Friday, December 15, 2000
7:00 AM Conference Call
Minnesota Partnership to Improve End of Life Care

Minnesota Commission on End of Life Care Education Sub-Committee

Attendees: Dr. Ed Ratner, MN Partnership; Lillian Eid, AARP; Ben Wolfe, MCDES; Cathy Blaeser, MCCL; Linda Norlander, MN Partnership; Kay Markling, Dept. of Health

Notes: Brenda Paul, MN Partnership

Quick review of small group meeting from the November 9^th Commission on End of Life Care meeting:

At the November 9, 2000 Commission meeting the group broke into 4 small groups (access, standards, education and public policy) and each small group was charged with selecting one issue around which a recommendation by the Commission on End of Life Care could be made.

The Education Small Group chose the issue of public awareness and education.

• Examples of member-based organizations are the AARP, hospital auxiliary groups, the Junior League and the Lions Club.
• Possible strategies to achieve this goal might include:

~ Pre-written articles to include in organizational newsletters and publications

~ An establishment of a speakers bureau consisting of people who could go out and speak about end of life

~ A collaborative to help organizational leaders tailor and refine their end of life message and strategize for member education

~ A leadership conference with end of life content to educate organizational leaders about end of life

Tasks for the staff of the Minnesota Partnership to Improve End of Life Care will be to:

• Compile a list of member-based community organizations
• Identify leaders and contacts for member-based community organizations
• Find and refine end of life content for member-based community organizations

Meeting was adjourned at 7:40 AM

Next Meeting - To be determined

Prior to the Education Small Group meeting, the following information was distributed via e-mail for meeting attendees to consider:

Ed Ratner wrote a suggestion based on November 9^th Commission meeting:

"Community organizations that are member-based, faith-based, or that provide public information should increase awareness of hospice and palliative care in the communities they serve."

Examples of this could include:

• Libraries having appropriate collections on end-of-life issues.
• Clergy providing information about end-of-life issues individually to congregants or from the pulpit.
• Organizational newsletters including articles on end of life care.
• Telephone information and referral lines having resources on end-of-life care.

Jane O’Brien did preliminary research based on the November 9^th Commission meeting:

Report to the Education Subcommittee of the Minnesota

Commission to Improve End of Life Care

December 14, 2000

Library Holdings re: end of life. A quick search of library facilities statewide shows a fair number of holdings related to end of life issues. Keywords used in the searches were "hospice’; "bereavement"; "death and dying" and "caregiving". Academic institutions include the MNSCU and University of Minnesota systems.

A more detailed search could be conducted to determine whether the volumes available through the library systems are those recommended by professionals in the field.

See Table 1

Table 1: Table of Public and Academic Libraries