Ask the Scholar
Document scope · 1 page
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory.
For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
55031101
label
Aging
core
doc
dtoType
document
citationUrl
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
55031101
sourceUrl
contentType
document
title
Aging
citationUrl
collections
Records of the First Lady's Office (Clinton Administration)
Melanne Verveer's Subject Files
imageCount
1
hasImages
yes
source
import
hasTranscription
no
Source extras
naId
55031101
levelOfDescription
fileUnit
otherTitles
2068127-20130534S-050-005-2022
recordType
description
ocrSource
nara-archive
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
document
mediaId
6fc4067f6a4f220e
ocrText
Aging
f
mos И 1102 sope
Melanne- |
Heres info
Hugh wathroston
your me
-
Clinton Presidential Records
Digital Records Marker
This is not a presidential record. This is used as an administrative
marker by the William J. Clinton Presidential Library Staff.
This marker identifies the place of a publication.
Publications have not been scanned in their entirety for the purpose
of digitization. To see the full publication please search online or
visit the Clinton Presidential Library's Research Room.
Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life
Opening Doors
Access to Care at the End of Life
March 2, 2000
Duke University
[2 copies]
End of Life
on Care at the
Duke Institute
Duke University
March 2, 2000
of Life
the End
Care at
Access to
OZ-ZATO
Duke Institute
on Care at the
Non Profit Org
U.S. Postage
End of Life
PAID
Center for Continuing Education
Permit #60
Duke Divinity School
Durham, NC
Box 90966
Duke Institute on Care at the
Durham, NC 27708
(919) 660-3448
[email protected]
End of Life is Opening Doors
DUKE
UNIVERSITY
News
www.dukenews.duke.cdm
Duke News Service
(919) 684-2823 FAX (919) 684 5760
Box 90563 Durham, NC 27708-0563
For immediate release
Contact: Linda Haac
Jan. 12, 2000
(919) 681-8055
[email protected]
Note to editors: For phone interviews, you can reach Duke Divinity School Dean L. Gregory Jones at
at (919) 660-3434 or at home at (919) 967-5338. The director of the Duke Institute on Care at the
End of Life, Dr. Keith G. Meador, can be reached at Duke at (919) 660-3488 or at home at (919)
942-6735. Hugh A. Westbrook is available at his office at (305) 350-5911 or at home at (305) 668-
0444. Dr. J. Richard Williams is available at his office at (305) 350-5923 or at home at (305) 361-
6007 or (828) 743-2644.
DUKE UNIVERSITY CREATES NATIONAL INSTITUTE ON CARE AT THE END OF LIFE
DURHAM, N.C. - Duke University has received a founding gift of $13.5 million arranged
by hospice pioneer Hugh A. Westbrook to establish the Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life to
improve research, education and practice across the nation for those near death, Duke President
Nannerl O. Keohane announced Wednesday.
The new institute will be based in Duke's Divinity School and will have an interdisciplinary
focus with a national and international scope. It is the first academic entity in the country to bring
together a broad spectrum of disciplines, schools and professions to look at what has become a
pressing social issue: how best to care, as a community, for those in the last stage of life.
Westbrook is chief executive officer of VITAS Healthcare Corp. of Miami, a 1970 Duke
Divinity School graduate and an ordained United Methodist minister. He coordinated the gifts from
the Foundation for the End of Life Care, the DadeFund of the Dade Community Foundation and
VITAS, the nation's largest hospice provider.
"We are grateful for the leadership of Hugh A. Westbrook and VITAS Healthcare in helping
Duke to meet a critically important social challenge - providing humane and compassionate care for
those at the end of life," Keohane said. "This new institute is an excellent example of the
interdisciplinary strength of the university, linking faculty from our Divinity School with colleagues
from across the campus and the nation whose research and expertise can help address the
complexities of both living and dying well."
-MORE-
Jan-12-00 12:11P auke news service
681 7334
P.06
care-1stadd
"Duke's commitment to developing the world's leading center for the advancement and
improvement of care to the terminally ill and their families focuses on one of the most important
challenges that can be addressed in human society," Westbrook said. "This generation and all future
generations will be able to live a better life knowing that progress is being made on behalf of those
we care for at life's end."
The new Duke institute will involve the full spectrum of professionals who provide end-of-life
care, including physicians and nurses at Duke's medical center, theologians and ethicists from its
Divinity School, humanities scholars from its arts and sciences departments, pastors and other
caregivers from across the nation, and social work faculty from the nearby University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill.
