Palliative care focuses on living life fully, with meaning

By Jane Mather, MA, BCC

Despite the many impressive technological and pharmaceutical advances that modern medicine has enjoyed in the last century, there remain emotional barriers to the way these medical advances are or are not applied. These vary by individual patient and individual physician. Medical science strives for evidence and proof and yet it is also practiced as art – as subjective and based on the interpretation of personal values.

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Evolving landscapes: Planning, partners, and palliative care

By David Lichter, D. Min.
Executive Director

As you read this column, we will be past Labor Day and heading into a full fall of ministry, events, and new programming. While chaplaincy does not live by the academic calendar, it still seems that our work settings have planned for a scintillating sprint until Christmas!

It is no different for the NACC, as we have many local events that will be taking place, along with audio conferences, and other offerings...

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Dying as they lived: A personal vote for palliative care

By Laurie Hansen Cardona
Vision editor

Four years ago, as I drove my 5-year-old daughter to gymnastics class, she belted out a ballad from her carseat detailing the last weeks of my father’s life – his fall, his broken hip, the paramedics’ arrival, visits to the hospital and later the hospice, and the final call from the hospice nurse. While she practiced her own brand of music therapy, I navigated the streets of Milwaukee with tears streaming down my cheeks.

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How parents of children receiving pediatric palliative care cope in tough times

By Kari R. Hexem, MPH, Cynthia J. Mollen, MD, MSCE, Karen Carroll, BS, Dexter A. Lanctot, MDiv, and Chris Feudtner, MD, PhD, MPH

Improving our understanding of how parents of children with life-threatening conditions draw upon their religious and spiritual beliefs and practices when coping with their children’s illnesses can help improve the care children and parents receive (Davies, Brenner, Orloff, Sumner, & Worden, 2002; Himelstein, Hilden, Boldt, & Weissman, 2004; Kang, et al., 2005). In general, religion is thought to provide an orienting system through which many people cope with the consequences of stressful life events and address larger life questions (Kenneth I. Pargament, 1997). Previous studies in diverse populations have demonstrated a large variation in how ill individuals and their families think about, practice, and experience religion and spirituality. However, only a handful of research addresses, in a focused manner, religion and spirituality in the setting of serious childhood illness and pediatric palliative care. We therefore sought to clarify and illustrate the role of religion, spirituality, or life philosophy (RSLP) in the lives of parents of children with life-threatening conditions.

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Prayer Service for the 10th Anniversary of 9/11

September 11 occurs on Sunday this year. Most chaplains will participate in rituals in their home parishes or faith communities. Those who will be on duty may be responsible for incorporating this anniversary into their homilies. Still others will desire to create a meaningful ritual in their centers or hospitals. This prayer service is designed to help to provide a starting point for creating a meaningful ritual on this and future anniversaries of this date in history. Chaplains may wish to create a group email prayer to be sent to all employees across their ministries. Never underestimate the gift of prayer.

Don’t miss out on 2012 Prayer Cards for World Day of the Sick

Click here to order 2012 prayer cards