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Discover the heartbeat of Juneau's cultural and community landscape with 'Capital Chat.' This series explores the vibrant world of the community, arts, and dynamic cultural and social events happening in Alaska's Capital City. Tune in to 'Capital Chat' for your essential guide to the pulse of our community, where every story is an adventure and every voice matters.
And now Capital Chat on KINY, where we connect you with Juneau and Southeast Alaska's community organizations only on KINY.
Speaker 2:Joining me is Jeff Schwartz with the foundation for end of life care. Jeff, welcome to the show. Thanks for coming in this morning.
Speaker 3:Oh, thank you, Cliff. Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:Of course. So for people not familiar with what the foundation for end of life care is, what what role does it play in our community?
Speaker 3:Well, our our foundation is a local volunteer NGO, and, we support end of life services, such as hospice and bereavement care and, community education in Juneau in Southeast Alaska. And we provide resources for end of life planning, and for hospice education and just general support for the program at the at the hospital.
Speaker 2:Yeah. End of life care can be difficult for families to start talking about. How do you help people feel more comfortable starting that conversation?
Speaker 3:Well, there's a variety of ways. We we try to, put on community events. We had a speaker here last fall. It was very popular and well attended. We're gonna have another one here in, this fall, Doctor.
Speaker 3:Lanny Leary. She wrote this book, No One Has to Dialogue. And we do outreach to the medical community to inform them of what services are available and when they're appropriate. And then we have a website that we encourage people to look at that helps them get familiar with the program and also provides guidance for how to, engage with it. And, also resources for end of life planning, which a lot of people, you know, nobody likes to talk about this as you say.
Speaker 3:And, but but you wanna have your ducks in a row Yeah. Before you you start having a lot of distractions near the end.
Speaker 2:We'll give the website out in a moment. You mentioned hospice care. What's the common misconceptions that people might have about hospice care?
Speaker 3:Well, there's there's a I suppose the worst one is paranoia about how hospice is actually, know, some like euthanasia or something or you know, assisted suicide and it's not. What it is is well, is a program to make your people comfortable and less anxious about approaching the end of their lives and their loved ones too. Yeah. And and people who are around them and support them emotionally and spiritually and so bereavement care is a big part of it. But as far as other misconceptions, suppose a lot of people just don't know how available it is.
Speaker 3:Especially in Alaska. Well, our state has the lowest use of hospice in the whole country.
Speaker 1:Really?
Speaker 3:Yeah. And it's What
Speaker 2:do you think that is?
Speaker 3:Well, I think part of it is the fact that we have a, a large native population, that's that's you know not as engaged with, western medicine as as, sometimes, other parts of our population are. And then and then, I think it's just the fact that we have, you know, a lot of big transient component to our population. But and and and then education is just people being aware that it's it's here. In Juneau, there's only one highest hospice provider in Northern Southeast, and that's Bartlett. And there's another in Ketchikan.
Speaker 3:But peep people are are largely just unaware that services are even available, about, I don't know, around '21 2021 or so, they used to be provided by, Catholic Community Services and then they stopped and there was about a year and a half hiatus where there was just no hospice available at all. And then Bartlett, stepped up and started providing services and got accredited. But we still have a lot of problems with educating people and and also educating, medical professionals who are sometimes, reluctant to endorse hospice because you know, they want they're in the business of saving lives and
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 3:Hospice is in the business of easing your passage.
Speaker 2:Well, I I mean, just even having this conversation about it, you you can feel how emotional And and if anybody's ever had anybody pass or lost a loved one loved one or or a friend, you can recognize how difficult. Yeah. Just Yeah. Starting to have the conversation is, let alone dealing with it. What can the community do to support the the foundation?
Speaker 3:Well, we we do a lot, now as after hospital Bartlett took over, the assembly has committed to supporting hospice for the next couple years and and did last year and I think the year before as well. And we really appreciate that support. It's really critical. And and the program really needs a lot of support because it's everywhere hospice is in the red. It can never really make money for a private hospital or, because you have to have twenty four seven availability of of staff.
Speaker 3:So there's a lot of committed costs that you have to go in with. And and Medicaid, you know, just can't cover all of that. Sure. So so, we're we're always you know, worried about being on the chopping block with, declining revenues and stuff. But but things other things that the community could do, some big challenges that we face are staffing, especially staffing retention, and with problems with the lack of housing.
Speaker 3:We have people, you know, staff come up here. They wanna stay here. They wanna provide services, but then they find out that they just can't afford to live here.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. Huge problem we have here.
Speaker 3:Yeah. That's for sure.
Speaker 2:Well, you know what? I I I can only hope that the the people in power recognize the importance of dignity in the end of life and and we'll continue to support it. If if a family's listening and they want to, reach out for information, what do they need to do?
Speaker 3:Well, get on our website, and there's a huge amount of information there about all the aspects that we just covered, planning and and bereavement and and assistance of, you know, hospice when you sign up for it, and then you've you've got medical professionals who will come into your home and they'll take care they'll provide expert medical care. They'll provide pain management and medication and equipment, and then, you know, emotional and spiritual support as tailored to the people involved.
Speaker 2:Okay. Let's give the, the website out then.
Speaker 3:Yeah. Our website is foundationforendoflifecare.org. And it's got guidance on it for how to contact Bartlett and get involved right away.
Speaker 2:Oh, Jeff, thank you for sharing what, important work the foundation does here in our community.
Speaker 3:You're welcome. Thanks for having
Speaker 1:Capital Chat on KINY, your connection to the people and organizations making a difference in Juneau in Southeast Alaska. Subscribe to the Capital Chat podcast everywhere you listen to your favorite podcasts and at kinyradio.com.