In addition, the institute is in the process of establishing a formal affiliation with researchers
and scholars in the Department of Palliative Care and Policy at King's College, University of
London, and St. Christopher's Hospice in London, England. St. Christopher's is widely recognized
as the site where the modern-day hospice movement began.
The institute, moreover, will be a partner with one or more historically black colleges in the
United States to address issues of particular relevance to the African-American community.
"Issues surrounding end of life care are always significant and increasingly urgent because of
changing demographics, economic pressures in contemporary health care, and technological advances
tending toward aggressive interventions, "said Divinity School Dean L. Gregory Jones. "In light of
these concerns. we need stronger research and improved practice that draws on religious, ethical and
socially responsible commitments.
"We are excited about the innovative significance of this new institute," Jones added.
"Churches and synagogues have long been leaders in caring for people at the end of life, and Duke's
Divinity School is well positioned to provide leadership in this area. To deal with complex issues
involved in dying well, we need interdisciplinary, inter-school and inter-professional efforts. Hugh
A. Westbrook's leadership and founding gifts will enable us to embody our vision for focusing on
more effective and faithful care at the end of life."
In earning his master-of-divinity degree at Duke, Westbrook specialized in ethics and pastoral
care. For the next 10 years, he served as a pastor in North Carolina and Florida and worked as a
hospital chaplain caring for terminally ill patients and their families. In 1978, he co-founded with
Esther Colliflower the VITAS Healthcare Corp., which provides hospice care to more than 32,000
patients and bereavement services to more than 90,000 people annually across the nation.
In 1979, Westbrook wrote and was instrumental in gaining passage in Florida of the nation's
first hospice-licensing law and establishing a quality standard for care of terminally ill patients in that
state. He has also chaired the National Hospice Education Project, a grassroots effort to promote
awareness of hospice care.
-MORE-
news service
681 7334
P.07
care-2ndadd
Activities of the new Duke institute will include academic research and teaching; practical
training for health-care providers, pastors and other caregivers; and public information and
educational programs for a wider public.
Traditionally, Duke has moved to address broad societal issues through multi-disciplinary
research. Nearly 50 years ago, the university broke new ground in geriatrics research, establishing
the nation's first interdisciplinary Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development. In
addition, Duke sponsors the Center for Health Policy, Law and Management through its Terry
Sanford Institute of Public Policy. It also conducts the Kenan Ethics Program for the study and
teaching of ethics, and has recently established the Center for Medical Ethics and the Humanities in
its medical center.
"We anticipate programming for the Institute on Care at the End of Life will include research
and education on issues such as theological and medical ethics, cultural diversity and pain
management," said Dr. Keith G. Meador, institute director and a psychiatrist on both the faculties of
Duke's divinity and medical schools. "We also are committed to engaging public-policy issues,
particularly as they relate to underserved populations. Although the challenges are significant, we
believe an interdisciplinary effort is critical to making substantive improvements in practices related
to caring for suffering and dying persons."
Meador said he expects the Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life will provide national
leadership in training clergy who care for the dying, whether in parish or health-care settings. He also
expects the new institute to use hospices across the country to give clinical training to clergy in end-
of-life care. In addition, he said, he foresees the new institute serving as a national resource for
community and health-care professionals who desire to provide end-of-life care that is attentive to
spiritual concerns.
The institute will celebrate its founding with a symposium and dinner on Thursday, March 2.
at Duke. The symposium, "Opening Doors: Access to Care at the End of Life," will address the
virtues and strength of character needed for caretaking, quality-of-life issues for the dying, a patient-
and-family centered model of care, and ways to access care for those approaching death.
Dr. J. Richard Williams, president of the Foundation for End of Life Care and VITAS
executive vice-president, said: "In the 21st century, the most important contributions to the health-care
industry will come from the work pioneered by those involved in end-of-life care. Duke's new
institute will make a pivotal difference in this care."
-----
For more information about the institute or its upcoming symposium, call (919) 660-3537.
-----
Jan-12-00 12:10P duke news service
681 7334
P.04
Additional quotes on the new Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life:
"Too often in recent years, discussions of end-of-life care have been held captive by the issues
of physician-assisted suicide. The institute at Duke offers an exciting opportunity for American society
and the caring professions to advance compassionate alternatives to pre-emptive death. It will engender
critically needed research into practical, effective ways of responding when suffering persists.
