University of Delaware
Office of Public Relations
UpDate - Vol. 16, No. 26, April 10


          Bereavement teleconference set in McDowell April 16
     
     Living With Grief: When Illness Is Prolonged" is the
theme of the fourth annual National Bereavement
Teleconference scheduled for Wednesday, April 16. The
College of Nursing and Delaware Hospice Inc. will sponsor a
local telecast from 1-4:30 p.m., in Room 114, McDowell Hall.
     The conference is open to the public at no charge
unless it is being taken for continuing education credit,
which involves a $15 processing fee. A corresponding
teleconference book will be available for $4.
     The live-via-satellite video conference will focus on
grief and bereavement issues associated with prolonged
illness such as cancer, AIDS and Alzheimer's disease. It
will be moderated by Cokie Roberts of ABC News and will
feature a distinguished panel of experts. There will be
opportunities for those viewing the conference to
participate in interactive call-in segments.
     "Everyone has been touched by grief associated with
prolonged illness," Jack D. Gordon, president of the Hospice
Foundation of America, said. "We want to do what we can to
assist individuals in mourning, as well as physicians and
nurses, clergy, social workers and teachers who deal with
these issues professionally, so they can respond effectively
to survivors in need and take care of themselves as well."
     Panel members include Betty Davies, professor of
nursing at the University of British Columbia; Kenneth J.
Doka, Lutheran minister and professor of gerontology at the
College of New Rochelle; William Lamers Jr., founding father
of the American Hospice Movement; and Therese A. Rando,
clinical psychologist and executive director of the
Institute for the Study and Treatment of Loss.
     A panel of local experts will lead a discussion
following the teleconference. Participants in that panel
include Barbara Bernhardt, bereavement counselor, and Linda
Wills, social worker, both from Delaware Hospice Inc., and
Meg Maley, director of Oncology Care Home Health
Specialists. Madeline E. Lambrecht, director of the division
of special programs for the College of Nursing and a
certified death educator and grief counselor, will moderate
the discussion.
      The teleconference is co-sponsored by the Association
for Death Education and Counseling, in cooperation with the
American Medical Association. It is funded in part by a
grant from Project Death in America.
     For more information, call the Division of Special
Programs in the College of Nursing at 831-4549.