens of millions dollars each year, according to a study led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute." Read more...

Blacks, Hispanics Have Steeper End-of-Life Costs

(from MSNBC, 3/09/09)

Religious Belief Linked to Desire for Aggressive Treatment in Terminal Patients

(from The New York Times, 3/17/09)

"Terminally ill cancer patients who drew comfort from religion were far more likely to seek aggressive, life-prolonging care in the week before they died than were less religious patients and far more likely to want doctors to do everything possible to keep them alive, a study has found." Read more...

"Doctors spend years learning how to heal, but most are fairly ignorant about how to act toward patients when they run out of treatments, suggests a study today. Often, once doctors refer a patient to hospice care, they end all contact, leaving patients and their families feeling abandoned, says lead author Anthony Back, a professor of medicine at the University of Washington." Read more...


	Volume I Issue 3. April 7, 2009.	Greetings Laura,
	In This Issue Partnership Updates: Register ASAP for ELNEC! Only 20 Spaces Left Help Make the DC Comfort Care Order Easier for Patients Partnership Collaborates with EMS Street Calls to Promote Palliative Care News and Announcements: Montgomery County MD Celebrates Advance Directive Day DC Establishes Ombudsman Office for Medicaid Virginia Senator Mark Warner Calls for National Conversation on End-of-Life Care Health Care in the Media: FDA Acts to Halt Marketing of Certain Unapproved Opioid Analgesics Doctor-Patient Conversations at End-of-Life Associated with Lower Medical Expenses Blacks, Hispanics Have Steeper End-of-Life Costs Religious Belief Linked to Desire for Aggressive Treatment in Terminal Patients Hospice Patients Feel Abandoned by Doctors For many additional recent articles, please visit the "News" section of the Partnership website. Partnership Poll Like PIE? The Partnership is thinking of offering a regularly scheduled two-hour networking event for palliative care professionals: Palliative Information Exchange (PIE). Please click here let us know whether you would participate in this opportunity. Sign Up for the Speakers Bureau The Partnership is coordinating a directory of experts in palliative care who are willing to share their knowledge at speaking engagements. Boost your CV while helping to spread the word about palliative care by joining our Speakers Bureau today! Please click here to download the sign-up form and email it to us at info@gwpartnership.org. *New Listservs* The Partnership has launched new listservs on palliative care and professional education where health care professionals and community members can connect to one another by email to discuss topics of importance to them. Please click here to sign up for the new listservs and add your voice to the conversation! **Professional Education Committee The Partnership's Professional Education Committee is hard at work in coordinating an ELNEC training at the VA Medical Center on April 16 and 23. Read more about the training here. The Professional Education Committee is also overseeing the development of an educational presentation on palliative care for residents at Howard University College of Medicine, which will be given by Dr. Carlos Gomez in May 2009. In addition, the Professional Education Committee is informing health care providers about how to implement the DC Comfort Care Order. Beverly Lunsford, Chair of the Committee, recently gave a presentation on the Comfort Care Order to over forty nurses at a meeting of the DC Health Care Association. Please contact us if you'd like to schedule a presentation for your facility. The next meeting of the Professional Education Committee will take place in late April. To join the Committee or for more details about the meeting, please email info@gwpartnership.org. Public Education Committee The Public Education Committee has recently partnered with DC EMS Street Calls to educate and inform the community about the importance of palliative care. Read more here. The Committee is also coordinating a series of interactive presentations on palliative and end-of-life care, including advance care planning and the DC Comfort Care Order. The first population targeted for outreach will be senior citizens. Please contact us if you'd like for the Public Education Committee to give a presentation at your facility. In addition, the Committee is developing brochures describing the CCO program that will be translated into the languages most frequently spoken in the District. The next meeting of the Public Education Committee will take place on April 7. To join the Committee or for more details about the meeting, please email info@gwpartnership.org Public Policy Committee The Public Policy Committee is currently working to ensure that legislation and policy on the