Furthermore, the institute will enable us to refine and disseminate techniques for enhancing quality of
life, when time is short and every fleeting moment is precious."
Dr. Ira R. Byock. author of Dying Well and director of the
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's national program,
"Promoting Excellence in End of Life Care."
"The Duke School of Nursing is delighted to be a participant in the Institute on Care at the End
of Life. The institute emphasizes new interdisciplinary work, bringing together people who provide care
at the end of life and those who think about research and policy issues related to the end of life. The
institute offers a unique opportunity for us to be leaders in this field and for those at the schools of
divinity, nursing and medicine to share work in this critical area with those in the humanities and others
across the university."
Mary T. Champagne, Duke School of Nursing dean
"The Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life will benefit all Americans, but particularly
hospice providers, who strive to keep patients free of physical pain and suffering while providing them
and their families with emotional and spiritual support. This institute helps move us toward a day when
all Americans will better understand their right to quality. compassionate medical attention at the end of
life. The National Hospice Organization applauds the establishment of the institute and this life-
affirming gift to the nation."
Karen Davie, National Hospice Organization president
"Social workers are involved in a variety of health settings as members of interdisciplinary
teams providing care to individuals and families who are dealing with end-of-life issues. Because it is
increasingly recognized that the psycho-social needs of the dying are often as important as their
physical care, there is a tremendous need for interdisciplinary research efforts aimed at increasing our
understanding of how to reduce suffering and improve quality of care. The new Duke Institute on Care
at the End of Life represents an exciting development in this field. The School of Social Work at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is delighted to be involved as a collaborative partner."
Richard L. Edwards, dean of the University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work
-MORE-
0an-12-00 12:11P auke news service
681 7334
P.05
quotes-1stadd
"The quality of end-of-life care is a test of the humanity of the health-care system. It is
wonderful that a prestigious school like Duke is undertaking to provide leadership in examining and
improving this crucial aspect of medical care."
Jack Gordon, Hospice Foundation of America president
"Care at the end of life is of growing importance worldwide. This is an exciting initiative, which
I hope will help take care forward, and benefit patients and their families through interdisciplinary
research and education into ways to improve the quality of care, including access to care and the
management of symptoms. We could learn so much by comparisons between the systems in different
countries."
Irene J. Higginson, palliative-care researcher and professor
at King's College and St.Christopher's Hospice in London.
"With the institute, we have the opportunity, and indeed the responsibility to approach these
matters, and their complex cultural, social and medical dimensions with compassion as well as
intelligence. I am particularly excited about the exemplary model of interdisciplinarity the initiative
represents. It emerges from a broad and deep curiosity and expertise across the university. What is
compelling to each of us is that even at this edge of a technologically savvy age, there is so much yet to
be understood about death and dying. It is a subject that dramatically compels our respect."
Karla F. Holloway, dean of humanities and social sciences
at Duke, and professor of English and African-American
studies
"This new institute presents a wonderful opportunity for Duke's School of Medicine to
collaborate with colleagues in the Duke Divinity School on a range of issues related to care at the end of
life. We are excited about what this new program brings to Duke University, and we look forward to
working with Dean Jones and others on this important initiative."
Dr. Edward W. Holmes, Duke School of Medicine dean
"Our research with patients about the attributes of a good death has taught us that spiritual
completion ranks second only to pain control. The Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life creates a
unique bridge from the Divinity School to the medical center to promote scholarship, education and
clinical innovation in pursuit of a truly integrated approach to the dying patient."
Dr. James A. Tulsky, Duke associate professor of medicine
and director of the Program on the Medical Encounter and
Palliative Care at the Veteran's Administration Medical
Center in Durham.
###
Duke University
DURHAM
NORTH CAROLINA
27708-0966
THE DIVINITY SCHOOL
TELEPHONE 9191 660-3456
OFFICE OF EXTERNAL RELATIONS
FAX 919) 660-3405
January 5, 2000
Dr. J.R. Williams, Chairman and President
The Foundation for End of Life Care
VITAS Hospice Charitable Fund
123 S.E. 3rd Avenue, PMB:110
Miami, FL 33131-2003
Dear J. R.:
I want to express my heartfelt appreciation for the commitment by the
Foundation for End of Life Care of $10 million over ten years for the Duke
Institute on Care at the End of Life.
