- New Search for Executive Director Position
- CACCC Working with St. Francis Memorial Hospital on AHCD & POLST
- CACCC Helping Saint Francis Memorial Hospital Improve Palliative Care for Chinese Patients
- CACCC Bereavement Support Group to Begin Soon
- CACCC Doing Suicide Prevention Outreach
- CACCC Hospice Volunteer Support Groups Meeting Regularly
How to make health care decisions with your loved ones
Date: Thursday, April 11, 2013
Time: 1:00PM— 4:00PM
Saint Francis Memorial Hospital
Conference Room, Lower Level B & C
900 Hyde Street, San Francisco, CA 94109
www.saintfrancismemorial.org
Call 415-353-6562 to RSVP by
Saturday, April 6th, 2013
SPACE IS LIMITED, PLEASE REGISTER EARLY.
This workshop is FREE and will be conducted in Cantonese.
Improving Palliative Care for Chinese Patients
Under a grant from Dignity Health, the CACCC is helping Saint Francis Memorial Hospital in San Francisco improve palliative care for its Chinese patients. Under the grant:
- CACCC will provide consultation for pre and post palliative care patient needs assessments prepared by St. Francis and will develop pre and post surveys for health providers at the hospital on their familiarity with Chinese patient issues.
- CACCC will provide Health Care training to nurses and ancillary staff based upon knowledge gaps identified through the above survey and on-site observations.
- CACCC will provide consultation to the Palliative Care Coordinator and palliative care team members through participation in family meetings and working with the Palliative Care Coordinator to assess and advise the care team on culturally appropriate strategies and interventions.
- CACCC will assess the availability of internal and external resources for serving Chinese patients and families by interviewing the Palliative Care Coordinator, Interpreters, Case Managers and Social Workers and make recommendations for filling the gaps.
- CACCC will coordinate with the Palliative Care Team (Volunteer, Spiritual Care, Interpreters, Social Workers, Case Managers, Marketing and Communications) to develop community outreach strategies for recruiting Chinese community members to classes on End of Life Care and Advance Health Care Directive. CACCC will provide lay leaders to conduct the classes in Cantonese. Initial class target of 30 participants scheduled for April 11, 2013.
National Healthcare Decisions Day
April 16th is just around the corner. Are you ready for National Healthcare Decisions Day?
If you haven't , please consider NHCDD as an excellent opportunity for community outreach!
Local POLST coalitions around the state have planned events to honor NHCDD.
Here are some highlights of coalition events and activities -
San Gabriel Valley End of Life Care Coalition
will be hosting a videoconference with a local panel discussion and audience Q&A for the Hospice Foundation of America, Improving Care for Veterans Facing Illness and Death on Wednesday, April 17th at the University Center, California State University Monterey Bay. Click here to register.
Stanislaus POLST Coalition
has written public service announcements urging people to take this opportunity to make their wishes known, and will be hosting four events. Click here for information on the events educating consumers about advance healthcare directives and POLST, and here for events specifically for healthcare providers in the region, including physicians, nurses, SNFs, RCFEs, hospitals and EMS providers.
Chinese American Coalition for Compassionate Care
is working with Saint Francis Memorial Hospital to have their first Cantonese AHCD and POLST presentation on Advance Care Planning. For more information, click here.
San Diego County Coalition for Improving End-of-Life Care
is putting on a community event with physician speakers addressing advance care planning and end-of-life issues. For more information or to RSVP, visit their website.
Marin POLST Coalition
is hosting an advance healthcare directive/POLST table at Marin General Hospital. For more information, contact Teresa Tooker at (415) 526-5672 or ttooker@hbtb.org.
Santa Cruz POLST Coalition
will be hosting eight different events around National Health Care Decisions Day, including "Planning Ahead for Peace of Mind" workshops at three churches and three advance care planning workshops at retirement homes. For more information, visit the Hospice of Santa Cruz County, or contact Julie Boudreau at jboudreau@hospicesantacruz.org.
Inland Empire Palliative Care Coalition's Advisory Group
will be hosting tables with information about advance healthcare directives and POLST at two different hospitals. They will also be offering a free notary public. Click here for more information.
Need more ideas for outreach activities? Contact us or visit the National Healthcare Decisions Day website for more information.
Coalition for Compassionate Care of California
1331 Garden Highway, Suite 100
Sacramento, CA 95833
(916) 489-2222
www.CoalitionCCC.org
Sandy Steps Down
October 30, 2012
Dear CACCC volunteers and Members,
My dedication to end of life care in the Chinese American community began in 1999 when I learned during my Dad’s year in ICU before he died that the Advance Health care Directive was not available in Taiwan and a DNR was illegal at that time (both are now available in Taiwan). Theywere available to Chinese Americans in the United States, but very few Chinese Americans were aware of this. I thought, “I couldn't do much to help my Dad, but at least I can do something to help people here.” As I set out to improve conditions surrounding death and dying, it quickly became clear that I was limited as an individual in what I could accomplish. Chinese Americans were making almost no use of hospice and few knew much about palliative care. Very few had completed an Advance Health Care Directive; most had not even heard of it. There were almost no materials in Chinese that covered end of life issues, and there was great resistance to discussing anything related to the impending death of a loved one. Existing health care agencies were struggling with how to serve Chinese patients with little knowledge of Chinese culture and few practitioners who could speak Chinese. End of life care Chinese-speaking volunteers were very hard to find, and those who were volunteering had limited training.