DC Comfort Care Order optimally serves patients and families in DC. The Committee is conducting interviews with health care professionals and community members about the efficiency and accessibility about the Comfort Care Order. If you or your organization would like to be interviewed, please contact us at info@gwpartnership.org. The Committee is also researching possible strategies to improve access to pain management medications in low-income neighborhoods in DC. Representatives from hospices, pharmacies, government agencies, and professional pharmacy associations have been interviewed. If you or your organization would like to be interviewed, please contact us at info@gwpartnership.org. The next meeting of the Public Policy Committee will take place on April 16. To join the Committee or for more details about the meeting, please contact the Partnership at info@gwpartnership.org. Join the Partnership The Partnership needs the support of dedicated professionals and community members like you to make real changes in palliative and end-of-life care in Greater Washington. Please click here to read about volunteer opportunities with the Partnership. About this E-Newsletter** The Greater Washington Partnership has created "The Partnership Perspective" to help keep you apprised of news and announcements on palliative and end-of-life care in our community. Sign up to receive the e-newsletter. Forward this message to a friend. View archives of the e-newsletter online. Would you like to promote your events or issues of interest in our e-newsletter? Please contact us.	Partnership Updates: REGISTER ASAP for ELNEC! Only 5 Spaces Left *2 Scholarships Are Available for Long-Term Care Nurses* The Greater Washington Partnership urges you to hurry to submit your registration form for the ELNEC training that will be held at the VA Medical Center on April 16 and April 23 from 8:30 am - 4 pm. Interest in the training has been high, and space is quickly running out. Only *five* more registrations will be accepted. In addition, we are pleased to announce that we will be offering two scholarships for half the registration fee to long-term care nurses. These scholarships will be awarded on a first-come, first-serve basis. To apply for the scholarship, please contact Yolande Nanayakkara, GWP Executive Director, at yolanden@gwpartnership.org as soon as possible. ELNEC (End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium) provides training in the specialized knowledge and skills required to provide the highest quality of care to patients and families facing the end of life. ELNEC training is divided into eight modules: Palliative Nursing Care; Pain Management; Symptom Management; Ethical Issues in Palliative Care Nursing; Cultural Considerations in End-of-Life Care; Communication; Loss, Grief, and Bereavement; and Final Hours. Modules 1-4 will be taught on April 16, and modules 5-8 on April 23. A registration fee of $60 includes training, study materials, as well as breakfast, lunch, and a snack on both dates. CEUs will be available for nurses. Read more about the training on our website at http://www.gwpartnership.org/ELNEC.html. Help Make the DC Comfort Care Order Easier for Patients For the past several months, the Partnership has been seeking opinions on how the DC Comfort Care Order might be made easier for patients and families. Numerous physicians, nurses, attorneys, and social workers in our community have already provided us with their recommendations. You still have time to share your ideas! Please tell us what you think and hel improve quality of care in our community. There are a few ways that you can send us your thoughts: Complete our online feedback form for health care professionals at http://www.gwpartnership.org/CCOfeedbackprovider.html. We also have a feedback form for patients and families at http://www.gwpartnership.org/CCOfeedbackconsumer.html. Schedule a telephone interview with our Public Policy Intern, Alex Mityunin, by contacting him at alexm@gwpartnership.org. Send us an email at info@gwpartnership.org. The Partnership will be forwarding all feedback that we receive about the Comfort Care Order to the DC Department of Health (DOH). DOH has requested the Partnership's input on how the Comfort Care Order might be improved. The information that we send to DOH will be taken into consideration when the formal Protocol that implements the Comfort Care Order is revised later this year. Read more about the DC Comfort Care Order on our website at http://www.gwpartnership.org/CCO.html. Partnership Collaborates with EMS Street Calls to Promote Palliative Care The Partnership is joining with EMS Street Calls to educate and inform the Washington DC community about the importance of palliative care. Street Calls is an exciting new initiative from DC EMS to identify and locate the twenty-five individuals who most frequently use EMS