Dignity at the End Of Life: From Suffering to Hope

2969 Cahill Main, Fitchburg, WI  53711

This full-day conference boasts a line-up of exceptional speakers covering a wide range of end-of-life topics.

Things have changed dramatically within our health care. To protect yourself and your loved ones, you need to be informed. The information you receive at this conference may be life-saving and it will certainly be life-affirming.

Those that attend will hear talks on perinatal hospice, grief, compassion, hope, patient advocacy and new pathways to care by expert speakers.

Please join us and help spread the word.

Speakers

Julie Grimstad, LPN
Founder & Executive Director of Life is Worth Living
PATIENT ADVOCATES (AND BEFRIENDERS) ARE DESPERATELY NEEDED
Julie is executive director of Life is Worth Living, Inc., past chair of Pro-life Healthcare Alliance and advisor to Human Life Alliance. She is a founder and coordinator of St. John’s Befrienders, a ministry to nursing home residents and homebound elderly. A nationally-known speaker and writer, Julie addresses all aspects of medical decision-making and patient advocacy. She has served as a volunteer patient advocate for over 30 years and was director of the Center for the Rights of the Terminally Ill, Inc. Julie is a contributing writer and editor to Imposed Death: Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide, Informed: A guide for critical medical decisions, and the PHA Monthly e-newsletter. Her articles have been published in numerous Catholic and pro-life publications as well as elsewhere.

Byron C. Calhoun, MD, FACOG, FACS, FASAM, MBA
Professor & Vice-Chair, Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, West Virginia University, Charleston, WV
PERINATAL HOSPICE: WHAT IT MEANS TO DO NO HARM-MEDICAL ETHICS AND ANOMALOUS PREGNANCIES
Dr. Byron C. Calhoun, MD, FACOG, FACS, FASAM, MBA is a Distinguished Graduate of the United States Air Force Academy and graduated from the University of Iowa Medical School with an MD. Dr. Calhoun completed his residency in OB/GYN at the University of Missouri-Columbia and finished a Fellowship in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at the Oregon Health Sciences University. Dr. Calhoun is a diplomate of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology with board certification in general Obstetrics and Gynecology and in the sub-specialty of Maternal-Fetal Medicine. He is also board certified in Addictions Medicine. He has authored 85 peer review articles in the obstetric and gynecologic literature, presented over 100 scientific papers, and has published numerous articles on medical aspects of obstetrics and gynecology. Dr. Calhoun serves as Professor and Vice-Chair in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at West Virginia University-Charleston. Dr. Calhoun and his wife, Kathryn, have five children and 2 lovely granddaughters.

Mark Davis Pickup
Pro-Life Speaker
JOURNAL THROUGH GRIEF OF DISEASE TOWARD MEANING: A CASE STUDY
Mark Pickup’s life and testimony speak volumes about the profound meaning that can be found in human suffering and limitation, through relationship with Jesus Christ. Mark, who has advanced multiple sclerosis and is wheelchair dependent, will share the story of his journey from despair to hope as he found meaning through his Christian faith. He reminds us that everyone suffering needs the support of a significant community to overcome their fears of pain and powerlessness.

Ramón Luzárraga, PhD
Assistant Professor of Theology and Division Chair of Undergraduate Studies at Benedictine University in Mesa, Arizona
COMPASSION AS ACCOMPANIMENT WITH THOSE WHO SUFFER: A ROMAN CATHOLIC UNDERSTANDING OF SUFFERING
Ramón Luzárraga is Assistant Professor of Theology and Division Chair of Undergraduate Studies at Benedictine University in Mesa, Arizona. He holds a Master of Arts in Religion from Yale Divinity School, and a PhD in systematic theology and ethics from Marquette University. He is a member of the editorial board of The Journal of Moral Theology, the only Roman Catholic journal devoted to that subject. He also convened the moral theology group for the Catholic Theological Society of America, the Latino ethics group in the Society of Christian Ethics, a member of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States. He has written articles for references works and book reviews concerning moral and systematic theology.

Cristen Krebs, DNP, ANP-BC
Founder and Executive Director of Catholic Hospice Pittsburgh
HOSPICE CARE IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Cristen is the founder and executive director Catholic Hospice, graduated from Robert Morris University’s Doctor of Nursing Practice Program and has twenty-five years of end-of-life care experience. After years in the field of oncology and hospice nursing, she became disheartened with the trend of hospices becoming more business oriented than patient focused. Dr. Krebs began the first faith-based, nonprofit hospice program and first free-standing hospice serving residence in southwest Pennsylvania. Dr. Krebs embraces the prolife health care philosophy and spearheads education for both health care professionals and health care consumers.

Nan & Edward Weber
Founders of Holy Family Ministry Center and Loreto on the Plains
FINDING NEW PATHWAYS TO CARE FOR THE ELDERLY, THE SICK AND TERMINALLY ILL (A STORY OF FAITH IN ACTION – WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE)
Ed and Nan are founders of Loreto on the Plains Personal Care Home (an outreach of the Holy Family Ministry Center) whose mission is to care for those who are sick and terminally ill through respite care, transitional care and end-of-life care. They also educate the laity with the truth about end of life issues. Ed and Nan founded the Holy Family Ministry Center “for the Renewal and the Restoration of the family and Catholic Family Life through the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy.”
Ed and Nan are both spiritual directors and Secular Franciscans. They have experience in Marriage Encounter, inner healing prayer and Rachael’s Vineyard (a post-abortion healing retreat and prison ministry).
Nan has a BA in Education, taught for four years and homschooled for 13 years before earning her LVN (Licensed Vocational Nurse) at the age of 65. Ed has a BS in Engineering and is a CNA (Certified Nursing Assistant). Ed and Nan have ten daughters, 45 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

 

Conference Schedule

 

8:30 a.m.	Registration
9 a.m.	Welcome – Dr. Cynthia Jones-Nosacek, MD
9:15 a.m.	Ramón Luzárraga, PhD – Compassion as Accompaniment with Those who Suffer: a Roman Catholic Understanding of Suffering
10 a.m.	Julie Grimstad, LPN – Patient Advocates (and Befirenders) are Desperately Needed
10:45 a.m.	Break
11 a.m.	Mark Davis Pickup – Journal Through Grief of Disease Toward Meaning: A Case Study
11:45 a.m.	Q and A
12:15 p.m.	Lunch
1 p.m.	Nan & Edward Weber – Finding New Pathways to Care For the Elderly, the Sick and Terminally Ill
2 p.m.	Cristen Krebs, DNP, ANP-BC – Hospice Care in the 21st Century
2:45 p.m.	Break
3 p.m.	Dr. Byron Calhoun, MD, FACOG, FACS, FASAM, MBA – Perinatal Hospice: What it Means to Do No Harm-Medical Ethics and Anomalous Pregnancies
3:45 p.m.	Panel
4:30 p.m.	Closing

Register online at:
https://www.humanlife.org/product/dignity-life/

SPONSORED BY

Pro-life Healthcare Alliance (a program of Human Life Alliance) & Wisconsin Catholic Medical Guilds

 
Source:
Dignity at the End Of Life: From Suffering to Hope