Mid-South Comfort Care Coalition Meetings
We send out a monthly Comfort Care Update and periodic announcement of events of interest via listserver. To join our e-mail list and be kept up to date with our meeting times and places, e-mail Emily at efoxhill (at) aol (dot) com and ask to be added to the Comfort Care e-list.
***************************************************
The next free bi-monthly community meeting of the Mid-South Comfort Care Coalition will be held Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010 - 5:30pm-7:30pm, in the activity room of Trezvant Terrace Assisted Living Residence, located at 177 N. Highland which is Waynoka and Highland, Memphis. Due to an ongoing construction project at Trezevant, parking instructions are necessary. Detailed directions are given at the end of this webpage.For directions or more information, call Emily Fox-Hill at 901-626-4233.
A potluck supper begins at 5:30pm. If you plan to bring food, please e-mail Emily to let her know what you will bring. Trezevant will supply bread, salad, tea, and coffee.
This month features a panel discusion, from 6:00pm to 7:30pm entitled
Navigating Long Distance Caregiving at the End of Life.
Panelists include
Peggy J. Dobbins,NCG, District Public Conservator for Aging Commission
of the Mid-South - Peggy Dobbins serves as the District Conservator for
West Tennessee covering the counties of Lauderdale, Fayette, Tipton and
Shelby counties. Serving in her capacity as District Conservator for over
22 years, Ms Dobbins has been the guardian/conservator for hundreds of
seniors and managed millions and millions of assets and resources that
belong to her clients. Her responsibilities includes but not limited to
making medical, placement and personal decisions on behalf of her clients.
She even sees to their being buried when there is no one else to do so.
Ms Dobbins is appointed by the Probate Court of Shelby County and serves
under a court order until death or someone else is appointed.
Charles Kolesar RN, BS, Clinical Director for Methodist Alliance Hospice
- Charles Kolesar is the Clinical Director for Methodist Alliance Hospice.
He has 19 years of nursing experience, having previously worked for St
Jude Children's Research Hospital, UT Bowld, and Le Bonheur Community
Outreach. He received his RN training from Baptist School of Nursing and
holds a BS in Psychology from the University of Tennessee. He is currently
pursuing graduate studies at the University of Memphis School of Public
Health. He is a CPR instructor and accredited in PALS (pediatric advanced
life support). Previous certifications include PONS (pediatric oncology
nurse specialist), ACLS (Advanced Cardiac Life Support), and CHPN (Certified
Hospice and Palliative Nurse).
Sandra Smegelsky, JD, District Ombudsman for Metropolitan Inter-Faith
Association (MIFA) - Sandra Smegelsky, who is a long distance caregiver
for her mother, serves as District Ombudsman and Vice-President for Legal
Affairs for MIFA. She views her present work as an extension of her belief
that law should equate with justice. Ms. Smegelsky is a long-time advocate,
having worked in the civil rights movement, Legal Services, and grassroots
organizing.
Wyvonia Woods Harris is Clinical Research Finance Manager for the Baptist Health Care Corporation. She has worked for Baptist for over forty years in the roles of Staff Nurse, Nurse Manager, Case Manager and Staff Development Instructor. She was the Lead Research Coordinator in the Memphis Multi-site Study on Prayer and Spirituality with Dr. Herbert Benson for four years (1998- 2002). Reverend Harris is an Associate Minister at Mt Vernon Baptist Church, Westwood, where she serves as Minister of the Health Awareness Ministry and May Fellowship Ministry, Sunday School and Ministerial Advisor for the newsletter, Barnabas, God’s Encourager. She has been a speaker, instructor, and facilitator for Parish Nurses and Congregational Parish Nurses. She was also a long distance caregiver for her father during his battle with cancer.
***************************************************
The January 5, 2005, Comfort Care community meeting was held from 5:30 - 7:30 P.M.at the Hope and Healing Center, located at 1115 Union Avenue. The program was a panel discussion on the topic of Navigating the Long-Term Care System of Care at End-of-Life. Panelists included Mary Ann Capocaccia, a nursing consultant and former nursing home administrator; Christine Conley, a family caregiver, artist, musician, and teacher; P. Elayne Poston,, Administrator of Allen-Morgan Health and Rehab Center; Marlene Siegel, Assistant Administrator of Ave Maria Home and a licensed social worker; Sandra Smegelsky, District Ombudsman for the Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association (MIFA); and Tonya Wales, a social worker with Crossroads Hospice.
October 2009 was the beginning of the Navigating panel discussions with "Navigating the Hospital System at the End of Life"
We are having a lot of questions, issues, and suggestions for solutions and programs come out of those panels. We are hoping to have a June 2010 community meeting with a discussion and creation of committees to address and explore more deeply what we have discovered through these panels.
***************************************************
Read an 8 Page Report on the Mid-South Comfort Care Coalition Arts Event Creative Passage: Honoring Life, Encouraging Hope
***************************************************
The Tennessee state website link for the new advance directive page: http://health.state.tn.us/AdvanceDirectives/index.htm All the forms can be downloaded from that page, both in English and in Spanish.
Own Your Future - Long-Term Care Awareness - from the TN State webpage addresses nursing homes and planning for elder care. The web address is:
http://www.tennesseeanytime.org/govoffice/ownyourfuture_info.html#family
***************************************************
Directions to Trezevant Terrace Activity Room for Comfort Care Community Meeting: There are two Trezevant entrances. If using the Wynoka entrance, turn west onto Waynoka off of Highland. The Trezevant entrance will be on your left. Our meeting will be held in the first floor Activity Room in the Trezevant Terrace. Tell the guard that you will be attending the Comfort Care meeting. After you are admitted to the grounds, follow the driveway around until you reach the parking area, which is now directly in front of the new assisted living building, the Terrace. When you enter the Terrace, turn right, and the Activities Room is the second room on the right.
If there are no parking spaces in that parking lot, you can use the Trezevant entrance on Highland, located between Highland Park and Oakley. Trezevant visitors may also park in the Crichton College parking lot across the street, on the east side of Waynoka, and walk to the Highland entrance. From the Highland entrance, come in the door under the green awning. Walk through the sitting room and toward the reception desk. Turn left by the desk and go through the white double doors into the Robert G. Snowden Room, which is a cafeteria. You can turn right and walk across the side of the room, go out the glass doors where the valet parking is, and go down the ramp to your left. Turn left, walk down the sidewalk, and go in the double doors in the last building, which will be on your left. When you enter the Terrace, turn right, and the Activities Room is the second room on the right.
Alternatively, if the weather is inclement, in the Robert G. Snowden cafeteria, you can walk straight, turn right by the salad bar, and go down the yellow and brown linoleum that runs all the way past the left wall of the dining room. At the end of the short hall, push the round metal plate mounted on the wall at right. The door at the end of the hall will open. Walk around the desk, turn right, and go out the double glass doors into the hall. There will be windows on your right. You will come out in the lobby of the Terrace. If you go straight across the lobby, you will pass a glass aviary full of birds. The next set of double doors on your right will be the Terrace activity room.