services each month, assess their needs for health care and social services, and connect them with the resources and information that they require. Frequent callers are referred to alternative resources that may be better suited to their needs than emergency medical services including primary care physicians, clinics, Medicaid, and housing programs. Street Calls has tracked their initial cohort of twenty-five for the past nine months. Their interventions have resulted in an 80% reduction of calls to EMS. The Partnership and Street Calls will work together to educate the community on how pain and symptom management can prevent or reduce the seriousness of medical emergencies. The collaboration between Street Calls and the Partnership will launch during EMS Week, which begins May 19. News and Announcements: April 16, 2009 is National Healthcare Decisions Day April 16, 2009 is National Healthcare Decisions Day! The National Healthcare Decisions Day Initiative, now in its second year, is a collaborative effort of national, state and community organizations committed to promoting advance care planinng. The Greater Washington Partnership will be celebrating National Health Care Decisions Day with the launch of our new Advance Directive Toolkit for DC residents, which will offer information specifically tailored to members of the Washington DC community on advance care planning, including policies specific to the DC region and available local resources. For more information about how your organization can also help to promote the importance of advance care planning, please visit www.nationalhealthcaredecisionsday.org. DC Develops Ombudsman Office for Medicaid Program In an effort to achieve greater accountability for the DC Medicaid Program, the District of Columbia is developing an Ombudsman Office that will work to ensure the safety and well-being of Medicaid beneficiaries in need of care and services to which they are entitled, as well as promote excellence and confidence in the DC Medicaid program. To read more about the new DC Ombudsman Office, including a list of services to be provided, please click here to review information that was presented about this program by Maude Holt to the DC Coalition for Long-Term Care, of which the Partnership is a member. Virginia Senator Mark Warner Calls For National Conversation On End of Life Care In a speech to hospital executives this past month, Virginia Senator Mark Warner called for the initiation of a national conversation about end-of-life care in order to improve quality of care and reduce health care spending. "We leave it to families to resolve these extraordinarily difficult decisions with little guidance," Warner said. "Other industrialized nations have dealt with the end-of-life issue. It's time we did as well." Read more about Warner's speech from The Virginian-Pilot and from UPI. Health Care in the Media: FDA Acts to Halt Marketing of Certain Unapproved Prescription Opioid Analgesics (from FDA News, 3/31/09) "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration today warned nine companies to stop manufacturing 14 unapproved narcotic drugs that are marketed in several dosage forms and are widely used to treat pain." Read more.. Doctor-Patient Conversations at End of Life Associated with Lower Medical Expenses (from Eureka Alert, 3/09/09) "Few physicians are eager to discuss end-of-life care with their patients. Yet such conversations may result in better quality of life for patients and could lower national healthcare expenditures for cancer care alone by tens of millions dollars each year, according to a study led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute." Read more... Blacks, Hispanics Have Steeper End-of-Life Costs (from MSNBC, 3/09/09) "Striking new research shows dying blacks and Hispanics have much steeper treatment costs than whites, sobering evidence that racial health-care differences continue right up until death." Read more... Religious Belief Linked to Desire for Aggressive Treatment in Terminal Patients (from The New York Times, 3/17/09) "Terminally ill cancer patients who drew comfort from religion were far more likely to seek aggressive, life-prolonging care in the week before they died than were less religious patients and far more likely to want doctors to do everything possible to keep them alive, a study has found." Read more... Hospice Patients Feel Abandoned By Doctors (from USA Today, 3/09/09) "Doctors spend years learning how to heal, but most are fairly ignorant about how to act toward patients when they run out of treatments, suggests a study today. Often, once doctors refer a patient to hospice care, they end all contact, leaving patients and their families feeling abandoned, says lead author Anthony Back, a professor of medicine at the University of Washington." Read more...
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