UA Professor Works to Improve Comfort Care for the Dying

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Each of our lives is destined to end, yet frank and open discussions of death — a necessary step in improving care of the dying — rarely occurs, said a University of Alabama assistant professor of psychology.

Dr. Rebecca Allen-Burge, a leader in the Alabamians for Better Care at Life’s End (ABCLE) coalition, said people often avoid the topic of death and, at least emotionally, also often avoid those who are dying.

“People have a tendency to cut themselves off from people who are dying — to treat them as the illness rather than treating them as who they are,” said Allen-Burge.

The statewide coalition, 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, as people in these groups tend to receive less effective comfort care, Allen-Burge said.

The group hopes to use a 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 someone suffering from non-curable ailments as comfortable as possible.

The national 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. The Jefferson County center provides end-of-life care for the needy.

A West Alabama coalition of ABCLE is organizing public viewings of the series. These viewing sessions will provide a forum for discussion of end-of-life issues and will give the public information about local resources in palliative care, said Allen-Burge. Times and session locations will be announced.

Allen-Burge’s work with ABCLE focuses on the health care profession. By conducting focus groups with various health care professionals across west and central Alabama, Allen-Burge and her colleagues are determining some of the problems these professionals encounter during end-of-life care.

She is also coordinating the development of surveys that will be mailed to health care professionals, and she will compile and analyze the data generated from the surveys. The results will be used to develop ways of overcoming the barriers professionals face in providing quality end-of-life care, Allen-Burge said.

Members of the West Alabama coalition include the area’s three hospice centers, Hospice South, Caring Hands Hospice and Hospice of West Alabama. Clergy, like Joseph Davis of the National Black Church Family Council, and area funeral home directors are also participating in the efforts.

As the fastest growing segment of this nation’s population is the elderly, end-of- life care issues are become increasingly important, said Allen-Burge, who also serves as the associate director of UA’s applied gerontology program, a program directed by Dr. Louis Burgio.

“Baby boomers are not going to go quietly into the good night,” she said. “They are going to demand services that are not currently available.”

Allen-Burge said society could benefit from looking at death from a different perspective.

“If we see death as simply another phase of life, it gives us the opportunity to live more fully,” she said. “Dying can teach us a lot about life. We have a tendency to squander our time. Those who are dying do not squander their time — they really live. It’s an amazing thing.”

Dr. John Shuster, an M.D. who directs UAB’s palliative medicine program, heads ABCLE. 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 PBS television series.