Congratulations to Susan Blacker, who has been chosen to receive SWHPN’s 2010 Social Work Leadership Award. Currently the Director of Cancer Services, Planning and Performance at St. Michael’s Hospital, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Susan juggles multiple leadership and administrative, teaching, and research roles - from championing interprofessional practice, education  and research in oncology and palliative care at St. Michael’s Hospital, to teaching as a lecturer at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto. She is a much sought after speaker in social work and interdisciplinary forums throughout Canada and the United States addressing both psychosocial oncology and palliative care  and presenting innovative approaches and strategies for integrating these areas in health care.

Prior to her work at St. Michael’s Hospital, Susan was a member of the Department of Oncology Social Work at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins. In addition to her clinical and supervisory role, she was the Director of the Continuing Education Program in Psychosocial Cancer Care. Susan previously received a Social Work Leadership Development Award from the Open Society Institute’s Project on Death in America to support her two-year project, Social Work & End-of-Life Care: An Education Initiative.  This project reached more than 250 social workers across the United States and set the stage for the creation of a network for social workers in this  area.

Susan has published extensively in social work and interdisciplinary journals and books on all areas of end-of-life and palliative care. She was the volunteer lead for the committee that developed the NASW Standards for Social Work Practice in Palliative and End-of-Life Care and was the co-editor of the 2005 Social Work Series in the Journal of Palliative Medicine.

Susan has been a driving force behind the formation of SWHPN. She was co-chair of the 1st and 2nd Social Work Summits on End-of-Life and Palliative Care in 2002 and 2005, and served as a founding member of the SWHPN Board of Directors from 2007 to 2009. Susan has moderated the SWHPN online community and discussion forum, which has become a major benefit to its members.

SWHPN has previously presented this unique Project on Death in America (PDIA) Social Work Leadership Award, made possible by the Open Society Institute, to 3 outstanding social work leaders: Debra Parker Oliver in 2007, Shirley Otis-Green in 2008, and Barbara L. Jones in 2009.

This SWHPN preconference to the AAHPM/HPNA Annual Assembly will take place March 3, 2010, in Boston, MA at the John B. Hynes Memorial Convention Center. If you do not plan to attend the entire AAHPM conference you may register as “Preconference only – Session P14.” The cost is $200.

Register by phone at (847) 375-4712. For more information, visit AAHPM.org or download the full brochure. Social Work CEUs available.

Preconference speakers and topics include:

Opening and Closing Remarks—Grace Christ, PhD & Gary L. Stein, JD, MSW

Understanding Diversity: How culturally based interventions impact hospice and palliative care—moderated by Karen Bullock, PhD. Presenters: Karen Bullock, PhD, Karen Kayser, PhD, J. Ernest Aguilar, MDiv, PhD

Innovations and Opportunities in Training and Research—moderated by Karen Kayser, MSW, PhD. Presenters: Joan Berzoff, PhD, Barbara L. Jones, PhD, MSW, Gary L. Stein, JD, MSW, Daniel S. Gardner, PhD

Leading Quality Improvement in Palliative Care: Opportunities for Social Work—Susan Blacker, MSW

Models of Care:  Social Work Roles and the Palliative Care Team—moderated by Gary L. Stein, JD, MSW. Presenters: Philip C. Higgins, MSW, Amy D. Bauer, MSSA, Bill Mejia, MSW, Marsha Joselow, MFA, MSW

Grief and Bereavement—moderated by Grace Christ, PhD. Presenters: Grace Christ, PhD, Joan Berzoff, PhD, Kim Kaufman, LCSW, Maria Trozzi, M.Ed. (Invited)

Visit the Member Dashboard to access audio recordings from the SWHPN preconference at the 2009 AAHPM Annual Assembly and other SWHPN conferences.

On Thursday, December 10, 2009, SWHPN co-sponsored an audio conference hosted by the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) entitled The Hospital Palliative Care Team and the Social Worker from 1:30-2:30 pm EST with 872 participants.

SWHPN Co-Chairs Grace Christ and Gary Stein introduced the featured speakers:

• Amy Bauer, LISW, LISWS
  Medical Senior Social Worker, Palliative Medicine Unit, Harry R. Horvitz Center for Palliative Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Health Systems
• Bill Mejia, LCSW
  Palliative Care Social Worker, Palliative Care Consult Service, Huntington Hospital

The audio conference demonstrated how palliative care programs benefit with a social worker on the team and described the financial logistics of supporting the position. Bill Mejia gave profound examples of the multifaceted ways social workers contribute to the quality of palliative and end-of-life care hospitals can provide to patients and their families. Amy Bauer highlighted the central role of social workers in psychosocial education for interdisciplinary team members. Both speakers highlighted family conferencing as a core palliative care intervention that is primarily facilitated by social workers. They described programs rich in training of other disciplines with confident assertion of their expertise and leadership skills.

