Wise & Well U to host 'Palliative Care: Understanding End of Life Care' workshop May 2

Western's Wise & Well U program will host "Palliative Care: Understanding End of Life Care" at noon on May 2 in Humanities 210, facilitated by Marie Eaton, director of Western's Palliative Care Institute.

As the health care industry faces major reform, we are trying to reimagine what ‘health’ means through all of life’s phases. As medical technology improves, more individuals live with chronic health conditions and serious illness for which there are no cures.

Additionally, those with chronic or end-of-life illness, regardless of age, are actively seeking to live to their fullest, with their pain and suffering alleviated, their fears and questions heard and addressed, and their relational, spiritual, and cultural needs met. Currently the kind of treatment provided is driven by medical decisions and insurance mandates and often focused on an unrealizable goal for a cure. A shift has begun to offer interventions to prevent and relieve suffering for those for whom there is no cure, through early identification, assessment and treatment of pain and other problems, physical, psychosocial and spiritual.

This kind of intervention is called “palliative care.” This presentation will explore the explore the varied dimensions of palliative care and the role of the Western’s Palliative Care Institute in collaborating with the Northwest Life Passages Coalition to implement a “Blueprint for Community Excellence at End of Life.”

Class size is limited; to register for this workshop, go to http://training.wwu.edu/classes/classdetail.aspx?id=29979.