To cope with these obstacles, I decided on the following plan to improve end of life care for Chinese Americans:
I decided to form an organization whose structure could involve the entire community in this effort, a coalition of already-existing groups with resources that could help us make a difference. That coalition would naturally include Chinese health care agencies and those non-Chinese institutions who were already or could potentially serve Chinese Americans. In late 2005, I formed an advisory board consisting of a core group of Chinese health providers and volunteers to help set the parameters of the organization that would ultimately form the coalition. Since we began with no money, it was clear that our work had to be done by volunteers, and we began recruiting them. Committees were formed and tasks assigned. We needed people to do community outreach, translate and create educational materials, train respite and hospice volunteers and caregivers, educate health care professionals about how to best serve Chinese Americans, establish a campaign in the Chinese media and set up a website to get the word out, and write grants and raise funds to support our work. In 2007 the CACCC was incorporated and received its 501(c)(3) nonprofit status.
I had known that health care institutions and national organizations working with end of life issues were very interested in finding ways to serve under-represented groups, so I invited them to join the coalition. The response was extremely positive and eventually led to working partnerships with regional and national organizations, our participation in national EOL events and conferences, and ultimately to our receiving grants to fund our activities. We even received national awards. All these added to the stature of our organization, improving our ability to do our work in the community.
The CACCC has grown to include more than 80 affiliated agencies and more than 1,300 individuals who have either volunteered or participated in our work in some capacity. We now have three part-time contract staff positions to help us with the day-to-day work of the coalition. We have a resource office in Sacramento and are looking for a permanent location in the South Bay to serve as the CACCC headquarters. CACCC outreach and training has expanded from the San Jose area to San Francisco, Sacramento, the East Bay, and Los Angeles, and we have assisted Chinese organizations and hospitals, hospices and other community organizations serving Chinese patients in New York and Texas.
Two years ago, I added the goal of building up sufficient reserves to hire a full-time Executive Director (ED) so I could have a retirement life with my husband and concentrate on education and patient care as a CACCC volunteer. As a coalition, we have spent our money wisely, and accumulated significant reserves. When I decided to start this end of life movement, Phil and I knew it would require a great deal of time and that I would have to spend much of it in the South Bay, so we decided that I couldn’t continue to work full time. We thought that in a couple of years everything would be in place and I could step down and retire in Shingle Springs. While it has taken a bit longer than Phil and I initially expected, I think that the time has come. I am announcing my resignation from the Executive Director position now so we can begin the search for my replacement right away. I plan to formally resign when the new ED is in place. I will continue to serve the CACCC, concentrating on end of life education and patient care, and will assist the new executive director (ED) until he/she has settled in, but will no longer be involved in the day-to-day operation of the organization.
This has been a wonderful journey with wonderful people. I want to thank all of our volunteers, our board of directors, our partner agencies, grant providers, and members throughout the country and Taiwan for helping us crack the barriers to provide quality end of life care for the Chinese American community.
I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to share this experience with you.
VOLUNTEERS, AGENCY REPRESENTATIVES, & CACCC STAFF AT THE CACCC'S FIRST NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
CHINESE HOSPICE & PALLIATIVE CARE VOLUNTEER GRADUATION
Graduates are wearing the new CACCC volunteer tee-shirt
at Laguna Honda Hospital in San Francisco
At its Afternoon Tea Fundraiser on November 6th last year, the CACCC) celebrated six years of community service and outreach to Chinese American communities in the United States.
With the 2011 Hospice and Palliative Care Volunteer Training completed, the CACCC has formed volunteer support groups to provide ongoing assistance to CACCC-trained volunteers serving in hospice and palliative care settings in Northern and Southern California. Each support group meets quarterly for three hours to share experiences. Meeting space and additional training from partner agency staff will be provided by local agencies. Cindy Wang and Alice Hwaun will coordinate the Bay Area group; Tina Byrne will coordinate the Sacramento group, and Sue Lo and Michelle Lin will coordinate the Southern California group.
Volunteer Support Newsletter
In addition to the volunteer support groups, the CACCC is publishing a southern edition and a northern edition of Heart to Heart, a newsletter now devoted to volunteer news and issues. Volunteers have already received their first issue of Heart to Heart, edited by Debbie Juan.
Director Debbie Juan & Camera Crew
Video on End of Life Available on this Site
Loving Life, Understanding Hospice, the 45 minute video the CACCC completed for the Hospice Foundation of America is now available on this website. The webcast is a comprehensive overview of end-of-life options and considerations for Chinese speaking communities in the United States. The video includes eligibility for hospice care, what is provided under hospice care, who qualifies for hospice care, interpretation services, the Medicare/Medicaid benefit and private insurance. The film highlights the roles of family members, volunteer caregivers, health providers, and other members of the hospice team. Interested agencies can link to the video by completing the form obtained from the HFA project page of this site. The video is part of an education and outreach project of HFA, funded through a grant from the Center for Medicare &Medicaid Services (CMS).
AARP 2011 Honorees
Maya Angelou
Joy Behar
Eve Behar Scotti
Sandy Chen Stokes
Tony Danza
Helene Gayle, M.D.
Pedro Jose Greer, M.D.
Lisa Niemi Swayze
Elizabeth Warren
Henry Winkler
The first-ever English-Chinese issue of Hospice Foundation of America's "Journeys, A Newsletter to Help in Bereavement," is available for purchase from the HFA website (www.hospicefoundation.org). "Doing Everything We Can," authored by CACCC Founder Sandy Chen Stokes and CACCC Senior Consultant Phil Stokes, is designed to help with medical decisions related to caring for a terminally ill family member or friend. In this situation, it is natural for family members to wonder if they are doing the right thing, since it is not always clear what "Doing the Right thing" means. Family members may actually feel guilt, sometimes long after the loved one dies, if there are doubts about whether they have made the "right" choices. This issue offers a way to avoid that guilt.
Project Director Celia Chen and Sandy
Sandy Doing the HFA Video