Read the full description of the conference and buy the CDs from CAPC.

Case Western Reserve University has developed a new Center on Building End-of-Life Science Through Positive Human Strengths and Traits. The Center provides two years’ funding with 75% time protected for research, plus generous start-up funds and research mentoring, for three new tenure-track Assistant Professor positions beginning in June 2010.

Funding is provided by NINR/NIH to focus on quality of life research for seriously ill people, including those who are at the end of life. SWHPN strongly encourages eligible social work candidates to apply. Read more on these career opportunities.

Nominations are being solicited for those social workers in the areas of research, education, practice and policy whose contributions have reached far and wide in providing quality care to the seriously ill, dying and bereaved.

This unique Project on Death in America (PDIA) Social Work Leadership Award, made possible by the Open Society Institute, has been presented by SWHPN to 3 outstanding social work leaders: Debra Parker Oliver in 2007, Shirley Otis-Green in 2008, and Barbara L. Jones in 2009.

The award includes a monetary grant of $1,000. Please visit http://www.swhpn.org/award/ to read the description and fill out the online nomination form. Completed nominations must be received no later than January 15, 2010.

The Hospital Palliative Care Team and the Social Worker

Thursday, December 10, 2009
1:30-2:30 PM Eastern
Details and registration.

SWHPN is co-sponsoring this conference with the Center to Advance Palliative Care. This session will demonstrate how palliative care programs benefit with a social worker on the team, as well as the financial logistics of supporting the position.

Featured Speakers:

• Amy Bauer, LISW, LISWS – 
Medical Senior Social Worker, Palliative Medicine Unit, Harry R. Horvitz Center for Palliative Medicine, Cleveland Clinic Health Systems
• Bill Mejia, LCSW – 
Palliative Care Social Worker, Palliative Care Consult Service, Huntington Hospital

SWHPN is partnering with the Center to Advance Palliative Care on an audioconference to take place in December 2009.

The topic of the audioconference is the social work role in palliative care teams. Speakers include:

• Amy Bauer, LISW, the Harry R. Horvitz Center for Palliative Medicine,
Cleveland, OH
• Bill Mejia, LCSW, Huntington Hospital, Pasadena, CA

As the event date approaches, stay tuned to swhpn.org and our updates for further details and registration information.

Changing Health: Social Work in Health & Mental Health-Dublin June 28-July 2, 2010, will now include an opening address from Ireland’s President Mary McAleese on Tuesday, June 29, 2010.

Early Bird Registration Rates (before January 31, 2010)

Participants from Developed Countries/Regions: €500
Participants from Developing Countries/Regions and full-time students: €250

Standard Registration Rates

Participants from Developed Countries/Regions: €550
Participants from Developing Countries/Regions and full-time students: €275

Register before January 31, 2010, for savings. For more information visit: www.changinghealthdublin2010.com.

How are we doing?

Member satisfaction is high: about 90% of respondents consider this new organization valuable and would recommend SWHPN to their colleagues. Become a SWHPN member today.

How useful are we?

According to the survey, the most useful member services we provide are online access to the Journal of Social Work in End-of-Life and Palliative Care, and the articles and resources posted in our online community.

What do members want?

There is a significant amount of interest in webcasts, teleconferences and e-learning seminars about palliative and end-of-life care, especially if they include CEUs. We are focusing our resources on developing these educational opportunities as new member benefits. Many of our members also want more discounts on existing opportunities.

Frequently asked questions?

We’ve developed a FAQ page for members who are having some technical difficulties and other questions. As always, feel free to contact us if you have any unresolved membership issues or general input.

Hear from the Expert—Karen Bullock, PhD, Associate Professor at the University of Connecticut School of Social Work: Diversity in Hospice and Palliative Care

Throughout the month of August on the SWHPN LinkHealthPro discussion forum, Karen Bullock has been posting discussion topics, resources and commentary on current issues on culture and disparities in social work in end-of-life and palliative care. This topic is widely debated in current literature and is often misunderstood by practitioners of all disciplines. Karen presents recommended approaches to close the gap between ethnic minorities and non-minorities accessing hospice and palliative care and examines how the culture of particular groups can affect their understandings of life, death and end-of-life decision making.

This Month’s “Hear from the Expert” Objectives:

• Provide an overview of culturally variant worldviews and perspectives
• Explore diversity in communication, social interaction and family structure/functioning
• Promote strategies for cultural proficiency in end-of-life care

We want to hear from you. Follow Karen’s discussion on the LinkHealthPro SWHPN community. Click here to sign in and join in the discussions!