Coalition for Compassionate Care of California Summit Summary

I first met SPM-er and palliative physician, Dr Michael Fratkin on twitter. Michael’s re-imagined end of life caring through video conferencing is amazing unto itself, but more importantly what resonated for me are his insights into dying not as a medical dilemma but as a human experience. Here’s his TEDx talk to learn more. I met Michael in real life at the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California Summit, where I was an invited ePatient. Humor and light-heartedness have their place in this emotional arena. At the Summit, I took the opportunity to remind a roomful of folks dedicated to a dignified ‘end’ that we patients are strangers in a strange land, and need context along with jargon-free language. Summit Keynote: Dave deBronkart Dave deBronkart keynoted at the California Summit to great response, and admitted that — although the Model of Participatory Patient-hood — ‘participating’ in end of life planning had not crossed his radar. For him, the palliative approach was a welcome revelation. Where many in healthcare feel unprepared to talk about end of life, not so at this Summit filled with folks who want to talk about dying. I couldn’t have felt more at home. Pallative Pet Care Pet Therapy I had several joyous conversations, one of which was with Dr. Karl Steinberg.   I was immediately taken with Dr Steinberg even before I knew of his palliative pet care pet therapy. He had me at, “‘I find conversations about end of life some of t...
Source: Society for Participatory Medicine - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Tags: Member Updates Newsletter Coalition for Compassionate Care of California Summit Dave deBronkart Karl steinberg life sustaining treatment pallative care pallative pet care physician orders POLST Source Type: news