The staging of 'The Story of My Life' at Asbury Memorial filled with serendipitous moments 
Savannah Morning News, Savannah, GA; by Amy Paige Condon; 3/6/25 
... [Ray] Ellis, a retired music and drama teacher who works now as a caregiver, and fellow church member Dottie Kluttz, a retired hospice nurse, were hanging decorations in Asbury Memorial’s Social Hall. Ellis shared how his dream of producing “The Story of My Life” was back on his mind … A former hospice nurse, Kluttz founded Savannah Hospice’s Story Keeping program in 2001 as a way for people near the end of their lives to share the story of their lives. …  [Click here to read the serendipitous, synergistic encounters that unfolded, resulting in shows March 28, 29, 30. Having received full underwriting for production costs,] Ellis proposed that ticket sales for the musical could serve as a fundraiser for Savannah Hospice’s Story Keeping program and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research—a nonprofit near and dear to Ellis, who was diagnosed about three years ago with the progressive brain disease that causes tremors, stiffness and balance problems. … Stage and film actor Mark Rand, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s around the same time as Ellis, agreed to portray Thomas to Ellis’s Alvin—even after Rand thought he would never perform again. … 
Editor's note: Serendipitous moments abound full circle. Ray's dad, Roy Ellis, was the photographic storykeeper for our church community through my growing-up years in Savannah, Georgia. Roy Ellis continually captured spontaneous moments of fun interactions and community for all things full of life and living. (Photos were put on bulletin boards and then freely given to whomever was in them.) Ray's dad Roy was the professional photographer for my sisters' weddings, creating treasured family photos that tell our stories back-then of our beloved family members who have since died. The Ellis home was always open to all, including me through a "homeless" Christmas week in college when my parents were living overseas. Through those years, Ray's sister Linda taught me so much. Ray's mom, Delores? Oh my. She's my hero for how I hope to age. While this newsletter space is limited, my gratitude to the Ellis family and celebration of Ray's production of "The Story of My Life" are unlimited. May the circle of our stories abound further ... [Click here to read more.]

East End Hospice building saved in Long Island fires: 'Angels watching over us' 
Patch, Westhampton-Hampton Bays, NY; by Lisa Finn; 3/10/25 
From the ashes of the raging brush fires in the Westhampton area this weekend, a miracle emerged: Despite just being located feet from the spot where charred trees bear testament to the blaze, a structure still stands — the East End Hospice building survived the fire. "Here is our headquarters," East End Hospice President and CEO Mary Crosby wrote on social media. "... Inside this building we coordinate the care of hundreds of patients each day. We answer more than 1,000 phone calls a week from families, hospitals, physicians and field staff. Without the dedicated people who work here, there would be no East End Hospice." On Sunday [3/9], she wrote: "Just 24 hours ago, flames roared around this building, damaging our storage structure and spilling into the parking lot. People have said it’s a miracle the building didn’t burn. We know the truth. It was the dedication and skill of our local fire departments that kept our headquarters standing. In the early hours of the fire. We received very little information until a text came through from a firefighter on the ground: 'We saved Hospice.'"

NPHI CEO Tom Koutsoumpas: Modernize hospice benefit for value-based future 
Hospice News; by Jim Parker; 3/10/25 
The health care realm is changing, and hospices must change with it. This is the central thesis that underlies the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation, which is currently celebrating the 10th anniversary of its founding. NPHI seeks to put nonprofit hospice organizations at the forefront of innovation, the development of new care and payment models and collective action to expand access and prepare for a value-based future. The organization currently has more than 120 members, all nonprofits, who collectively care for more than 580,000 patients.The health care realm is changing, and hospices must change with it. This is the central thesis that underlies the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation, which is currently celebrating the 10th anniversary of its founding. ... [Click on the title's link to continue reading.]

How to start the hospice conversation: Judy Bartel 
Cleveland.com, Cleveland, OH; by Guest columnist Judy Bartel, chief clinical officer for Hospice of the Western Reserve; 3/9/25 
Discussing hospice care with a loved one is one of life’s most delicate and emotional conversations. For many, the word “hospice” evokes fear -- fear of finality, of giving up, of losing hope. But the truth is, hospice isn’t about giving up; it’s about focusing on what matters most -- comfort, dignity and quality of life. ...

• Knowledge is empowering ...
• Timing matters ...
• Lead with compassion ...
• Reframing hope ...
• Let professionals help ..
• Listening is essential ...
• A step toward compassionate care ...

