Living with Serious Illness

About Us: Partners to Improve End of Life Care

Mailing address: PO Box 50732 Eugene, OR 97405
General inquiries: laneinfo@seriousillness.org

Quarterly Meeting Information and R.S.V.P.:  partnerseol@gmail.com

Topics on this page

Vision Statement
     When our community cares well for the dying, death will be valued as a part of life and everyone will be supported to complete their lives in the manner of their choosing. (Return to list)

Our organization
     Our coalition has been in existence since March of 2001, originally coming together in response to the Bill Moyer’s documentary series On Our Own Terms. We have an active membership of 20–30 individuals and make every effort to be sure that the diversity of our community is represented in our coalition. This website was our first big project and reflects the collaborative effort of many volunteers (see credits). We have since conducted several projects (e.g., a community survey, a Health Care Decisions Day) and have become a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Our goal as a coalition is to promote collaboration through the facilitation of projects, like this website, that are too much for any one group to complete by itself.
     Partners is a 100% volunteer effort with no physical ("brick and mortar") location. In 2004 we completed a community survey regarding end of life needs in the Eugene/Springfield area. (Download our community survey results in a 2.2 MB Powerpoint presentation.) Based on this data we have established several committees to focus on specific areas that need attention.
     The coalition has four general meetings a year, and then monthly committee meetings: Faith/Spiritual, Palliative Care, Advance Care Planning and Media Relations. There are two other committees jointly sponsored with the Pain Society of Oregon: Pain Management and Complementary Therapies. In addition, the Lane County Medical Society has an End of Life Task Force which also serves as an advisory committee for our coalition. (Return to list)

Meetings
     The General Meetings for the coalition are on the first Wednesdays of March, June, September and December. Anyone is welcome. Contact Deena Crandall (partnerseol@gmail.com) for time and location.
     To learn the date, time, and location of the committee meetings, please contact the following people:

• Faith/Spiritual Committee:
  Jennifer Wagner, pso@willamette.net
• Palliative Care Committee:
  Denise Waugh, MD, FACEP, docwaugh@hotmail.com
• Advance Care Planning Committee:
  Susan Isaacs, LCSW, sisaacs@cascadehealth.org
• Pain Management Committee (joint committee with Pain Society of Oregon):
  Debra Blaker, FNP, serenity4591@yahoo.com
• Complementary Therapies Committee (joint committee with Pain Society of Oregon):
  Alicia Derby, L.Ac., aderbylac@hotmail.com
• Media Relations Committee:
  Todd Peterson, visitodd@yahoo.com
• Research Coordination & Support Committee:
  Patricia Moran, PhD, JD, moranp@oregonstate.edu
• Caregiver Committee:
  Richard Reed rreed@ram-mail.com
• Lane County Medical Society End of Life Task Force:
  Denise Waugh, MD, FACEP, docwaugh@hotmail.com
  (Return to list)

Past Projects:
     On May 13, 2006 Partners to Improve End-of-Life Care sponsored its 3rd Annual Health Care Decisions Day from 10:00-3:00 at Valley River Center. The gathering was designed to increase public awareness of the importance for all adults to have a signed Oregon Advance Directive. In 2005, more than 30 local and statewide organizations participated. The event attracted a sizeable and diverse cross-section of Lane County residents.
     Participating organizations provided educational information to those that attended. More than 300 Advance Directives were taken by attendees, some of whom completed the form during the event.
     Below is a list of organizations that participated in the 2006 Health Care Decisions Day:

     Partners' biggest project to date is a community survey we conducted to determine how best to improve end of life care in the Eugene/Springfield area. The survey was a joint effort of Partners to Improve End of Life Care, the Pain Society of Oregon, and the Oregon Palliative Care Foundation. In January of  2004, two hundred seventy-nine randomly selected respondents answered a 9 page survey regarding their own wishes if they were dying, and their experiences as family members caring for individuals in the last months of life. We learned that there is a lot about end of life care that is very good in our community. But, there are areas that still need improvement. Specifically:

• There are many misconceptions about pain management and addiction at the end of life. The dying do not appear to be fully getting the care they need to be free from pain.
• Many people believe that complementary therapies would have been helpful for their dying loved one, but they did not pursue these methods of treatment.
• People at the end of life want to have more contact with their faith communities, but they experience barriers, such as difficulty attending worship services.
• Family caregivers need lots of support and do best when they feel confident in their abilities to provide care.
• Many of the support services that the survey showed people need and want are already available through hospice. People in our community, however, average a little over 3 weeks on hospice care before they pass away. This is not enough time for patients, or their families, to fully benefit from the support they could receive. Based on community concerns, therefore, one of the best ways to improve end of life care would be to get more seriously ill people on hospice and get them on the service sooner.

     Drawing upon the data from our community survey, Partners to Improve End of Life Care has established specific committees to address each of these needs. Since June, we have been making presentations of our community survey results to local organizations. If you would like to know more, you can download the community survey results (2.2 MB Powerpoint presentation).
(Return to list)

Becoming a member of Partners
     Members come from a wide range of backgrounds, including social workers, nurses, hospital and hospice administrators, physicians, chaplains, university professors, long-term care administrators, representatives of city and county agencies, private therapists, family caregivers, funeral directors, media producers, and music thanatologists (just to name a few!).
     To become a voting member of the coalition, individuals must pay an annual membership fee of $10. Yearly election of the Board of Directors occurs in December. (Return to list)

Board of Directors, 2008
     Deena Crandall, President

     Kay Hyde-Patton, Vice-President

     Tricia Henry, Membership Secretary

     Kay Hyde-Patton, Treasurer

     Jenny Soyke, M.D., Past President

     Sara Donaldson, Committee Coordinator

     Inge Tarantola

     Ann-Marie Lemire

     (Return to list)

Physician assisted suicide
     We support the right of all individuals to complete their lives in the manner of their choosing. As an organization, however, we take no position for or against the practice of physician assisted suicide. We consider this an entirely individual matter. (Return to list)

Organizations to which our members belong
     At Ease Home Care, Inc.
     Bi-Mart
     Cascade Medical Associates
     Elephant’s Eye Productions
     England’s Eugene Memorial Chapel
     Eugene Good Samaritan Health Center
     Good Neighbor Care
     Healing Touch Massage
     HIV Alliance
     Home Instead Senior Care
     Hospice of Sacred Heart
     Human Rights Commission
     Lane Council of Governments
     Lane County Family Caregiver Support Program
     Lane County Medical Society

     Lasting Legacies

     Let’s Collaborate! Senior-friendly webpages for non-profits
     Lifelong Learning Excellence, Inc.
     Long Term Care Associates
     McKenzie-Willamette Hospital
     McKenzie-Willamette Home Care and Hospice
     Nature’s Way Terminal and Palliative Care Home
     New Horizons In Home Care
     Noble Passing
     Oregon Center for Applied Science
     Oregon Palliative Care Foundation
     Oregon State University
     Pain Consultants of Oregon
     Pain Society of Oregon
     PeaceHealth Medical Group
     Pinnacle Healthcare, Inc.
     Primetime Retirement Apartments
     Quebec House
     Sacred Heart Medical Center
     Senior and Disabled Services
     South Hills Rehabilitation Center
     Two Rivers Health Center
     Valley West Health Care Center
     Willamette Valley Cancer Center
     Willamette Valley Palliative Care Foundation
     Workplace Massage
     (Return to list)