You are providing extraordinary resources that will make a decisive.
positive difference for professional caregivers, families, and especially those
who are dying. I feel wonderfully privileged to have been involved over the
years in the evolution of the Institute, and I am profoundly grateful for the
leadership and energy that you are giving to this vital endeavor.
May your New Year be filled with peace and joy!
Sincerely,
we
Wesley F. Brown
WFB:mws
c: Dean L. Gregory Jones
[email protected]
Institute seeks to illuminate the end of life [01/13/2000]
Page 1 of 2
Access: foa9qg89
Status: A
Subject: death
Subject: medicine
Subject: Duke
Section: News
Paper: The News and Observer
Edition: Final
Raleigh N.C.
Date: 01/13/2000
Page: B1
Headline:
Institute seeks to illuminate the end of life
###End Headline
Byline: Catherine Clabby
Source: Staff Writer
Text:
DURHAM -- With medicine's success at beating back disease, it
forgot something basic. It forgot the value of a good death.
Now a new institute at Duke University's divinity school wants
to teach everyone from physicians to clergy that death is a
natural part of life. And that they must help others make their
final journey with dignity.
"We're still a culture that wants to deny death,' said L.
Gregory Jones, dean of the divinity school. "In medicine, there's
a significant bias toward curing. If we haven't been able to
cure, we've failed."
Duke alumnus Hugh A. Westbrook, co-founder of a large hospice
corporation, raised $13.5 million to create the Duke Institute on
Care at the End of Life, the largest gift ever to the divinity
school.
He became interested in how people near death get treated
while a divinity student working on cancer wards at Duke Hospital
in the late 1960s. Many patients were given experimental
treatments to try to extend their lives even though they wanted
to leave the hospital and die in peace, he said. No one had asked
their wishes.
"Few people around them were equipped to have simple
conversations that were frank and candid and asked them what they
wanted to do," Westbrook said.
During assignments at two churches in Eastern North Carolina,
he saw that families have much more control over loved ones'
deaths. People died at home, their wakes were conducted at home,
and often they were buried on family land.
"There was no mistaking that a death had occurred in the
family, he said.
After returning home to Florida, Westbrook became a pioneer in
this country's nascent hospice movement. In Dade County in 1976,
he and a nurse founded a nonprofit hospice that is now for-profit
VITAS Healthcare, the largest provider of hospice services in the
United States.
Hospice care combines pain control and social and spiritual
support for patients and families confronting death, the very
things research has shown people want when a family member is
terminally ill, said Jones, the Duke dean.
"Reaching a state of peace with oneself and God and others
ranks only behind pain control in terms of how people define what
was a good death for a loved one," he said.
But the institute won't focus solely on improving access to
hospice care, which after years with an altruistic reputation has
come under increased scrutiny by federal officials on the lookout
Institute seeks to illuminate the end of life [01/13/2000]
Page 2 of 2
for health fraud.
"We've got to figure out what the best means for caring for
different folks is, said Dr. Keith Meador, a Duke psychiatrist
and director of the new institute.
Westbrook had been shopping for years for a home for a center
that could pursue both research and improved care for the dying,
topics that are beginning to attract more attention nationwide.
The fact that Duke can implement some of its findings in its
massive health system made it an attractive location.
"This will not be an ivory tower," Westbrook said.
The divinity school will work with students and faculty at
Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It also
will seek out a relationship with at least one historically black
college in an effort to better understand barriers to dignity in
death confronted by African-Americans. And it will work with
researchers and teachers in England, where palliative care is
more widely accepted than here
One goal of the institute will be simply to educate people
that they have more options than they realize when confronting
death.
"Up to now, there have been two choices: either aggressive
intervention up to the dying day or Jack Kevorkian and
physician-assisted suicide, " Jones said: "There can be a third
way between those two."
###End Text
fhatveb2getdoc+nao_public_archive+nao_00+1857+0++%28Hugh%20Westbrook%29%3-1/206/200
Duke University
Burham
North Carolina 27708-0001
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
TELEPHONE (919) 684-2424
BOX 90001
January 11, 2000
FACSIMILE (919) 684-3050
Dear Friends of Duke University:
As many of you know so well, care at the end of life is one of our contemporary society's most
pressing issues. Among the many questions facing us are: How can we be involved in end-of-life care, as
family members, friends. clergy, health-care providers, social workers or legal counselors? How can we
provide the best possible care for those who suffer or are near death?
