UA, Other Tuscaloosa Locations, to Host Care for the Dying Sessions

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – A group working to improve care for the dying is hosting a series of information sessions in conjunction with an upcoming national PBS special on comfort care for the terminally ill.

A West Alabama segment of the Alabamians for Better Care at Life’s End coalition (ABCLE) will host the sessions, which will include viewings of the television programs and information on local resources for comfort care, from 7:30-10 p.m., Sept. 10-13, at each of the following Tuscaloosa sites:

The University of Alabama, 208 Gordon Palmer Hall, Hackberry Drive

Stillman College

Holy Spirit Catholic Church

Cornerstone Full Gospel Baptist Church

ABCLE, comprised of health-care professionals, educators and policymakers, is identifying problems, making recommendations and building public support for ways to improve care of the dying. It places special emphasis on improving end-of-life care for those in rural areas, minorities and the urban poor.

The group hopes to use the four-part PBS series, set to broadcast nationally for four consecutive nights (Sept. 10-13 at 8 p.m.) as a backdrop for raising the issue of palliative care ‘ a term that describes making persons suffering from non-curable ailments as comfortable as possible.

The national television series, “On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying,” has a strong Alabama connection. The Balm of Gilead Center, located at Cooper Green Hospital in Birmingham, will be featured prominently in the PBS series. Bill Moyers, a national broadcast journalist who has received more than 30 Emmy Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, will host the series. ABCLE is led by Dr. John Shuster, an M.D. who also directs UAB’s palliative medicine program.

For more information on the sessions or the West Alabama coalition’s efforts, contact the coalition’s co-chairpersons, Dr. Rebecca Allen-Burge, a University of Alabama assistant professor of psychology 205/348-9891, or Rev. Joseph Davis, 205/349-1417.