2011 Educational Programs
LOCATION & TRANSPORTATION
CONTINUING EDUCATION
CO-SPONSORS
Community-Based Palliative Care Conference:
CARE Recommendations and Best Practices
Speaker Bios and Information
Mark Apfel, MD
Mark Apfel, MD is a board-certified Family Physician. He has been the Medical Director of the Anderson Valley Health Center for the past 35 years, a community health center which provides the full spectrum of primary care to this rurally remote community in northern California. Since 2007, he has been the lead physician for the implementation of POLST in Mendocino County and since 2009, he has been one of the Physician Champions for POLST in California. He has served as the representative of the local community coalitions on the California POLST Task force. He recently assumed the role of Medical Director of the Palliative Care team at Ukiah Valley Medical Center.
Patrick
Arbore, EdD
Dr. Arbore is the founder and director of Institute on Aging's Center for Elderly Suicide Prevention and Grief Relates Services (CESP), and serves as the Director of Professional Development at Institute on Aging. He is also a Senior Lecturer in the Human Services Division at Notre Dame de Namur University in Belmont and a Part-Time Lecturer in the School of Social Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley.
See Dr. Arbore's CV
Rev. Jennifer Block, MA
Jennifer Block shares the mission and approach of Zen Hospice Project nationally through the many curriculum she has created from her 12+ years of hospice and chaplaincy experience. In her role as Education Director & Chaplain, Jennifer provides training and spiritual care to caregivers, clinicians, chaplaincy students, and especially those who are facing the spiritual and emotional issues related to aging, sickness, dying and grief. She completed her undergraduate degree at Boston University, her theology degree at Naropa University, and is an ordained Interfaith minister and Buddhist chaplain.
Constance (Connie) Borden, RN, MSN, ANP
Constance (Connie) Borden, RN, MSN, ANP is the Palliative Care Coordinator at St. Mary's Medical Center since September 2003. Connie has nine years of experience as hospice executive director and 12 years of experience as nurse practitioner in both rural Mississippi and urban San Francisco. St. Mary's Medical Center Palliative Care Consult Service was recognized by CHW for "Most significant improvement in Palliative Care Clinical Outcomes" in September 2005.
Judy Citko, JD
Judy Citko, JD, is the Executive Director of the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California. Before joining CCCC, she worked as a lobbyist, lawyer, and computer programmer for hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, and managed care providers. Judy is currently the Vice-Chair of the National POLST Paradigm Executive Committee.
Cristina Flores, PhD, RN
Cristina Flores, PhD, RN is the Director of Health Services Research at Institute on Aging in San Francisco, an Assistant Adjunct Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco, and a lecturer in the Gerontology Program at San Francisco State University. She has been a registered nurse for 22 years, a certified public health nurse for 18 years, and has 6 years experience in home health nursing. In addition, she has been a Residential Care/Assisted Living (RC/AL) owner/operator for 15 years. She holds a Bachelor's of Science Degree in Nursing from California State University, Dominquez Hills, a Master's of Arts Degree in Gerontology with an emphasis in Long-Term Care Administration from San Francisco State University, and a doctorate degree in Nursing Health Policy from the University of California, San Francisco. She has completed several studies relative to quality in RC/AL and other long-term care settings. Dr. Flores' current research projects include Developing a Consumer Information Website for Residential Care for the Elderly (California Health Care Foundation), A Community Approach to Improve Palliative Care Access (Sutter Health Institute for Research and Education), Linking Affordable Senior Housing and Services (The SCAN Foundation and Institute on Aging), and the Northern California Geriatric Education Center (UCSF). Her published work includes several journal articles, two book chapters, and a textbook on RC/AL facilities and quality of care.
Erin Henke
Erin Henke is the Statewide POLST Program Manager with the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California, the lead agency coordinating POLST efforts in California. Prior to joining the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California, Erin was Director of Communications & Community Relations with Hospice By The Bay in the San Francisco area and Co-Chaired the San Francisco Bay Area Network for End-of-Life Care. Erin has also worked with the American Medical Association, and is a certified advance care planning facilitator.
Nate Hinerman, PhD
Nate Hinerman, PhD teaches in the School of Nursing and the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco, where he received the University's Distinguished Lecturer Award in 2010. He serves as Chair of the San Francisco Bay Area Network for End-of-Life Care, and he is a lecturer at SF State and Golden Gate Universities. He also volunteers on the Bereavement Service as a therapist at the San Francisco office of Pathways Home Health and Hospice. His research is interdisciplinary, and includes topics in death and dying, psychology, human suffering, and special areas in philosophy of religion. He currently collaborates with the Sutter Health Institute for Research and Education on a grant expanding access to hospice and palliative care services in San Francisco.
