May 3, 2016
Reception 5:30 pm
Dinner and Program 6:45 to 9:00 pm

InterContinental Kansas City at the Plaza
401 Ward Parkway
Kansas City, Missouri

Keynote Speaker: Scott Simon
Author, Peabody Award Winning Correspondent and Host of NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday

Scott Simon’s tweets to his 1.25 million Twitter followers from his dying mother’s bedside in the summer of 2013 garnered major media attention around the world. His book, Unforgettable: A Son, A Mother and the Lessons of a Lifetime, expands on those famous tweets to create a tribute to his remarkable mother and love between parents and children. Along the way, Simon provides insights about growing old, the healthcare system, the importance of communication in families and its impact on how we want to be treated at the end of life.

 

Vision to Action Nominee

Virginia Stowers

A nurse anesthetist, past member of the Center’s board and early advocate for its local and national efforts to raise and respond to ethical issues in healthcare, Virginia and her late husband, Jim, founded the Stowers Center for Medical Research.

Honorary Co-Chairs

Mamie Hughes and Amy McAnarney

Mamie and Amy represent two generations of civic commitment, philanthropic passion and advocacy for justice. Mamie will celebrate her 87th birthday on the same day as the Dinner!

 

Joan Berkley Bioethics Symposium

At the Crossroads: Final Journeys

May 4, 2016
8:30 am – 3:30 pm
University of Missouri-Kansas City
Student Union, Room 401

Death, after all, is an event experienced by all humans. Until relatively recently, it occurred in the home, surrounded by family and friends. Cultural and religious traditions and customs comforted the dying and assuaged the suffering. Physicians served as experienced guides along the inevitable journey. Today, especially in areas with lots of hospital beds and a medical culture of heavy treatment, most people spend their last days in hospitals.

What might it look like to reclaim final journeys as part of the human experience occurring in the context of family and community, not merely as failures of biomedicine?

Symposium participants will explore this question, focusing on why it is important to reclaim death and dying as events that are fundamental to human experience. We will also consider the implications of such reclaiming on the education and training of health care professionals and examine how it might reshape current approaches to advance care planning.

The Joan Berkley Bioethics Symposium, now in its ninth year, recognizes the devotion of a beloved board member of the Center and honors her insatiable curiosity and interest in bioethics.

Symposium Agenda

Being Human and Letting Go
Valerie Yancey, PhD, MSN, Assistant Professor, School of Nursing, Southern Illinois University

Death as a Human Experience
Panel of Non-Clinicians

Reclaiming Healing as a Core Element in Medicine
Martha Twaddle, MD, FACP, FAAHPM, HMDC, Senior Vice President, JourneyCare

The Role of Compassion in Medicine
Ann Allegre, MD, FACP, FAAHPM, Director of Medical Programs, Kansas City Hospice and Palliative Care

Honoring Patient Wishes
Jeff Zucker, CEO, A | D Vault, My Directives, My Directives MOBILE, and John G. Carney, President & CEO, Center for Practical Bioethics

The Challenges Ahead and the Charge We Accept
Richard Payne, MD, John B. Francis Chair, Center for Practical Bioethics

Continuing Medical Education

This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education through the joint providership of the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine and the Center for Practical Bioethics.  The UMKC School of Medicine is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

The University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine designates this live activity for a maximum of 5.25 AMA PRA Category I Credits™.  Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Register