Coalition facilitates transition to death.

Byline: TIM CHRISTIE The Register-Guard

We're all going to die.

Our fathers and mothers and other loved ones will die. Sooner or later, young or old, at home or in a hospital, it's a place we all have to go.

But talking about it, and helping terminally ill loved ones make the transition to death, isn't something most people do very well.

A coalition of community volunteers hopes to change that.

Called Partners to Improve End of Life Care, the coalition has been working behind the scenes the past two years to build an organization that will try to help people feel comfortable talking about and dealing with dying.

The group is "specifically focused on setting a mechanism in place to educate and inform the community to enhance end of life care for all of us," said Mark New- son, a hospice administrator who helped found the coalition.

"The idea is to change the culture around dying," said Tasha Beauchamp, a hospice volunteer and the group's Web master.

The coalition wants to act as an information and referral service for dying people and their families. That means helping people deal with medical issues, such as nutrition and pain management, as well as emotional and spiritual needs at the end of life.

The group has established a Web site, plans to conduct a community survey in the spring and will make speakers available to service groups and other organizations.

The group came together about two years ago after a Bill Moyers series about death and dying called "On Our Own Terms" aired on PBS. Since then, members have been building support for the coalition across a broad spectrum of the community.

Organizers have the support of both local hospitals and the Lane County Medical Society, representing local physicians. Members include social workers, hospital and hospice administrators, nurses, doctors, chaplains, professors, city and county officials, therapists, family caregivers, funeral directors and others.

"It's a communitywide effort to educate and identify resources for people and families with terminal illness," said Dr. Munir Katul, a retired Springfield urologist.

Partners to Improve End of Life Care is taking no position on physician-assisted suicide.

A recent national report found Oregon does better than most states in caring for the dying, but still has much room for improvement. The report said most Americans would prefer to die at home, free of pain and surrounded by loved ones. But too many are dying alone or in nursing homes, in pain and attached to machines they don't want.

The report found Oregonians spent an average of just 24 days in hospice care. Ideally, a dying person spends at least 60 days or longer in a hospice program.

Part of the problem is that dying people and their loved ones are often reluctant to talk about end of life issues, or they wait until it's too late, advocates say. One goal of the new group is to help people learn how to have those conversations, and to have them earlier.

"There is nothing more critical or difficult in our lives than dealing with the death of a loved one," Newson said. "We need to give people better options and tools."

They want people to know about the resources available and to help fill those gaps where services aren't yet available.

Similar efforts are under way in 350 communities around the country.

"We're trying to provide tools to the community to do this in a healthy and natural way, that promotes healing and closure instead of angst and catastrophe," Newson said.

END OF LIFE CARE

For more information on Partners to Improve End of Life Care:

Web site: www.seriousillness.org/lane

E-mail: [e-mail].

U.S. mail: P.O. Box 50732, Eugene, OR 97405.