Pre-Assembly Avila Program

8:45 - 9:45 a.m.

Barriers to Excellent Palliative Care in the Long-Term Care Setting
Fr. Myles Sheehan SJ, MD, Assistant to the Provincial for Senior Jesuits,
USA Northeast and Maryland Provinces

In this session, Fr. Myles Sheehan SJ, MD, will present a vision of Palliative Care as the guiding model for long-term care, using a mix of presentation and discussion. This Palliative Care model emphasizes care in the social, psychological, and spiritual realms. It simultaneously aims at providing medical and nursing care that maintains and improves function as much as possible, limits interventions that could cause harm, and pays careful attention to suffering in any form. Fr. Sheehan will present barriers to such a model including confusion about palliative care, fear of change, resistance to de-medicalizing the nursing home and long-term care environment, finding staff who are committed to this model, and likely regulatory challenges.

9:50 a.m. - noon

Cultural Competency and Palliative Care: The Rites, Rituals & Beliefs of New Immigrants
Sr. Annelle Fitzpatrick, CSJ, PhD, Associate Professor of Sociology
St. John’s University in New York

Relieving the pain and suffering of persons with a serious, chronic and life-threatening illness is the central goal of Palliative Care. An essential component of this unique, multi-disciplinary approach is the inclusion of spiritual support for individuals seeking such assistance. However, as healthcare providers, we must be aware that as the US becomes home to more immigrants, Catholic facilities must be prepared to also offer spiritual support to Muslim, Hindu, Sikh or Buddhist patients. In this session, Sr. Annelle Fitzpatrick, Ph.D. will give an overview of the spiritual belief of patients outside the Judeo-Christian tradition (i.e. "Crossing the Sirat Bridge", "The Burning of Hell Money", "The 2 Questioning Angels" and "The Weighing of the Books", etc.,) to enlighten participants on the complexity of religious beliefs related to death and dying. Sr. Annelle will also highlight the need for Catholic institutions to develop a comprehensive and multi-religious paradigm of spiritual care designed to meet the religious needs of new immigrant populations.

1:15 - 1:45 p.m.

Advancing Excellence in Palliative Care: The Supportive Care Coalition's Mission
Tina Picchi, Executive Director,
Supportive Care Coalition 

This presentation illustrates how Palliative Care is a hallmark of Catholic health care intrinsic to our healing mission. Tina Picchi will discuss the current state of Palliative Care and gaps across the care continuum, describe the Coalition's commitment to partner with others to bridge these gaps, and identify Palliative Care practices that increase inter-professional teams' ability to attend to the whole person.

2:00 - 3:30 p.m.

Establishing a Formalized Palliative Care Program in Long-Term Care
Sr. M. Peter Lillian Di Maria, O.Carm., BA, LNHA,
Director, Avila Institute of Gerontology, Inc.

Joan Murphy, MSW, LICSW,
Director of Social Services, St. Patrick’s Manor

Geraldine Gracey RN, BA, CRRN,
Clinical Instructor, St. Patrick’s Manor

Establishing a formalized Palliative Care Program involves three critical pieces: providing education, using a team approach, and assessing for the five domains of pain (physical, social, familial, psychiatric, and emotional pains). The holistic approach assesses and provides care for the 5 domains of pain a person may experience when entering long-term care or are faced with life-altering illnesses. It involves caring for the whole person, not just their physical needs. In this session Sr. M. Peter Lillian, Joan Murphy and Geraldine Gracie will explore the model of care adopted by the facilities served by the Carmelite Sisters for the Aged and Infirm. The presentation will discuss how to implement a sustainable Palliative Care program in long-term care including best practices and overcoming barriers.