SUMMIT – The Coalition on Family Caregiving invites the public to attend their second Fall “Living Well Series” program titled “Understanding POLST (Practitioner Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment)” on Wednesday, Oct. 23 at 7 p.m. at Springfield Public Library, 66 Mountain Ave., Springfield.
Dr. Jeanne Kerwin, manager of the Ethics and Palliative Care Program at Overlook Medical Center in Summit, will review the new law in New Jersey which provides better protection of patient preferences for end-of-life care. Kerwin will discuss your responsibilities under this new law and how POLST can be an effective tool for patients and their families.
Kerwin and her team provide over 800 bedside consultations each year for patients and families making difficult decisions about serious illness or end of life care. She served on the NJ Health Decisions Ethics Committee for those with Developmental Disabilities and currently sits on the Life Time Support Ethics Committee in Union County, which serves the developmental disability population. Kerwin has been a leader in the State’s initiatives for out of hospital DNR orders and more recently serves on the Steering Committee for the POLST initiative in NJ.
There is no charge to attend the presentation and light refreshments will be served. Advance reservations are requested by calling Becky Seasholtz at 908-789-1717 or emailing [email protected]. There will also be a Q&A session after the presentation.
The “Living Well Series” of seminars are designed to help people with specific illnesses and their caregivers better understand the condition and manage their symptoms so they can lead as active and as healthy a life as possible. The Series also addresses the needs and issues of patients and their caregivers.
The Coalition on Family Caregiving, formed in 2003, is a group of community-based organizations, businesses and individuals whose mission is to assist family caregivers by offering support, education and information on resources and services. Our comprehensive resource and referral network is available at no cost. For more information, visit www.cfcares.org.