Local pharmacist advising Ohio health director on palliative care 
Herald-Star, Steubenville, OH; by Christopher Dacanay; 3/10/25 
A local pharmacist hopes to “expand utilization” of palliative care in Jefferson County and increase patients’ quality of life from her new position as an adviser to the Ohio Department of Health director. Steubenville resident Mary Mihalyo, doctor of pharmacy, was appointed Dec. 10 to the Palliative Care and Quality of Life Interdisciplinary Council. Bringing her own expertise, Mihalyo joins a diverse, 20-person group of professionals with experience in the provision of palliative care. ... Mihalyo, who founded Steubenville’s A&B Pharmacy with her husband, is the former CEO of Delta Care Rx LLC. She now serves as chief clinical officer for the company, which has been rebranded as Dragonfly Health. ... Her professional work, since [1999], has focused on serving hospice and palliative care patients locally and nationally as part of interdisciplinary teams. ... [Council members] ... actively consult with and advise the director on palliative care initiatives in the state, identify standards of practice, pinpoint initiatives at the state or national level integrating palliative care into the healthcare system and developing its practice and lay out patient identification guidelines for health care providers.

Tumor: why not use the warrior’s metaphor anymore 
taketonews; 3/7/25 
... The term "warrior" is often used to describe cancer sick people, referring to their strength, determination and ability to fight the disease. Although the intention is positive, docts and psychologists believe that this metaphor can generate negative effects on people with an oncological disease. The "warrior" label is not always appropriate and can have unwanted psychological effect on cancer patients. ... Use a language that does not reduce the patient to his struggle, but that enhances his entirety, including weakness, depression and pain, can contribute to a more human and respectful experience of care. ... [Click on the title's link for this further information below.]

• A metaphor that can have negative effects on those suffering ... 
• The risk of invalidating the emotional experiences of those who have a tumor ...
• The right to anger, difficulties and ambivalence ...
• The dangerous association between “Warrior” and “Vittoria” ...
• The alternative to the language of the “warrior”: an approach based on humanity ...

Editor's note: Do you remember when most all news reports of natural death were phrased as the person having "lost the fight to cancer," having "fought the fight," and more? Now--increasingly--news reports of death describe the person having been surrounded by family at home, "peaceful," and more. Listen. Hear. Educate. Strengthen the dignity, realities, and humanity of the dying person. Click here for a link to share with others.

Assessing pain, anxiety and other symptoms of nursing home residents unable to speak for themselves 
Regenstrief Institute, Indianapolis, IN; by Kathleen T. Unroe, MD, MHA; 3/10/25 
Revamped tool reliably addresses physical and emotional distress, well-being and end-of-life symptoms. As many as half of nursing home residents are cognitively impaired and may be unable to communicate symptoms such as pain or anxiety to the staff and clinicians caring for them. Therefore, information needed for the evaluation of symptoms and subsequent treatment decisions typically does not reliably exist in nursing home electronic health records (EHRs). A new paper reports on the novel adaptation of a commonly used symptom assessment instrument to more comprehensively acquire this difficult-to-obtain data with the ultimate goal of enabling knowledge-based expansion of palliative care services in nursing homes to address residents’ symptoms. 

Hallucinogens may elevate death risk by more than twofold 
Medscape; by Liz Scherer; 3/5/25 
Hallucinogens are associated with a 2.6-fold increased risk for premature death in some individuals seeking emergency care, according to a recent study. The risks are especially substantial in vulnerable patients who are suicidal, who are susceptible to severe mental illness, or have comorbid conditions such as respiratory disease or cancer. The findings come at a time of renewed interest in the therapeutic potential of substances like psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), and ketamine for mood and substance use disorders. In 2023, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research allocated roughly $3 million to three clinical trials examining psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of alcohol use disorder, treatment-resistant depression, and end-of-life psychological distress in patients with advanced cancer.

Trends in Pediatric Palliative Care Research (TPPCR) 2025; Issue #2 
Siden Research Team; Commentary by Kim Mooney-Doyle, MD; 3/6/25
Kim Mooney-Doyle – University of Maryland School of Nursing, MD, USA: I am a nurse scientist dedicated to advancing family health in serious pediatric illness. I have studied parent-sibling relationships and the social ecological factors that impact it for the past decade. ... Siblings are special and, too often, invisible in the care of seriously ill children, adolescents, and young adults. Two articles in this month’s collection bring the needs and experiences of siblings into focus using a family lens. A key take-away from this important work is that while siblings want to communicate with their parents about their brother’s or sister’s illness, it can be hard to initiate such conversations. As clinicians and researchers, we can work with families to devise strategies that foster these conversations, such as providing prompts or a scripted conversation guide to help a parent engage the sibling.  