Judith Redwing Keyssar, RN, BA
Judith Redwing Keyssar, RN, BA, author, is the Director of the Palliative and End of Life Care Program at Seniors at Home, a division of Jewish Family and Children's Services of the San Francisco Bay Area. As a "midwife to the dying" she draws upon 20 years of nursing experience in oncology, critical care and hospice, working in hospitals, non-profits and as a private consultant. Ms. Keyssar has taught courses in all aspects of care of the dying, published numerous articles, and presents nationally on Palliative and End of Life issues.
For information on her recent book, Last Acts of Kindness; Lessons for the Living from the Bedsides of the Dying: www.lastactsofkindness.com
Anne Kinderman, MD
Dr. Anne Kinderman is an Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, and is the Director of the Supportive & Palliative Care Service at San Francisco General Hospital. She earned her B.A. degree in history from Yale University, and her M.D. from Rush University in Chicago, Illinois. She completed her Internal Medicine Residency at UCSF, followed by a one-year teaching fellowship at UCSF, and a Hospice & Palliative Medicine Fellowship at Stanford. She was thrilled to return to San Francisco General in 2009, when she became the Founding Director of the Supportive & Palliative Care Consult Service. Throughout her career, Dr. Kinderman's scholarly interests and service activities have focused on medical education, providing care to underserved populations, and improving healthcare delivery. She continues to enjoy volunteer work in urban health clinics, as well as short-term medical relief trips throughout the world.
Catherine McGregor, RN, MSN
Catherine McGregor earned her Masters of Science Degree in Nursing in Adult Health and Education. She is a Diplomat and Fellow of the Nightingale Society. As a nurse educator she has been a faculty member of the Sierra College School of Nursing, a guest lecturer at Phoenix University and has spoken at both state and national conferences on issues relating to end-of-life care. Her passion for promoting quality of life for those with life-limiting disease has engaged her in a 26 year career of Hospice and Palliative Care nursing. Currently Catherine is the Sutter Health Sacramento Sierra Region Palliative Care RN Coordinator for Sutter Auburn Faith Hospital. She is the team leader for the PREPARED Project and has been active with the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California in their efforts to promote the POLST Paradigm in California and co-developer of the California POLST Education Program. She serves as a Nurse Consultant on several grants that focus on improving Palliative Care services in California.
Bruce L. Miller, Jr. (B.J.), MD
B.J.'s interests in medicine generally relate to how people cope with life-altering illness. He sees connections between art, spirituality, and medicine insofar as all relate directly to the human condition and focus serious attention on the notion of perspective. He has always been compelled by the philosophical and spiritual underpinnings of medicine and end-of-life care.
Raised in Chicago, B.J. studied art history as an undergraduate at Princeton University. After several years working in both the art and disability-rights non-profit communities he enrolled at UCSF where he completed his MD as a Regents Scholar in 2001. He completed his internal medicine residency at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara where he served as chief resident. He completed his fellowship in Hospice & Palliative Medicine at Harvard Medical School, where his clinical duties split between the Massachusetts General Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. B.J. recently assumed the executive director role at the Zen Hospice Project where he intends to bridge the medical and social models of end-of-life care. This exciting foray opens new possibilities for professional training in medicine and chaplaincy. His larger goal there is to affect our culture concerning the importance of mortality in humanity's thirst for meaning and communion.
He continues to attend periodically on the palliative care service at UCSF Medical Center, as well as in the Symptom Management Service of the UCSF Helen Diller Comprehensive Cancer Center, UCSF's groundbreaking outpatient palliative care clinic. His academic work has largely been in palliative care education and leadership development. He is also supported by the Fetzer Foundation in an effort to build an integrative higher education, devoted to interrelating spirituality with the health of mind and body.
September Williams, MD
September Williams, MD is a physician, clinical medical ethicist & filmmaker.
Jackie Wong
Jackie Wong has over 20 years of experiences working with frail elderly. For 11 years, she worked as a front line social worker at On Lok Lifeways in San Francisco, the original PACE She now leads and oversees the operation of the social work department. Jackie has been on the Board of the Chinese American Coalition for Compassionate Care (CACCC) since 2007. CACCC is the only organization in the nation focusing on end of life care in the Chinese American community.