At Duke, we believe that responding to these critical questions calls for a broad-based inquiry into
the many complex aspects of death and dying. Given the urgency and significance of this need, we are
establishing a new Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life. This university-wide, interdisciplinary institute
will be based in our Divinity School, and will reflect the contributions of scholars and students from across
Duke, in partnership with other universities and institutions in the United States and around the world. The
institute's mission involves collaborative research, cross-disciplinary education and practical training for
caregivers in North Carolina and throughout the nation.
Through the leadership of the Divinity School and the Rev. Hugh A. Westbrook, a 1970 Divinity
School graduate, grants totaling $13.5 million will support the institute's important work. The grants come
from two philanthropic foundations and VITAS Healthcare Corp., a hospice provider based in Miami,
Florida. Rev. Westbrook is an ordained United Methodist minister and founder of VITAS and its CEO. We
are grateful for his leadership and that of VITAS in helping Duke meet this critically important challenge.
Duke's vigorous commitment to interdisciplinary study, coupled with outstanding strength in
theology, medicine, nursing, public policy, arts and sciences and law, will prepare the new Duke Institute on
Care at the End of Life for international leadership. The institute will be an integral part of the Divinity
School's new program in Theology and Medicine, which provides for an annual named lecture in pastoral
education, as well as a new joint program offered in conjunction with Duke's School of Nursing. The new
Health & Nursing Ministries graduate program offers three options to prepare nurses as international and
national leaders in the delivery of health care and parish nursing within their faith communities. The first
class of students is scheduled to enter Duke in Fall 2000.
The Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life will hold an inaugural symposium, "Opening Doors:
Access to Care at the End of Life," on Thursday, March 2, from 1-6 p.m. The symposium is designed for
participants from across the nation who work across a range of caregiving activities, including clergy,
physicians, nurses, physician assistants, palliative-care specialists, hospice professionals and social workers.
Grief counselors, psychologists, family counselors and other caregivers will also find the symposium
helpful. Please look for a copy of the "Opening Doors" brochure and registration form in your mail in the
near future.
I know that you will join the rest of the Duke community and me in celebrating the new Institute
and its work.
Yours sincerely,
Name 0. laman
Nannerl O. Keohane
Buke University
DURHAM
NORTH CAROLINA
27708-0968
The Blubility School
January 10, 2000
TELEPHONE (919) , 660 3434
Office of the Dear
FACSIMILE (819) 660.3474
The Reverend Hugh A. Westbrook
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Vitas Healthcare Corporation
100 South Biscayne Boulevard
Miami, FL 33131
Dear Hugh:
As we put the finishing touches on Duke's press release announcing the formation of the Duke
Institute on Care at the End of Life, and prepare for the public unveiling of this important
initiative, I want to pause and give thanks for all of the leadership you have provided in making
this dream a reality.
I know that an Institute like this has been a dream of yours for two decades, and it has been a
privilege to become a part of that dream over the past two years. Your vision and hard work have
been extraordinary throughout this process. You have devoted a good portion of your life to
providing more effective and faithful care to persons at the end of life, and your exemplary
leadership has made a pivotal difference. It is an honor for Duke University, and for me, to play
a role in continuing this important work.
I hope and believe that the Duke Institute will genuinely embody the vision of your initial case
statement, as well as the beautiful description in your letter of January 7, 2000, indicating the
extraordinary commitment of $2.5 million from Vitas Healthcare Corporation. I look forward to
working with you, J.R., and others to ensure that the Institute makes the significant difference
that we both believe it will.
On a personal note, I want to tell you what a profound pleasure and joy it has been for Susan and
me to get to know you and Carole. You are a joy to be around, and it is fun to work, laugh, and
eat together! We are grateful, more than you can imagine, for your friendship and support.
We look forward to the celebration on March 2, 2000, and the formal beginning of what I believe
will be the most important and significant initiative that will occur at Duke during my tenure.
Jey Grace and Peace,
L. Oregory Jones
Dean of the Divinity School
and Professor of Theology
P.S. I am enclosing a copy of the memorandum I sent to our colleagues on the Board of Visitors.
