Nurses, physicians, and other professional caregivers who attended the Diversity and End-of-Life Care seminar were eligible to receive three CEUs.
BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Metropolitan Jewish Hospice hosted a Diversity and End-of-Life Care teleconference at Menorah Home and Hospital in Manhattan Beach.
The free event was part of the Hospice Foundation of America’s 16th annual Living With Grief conference, a national seminar that aids caregivers in developing better strategies for helping family members and patients cope with a chronic or life-limiting illness.
Delivered live via webcast from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., the seminar discussed diversity at three stages — end-of-life care, time of death, and bereavement.
The free event was part of the Hospice Foundation of America’s 16th annual Living With Grief conference, a national seminar that aids caregivers in developing better strategies for helping family members and patients cope with a chronic or life-limiting illness.
Delivered live via webcast from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., the seminar discussed diversity at three stages — end-of-life care, time of death, and bereavement.
Metropolitan Jewish Hospice panelists, from left, Rev. Eric Towse; medical social worker Khatima Shah, LMSW; bereavement coordinator Terry Glusko, MT-BC, GC-C; and nurse practitioner Anne Walsh, participate in a discussion during Metropolitan’s diversity and end-of-life seminar. Photo courtesy Metropolitan Jewish Health System
Sandy Chen Stokes, RN, PHN, MSN, founder and executive director of the Chinese American Coalition for Compassionate Care, and Wanda Henry-Jenkins, RN, MHS, manager of bereavement Services at VITAS Innovative Hospice Program, spoke of the importance of knowing each patient.
Noting different cultures vary in their approach to death and dying, caregivers must be as informed as possible about each patient’s traditions, values, and rituals.
From left, Frieda Perez-Patterson, RN; Faithanne Mandel, RN; and Charlene Essabba, RN, of Metropolitan Jewish Hospice in Oceanside, Long Island, attend the diversity seminar.
After the broadcast, a local panel moderated by Ruth K. V. Recchia, RN, CHPN, Metropolitan Jewish hospice admissions director and a clinical consultant, addressed questions. “We offered this program to show that we strongly believe in the importance of diversity in end-of-life care,” Recchia says. “We acknowledge it and respect it.”
Tracey Boyd is a regional reporter. To comment, e-mail editorNY@nursingspectrum.com.