Here’s to Laura Ptucha-Skoog, hospice nurse 
YubaNet.com; by Timothy May; 3/10/25 
“I’m not sure I’d say much at all, not at first. I would just try to listen.” This in response to the question of how a hospice nurse should respond if patients or family members make demands that seem unreasonable, unwise, or downright impossible. ... Laura Ptucha-Skoog should know; she has been an R.N. for decades and a nurse at Hospice of the Foothills for the last nine years. She loves her job, including the challenge of facilitating communication. Her ability to talk frankly with terminally ill hospital patients and families drew her to a career in hospice. “Often,” Laura explains, “the human elements are as challenging as the medical ones. Things like asking the right questions and listening to responses; making sure your patient and their caregivers understand what you are doing and why; verifying that everyone understands where you are in the process; listening to their responses with patience and empathy.” ... 

13 hospital transactions in 1 week 
Becker's Hospital Review; by Madeline Ashley; 3/4/25 
The end of February into early March saw a wave of hospital transactions, signaling a shift in healthcare ownership and operations across the country. Below are the 13 hospital transactions that Becker's has reported on since Feb. 27:

• New York City-based NYU Langone completed its merger March 3 with Patchogue, N.Y.-based Long Island Community Hospital ...
• Franklin, Tenn.-based Community Health Systems sold ShorePoint Health-Port Charlotte (Fla.) and certain assets of ShorePoint Health-Punta Gorda (Fla.) on March 1 for $260 million to Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based AdventHealth ...
• Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare acquired eight St. Louis-based Ascension Hospitals in Illinois on March 1. The hospitals are: Ascension Holy Family in Des Plaines, Ascension Mercy in Aurora, Ascension Resurrection in Chicago, Ascension St. Francis in Evanston, Ascension St. Joseph-Elgin, Ascension St. Joseph-Joliet, Ascension St. Mary-Chicago and Ascension St. Mary-Kankakee ...
•  Nashville, Tenn.-based HCA Healthcare purchased Lehigh Acres, Fla.-based Lehigh Regional Medical Center, from Ontario, Calif.-based Prime Healthcare on Feb. 27 ...

‘The weekend effect’: If you’re planning surgery, doctors say you should think twice about Fridays 
DailyDot.com; by Ilana Gordon; 3/7/25 
Everybody’s working for the weekend, which, according to a new study, is incidentally the worst time of the week to undergo surgery. A paper published in the JAMA Network on March 4, 2025, concludes that patients experience worse outcomes during the weekends, as compared to weekdays. This phenomenon is known as the “weekend effect” and the study, which examined 429,691 patients in Ontario, Canada, determined that people whose surgeries began directly before the weekend “experienced a statistically significant increase in the composite outcome of death, complications, and readmissions at 30 days, 90 days, and 1 year.” 

Poised for growth, Missouri’s largest aging services nonprofit changes name: Lutheran Senior Services is now EverTrue 
St. Louis Business Journal; by Jackie Hamilton, VP of Advancement, EverTrue; 3/7/25 
One of the oldest nonprofit agencies in the St. Louis region is changing its name to reflect a dynamic change and growth in desired services and offerings for those 60 plus. Beginning this week, the 165-year-old Lutheran Senior Services (LSS) organization, which also is the 11th largest nonprofit senior living provider in the country, will be known as EverTrue. “It’s a transformative moment for the organization,” said Adam Marles, president and CEO of EverTrue. “From right here in St. Louis, we’re leading the country in aging services. In this next chapter, we needed a name and a brand that positioned us for future growth and opportunities, while still being true to our mission.” 

J-Sei Home closes after 30 years, leaving Bay Area Japanese seniors in need 
KQED, San Francisco, CA; by Cecilia Lei; 3/10/25 
... For decades, Bay Area Japanese American families have sought culturally sensitive senior care facilities like J-Sei Home for aging loved ones. Community members said that about a decade ago, there were approximately 10 Japanese senior care homes in the region. Today, that number has declined by about half. The most recent closure came in January, when the last residents of J-Sei Home moved out, and the facility permanently closed its doors after 30 years of operation. A majority of the displaced residents were Japanese Americans in their 90s and had cognitive impairment. ... They had tender caregivers who spoke Japanese. They ate familiar comfort foods like miso soup and pickled vegetables, and they participated in daily activities such as drum circles and singing Japanese songs. ...
Editor's note: Click here for part one of this two-part article, which was published by KQED on 3/9/25. Click on the title's link for this article, part two. Click here for part two, the article summarized above. 

We are all storytellers. We all live in a network of stories. There isn't a stronger connection between people than storytelling. ~ Jimmy Neil Smith, Founder and President Emeritus of the International Storytelling Center
Pair this with today's Editor's Pick, "The staging of 'The Story of My Life' at Asbury Memorial filled with serendipitous moments."