SHU & St. Vincent's Join for Palliative Health Care Conference

FAIRFIELD, Conn.—Sacred Heart University is partnering with St. Vincent’s Medical Center in Bridgeport to present “Living Well through Illness: Charting a Patient-Centered Voyage,” a comprehensive conference on palliative care, Saturday, April 1, in the classrooms surrounding University Commons.

The conference will educate patients, families, caregivers and health-care providers about palliative care, which focuses on the experience of the illness rather than the illness itself. Medical experts from SHU’s and St. Vincent’s nursing, social work, theology and rehabilitation departments will dispel misnomers about palliative care and inform those suffering with chronic and serious illness about the resources and support available to them.

Guests will hear from Robert Fitton, St. Vincent’s director of palliative care, and keynote speaker Lisa Caramico, a Bridgeport anesthesiologist, before heading into specific sessions that will cover rehabilitation, caregiving, social work, and body, mind and spirit, among other topics. A panel discussion will conclude the conference.

Corinne Lee, a clinical assistant professor in SHU’s College of Nursing and a conference organizer, said she wants participants to know there are resources available to help them through whatever process they are experiencing. “We want people to know there’s help available to them as soon as they’re diagnosed with a chronic or serious illness,” Lee said.

Mary Alice Donius, dean of the College of Nursing, who will also speak at the conference, said, “Patients facing serious illness deserve to have the best support, comfort and care available. There are many resources available locally, regionally and nationally, and patients and their families need to know about them. This conference will explore how chronic and/or terminal disease can be experienced as a supported journey when health care, family, spirituality and other resources come to together to ease the burden of suffering.”

Faculty from the College of Health Professions, College of Arts & Sciences and College of Nursing all played a role in planning the conference. Donius said she believes the three Colleges and St. Vincent’s have put together a superb conference. “The primary objective of Sacred Heart University ‘is to prepare our students to live in and make their contributions to the human community.’ Two of our core values are ‘promotion of the common good of society’ and the ‘recognition of the dignity and worth of every human being,’ ” she said. “Still, it is vitally important that Sacred Heart and our partner, St. Vincent’s Medical Center, work collaboratively to educate health care providers and the community about the complex and critical issues facing individuals with chronic illnesses and/or end-of-life issues. Sacred Heart values inter-professional communication and collaboration, so it is imperative that this conference provides information to those who will encounter these ethical and moral dilemmas in the future.”

Visit the event website here: http://www.sacredheart.edu/academics/collegeofnursing/palliativecareconference/