Ira Byock, M.D.

COOKEVILLE – The Upper Cumberland Regional Hospice and Palliative Care Committee is currently planning its third annual hospice conference “The Best Care Possible: Transforming Care through the End of Life” to be held on Friday, October 18 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the TTU Whitson-Hester School of Nursing. This year’s conference will feature Ira Byock, M.D., a leading palliative care physician, author, lecturer and public advocate for improving care through the end of life.

“We are beyond thrilled to have Dr. Byock speaking at our conference this year,” stated Bernice O’Roark, chairman of the Upper Cumberland Regional Hospice and Palliative Care Committee  and retired founding director of the Ohio Hospice Organization. “Dr. Byock is well known nationally for his work in the field of palliative and hospice care. He has appeared on several national television shows and is a prominently known among professionals in the field.”

Dr. Byock has appeared as a panel guest on the Dr. Oz Show, CBS’ 60 Minutes, Fox and Friends, Talk of the Nation, NPR’s All Things Considered and PBS’ The News Hour. He has written three books and authored numerous articles on the ethics and practice of hospice, palliative and end-of-life care. His latest book The Best Care Possible tackles the crisis that surrounds serious illness and dying in America and his quest to transform care through the end of life. The book has been praised by the Wall Street Journal.

Dr. Byock is Professor of Medicine at the Giesel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. He served as Director Palliative Medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire from 2003 through July 2013. He has been involved in hospice and palliative care since 1978. During his residency he helped found a hospice home care program for the indigent population served by the university hospital and county clinics of Fresno, CA. He is past president (1997) of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Care Medicine. During the 1990s he was a co-founder and principal investigator for the Missoula Demonstration Project, a community-based organization in Montana dedicated to the research and transformation of end-of-life experience locally, as a demonstration of what is possible nationally. From 1996 through 2006, he served as Director for Promoting Excellence in End-of-Life Care, a national grant program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

“To have a speaker of this caliber is wonderful for our program,” Said O’Roark. “We hope people with an interest in hospice and palliative care will take advantage of this educational opportunity that features not only Dr. Byock but also other renowned speakers. We already have attendees coming from across the state to hear him speak.”

Dr. Byock will give the keynote presentation about “The Best Care Possible” for patients at the end of life. His presentation will discuss the coordination of the wide array services available for end-of-life care between providers, patients and their families as well as explore the elements that must be in communication to reliably provide care that is consistent with best practice standards and with the personal preferences of patients and families.

Other renowned speakers at the conference will include James R. Meadows, M.D., Director of Palliative Medicine for Tennessee Oncology; Mohana Karlekar, M.D., Director, Vanderbilt University Palliative Care; Debra Heldrich, MSN, RN, ACHPN, AOCN, palliative care nurse specialist and consultant; and Christine Claire Archer, M.Div and LCSW, social worker, chaplain and minister. Topics covered throughout the day will include pain management, compassionate care while managing emotional fatigue, spiritual issues and palliative care versus hospice care.

The conference is open to the general public, anyone interested in palliative and/or end-of-life care, and healthcare professionals including nurses, physicians, allied health staff, social workers, case managers, oncology and ICU staff, hospice volunteers and other interested healthcare staff.

The educational event is a collaboration of several organizations and agencies in the Upper Cumberland region with an interest in hospice care.  It is designed to promote the goal of the medical community, hospice services and the public working together in mutual understanding as they ethically, sensitively and expertly minister to the needs of the dying and grieving.

The conference is free; however, registration is required. The registration deadline is Friday, October 11. Lunch will be available for $5, payable at the time of registration.  For those needing contact hours and CME credits, a $15 application fee will be charged per person. For more information, to request a conference brochure or to register for the conference, call the CRMC Foundation at 931-783-2003. Sponsorship and booth opportunities are also available. The registration form is also available online at  www.thecrmcfoundation.org.

Conference co-providers are the Upper Cumberland Hospice and Palliative Care Fund, CRMC Foundation, and the TTU Whitson-Hester School of Nursing.