EOVE
BLSE 099 616
ALINIAIC OFFICE SNV3C 6:91 (NOW) 00 01 NAME
Duke University
DURHAM
NORTH CAROLINA
27708.0968
The Divinity School
Office of the Boan
TELEPHONE (919) 660 3434
MEMORANDUM
FACSIMILE (919) 660 3474
DATE:
January 10, 2000
TO:
Duke Divinity School Board of Visitors
FROM:
L. Gregory Jones Sker
RE:
Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life
I am very pleased to announce the formal commitment of gifts coordinated by our
Board colleague and Divinity School alumnus Hugh Westbrook and his company,
VITAS Healthcare Corporation, of $13.5 million for the Duke Institute on Care at the
End of Life. This remarkable contribution positions us for a profound and continuing
positive impact nationally and internationally on the fundamental issue of end of life care.
Based in the Divinity School, the Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life will be
an interdisciplinary and inter-school enterprise engaging the intellectual resources of the
entire University, as well as other institutions. It will be an integral part of the Divinity
School's program on Theology and Medicine. The Institute will help clergy, physicians
and other healthcare providers, social workers, and family members better understand
and care for the needs of persons who are dying. It will emphasize across the nation and
world better research, education, and training for diverse professionals and caregivers.
And it will engage the social, legal, and religious communities in such issues as access to
healthcare, the meaning of suffering and dying, and the significance of living and dying
well.
The news release copy enclosed provides additional information.
You will want to anticipate invitations to the inaugural symposium on March 2
and the dinner that evening for the celebration of the founding of the Duke Institute on
Care at the End of Life. Former First Lady Rosalynn Carter will speak at the dinner. Our
spring Board of Visitors meeting will follow on March 3-4.
In the meantime, I am grateful for your taking opportunities as a member of our
Board to help to celebrate and interpret this remarkable endeavor and the generosity of
Hugh Westbrook that is making it possible. Thanks for all of your support of our work at
Duke Divinity School, and especially for your friendship.
Happy New Year!
PAGE 2
3455 099 616
DEANS OFFICE DIVINITY
6191
(NOW)
00
01
NY
Duke University
DURHAM
NORTH CAROLINA
27708-0966
THE DIVINITY SCHOOL
TELEPHONE (919) 660-3456
OFFICE OF EXTERNAL RELATIONS
FAX (919) 660-3405
January 5, 2000
Dr. J.R. Williams, Chairman and President
The Foundation for End of Life Care
VITAS Hospice Charitable Fund
123 S.E. 3rd Avenue, PMB:110
Miami, FL 33131-2003
Dear J. R.:
I want to express my heartfelt appreciation for the commitment by the
Foundation for End of Life Care of $10 million over ten years for the Duke
Institute on Care at the End of Life.
You are providing extraordinary resources that will make a decisive,
positive difference for professional caregivers, families, and especially those
who are dying. I feel wonderfully privileged to have been involved over the
years in the evolution of the Institute, and I am profoundly grateful for the
leadership and energy that you are giving to this vital endeavor.
May your New Year be filled with peace and joy!
Sincerely,
we
Wesley F. Brown
WFB:mws
c: Dean L. Gregory Jones
[email protected]
VITAS®
®
VITAS HEALTHCARE CORPORATION
100 South Biscayne Boulevard
Miami, Florida 33131
Telephone 305 374-4143
Fax 350-6784
Website www.VITAS.com
Dear VITAS Employee:
For decades hospice has bemoaned inadequate end of life education for health care providers. All
of us, in every discipline, experience daily frustration and concern about millions of individuals
who could benefit from hospice if only they knew. And in recent years all hospice programs,
including VITAS, have experienced reductions in length of stay that interfere with our ability to
meet even the most basic end of life needs of patients and families.
As a hospice leader, VITAS has decided to do something about it. Through the VITAS Hospice
Charitable Fund, the Dade Fund of the Dade Community Foundation and VITAS, we are making
a founding gift that will create the nation's first interdisciplinary institute to focus exclusively on
end of life issues. The Institute on Care at the End of Life will be housed in the Duke University
School of Divinity and affiliated with Duke's medical school and graduate school of nursing. But
the interdisciplinary collaboration doesn't stop there. The Institute will also work closely with
the Department of Palliative Care and Policy at University of London's King's College and St.
Christopher's Hospice, generally recognized as the founder of hospice.
With our financial commitment and guidance, the Institute will be involved in research, practical
training for caregivers and information for the general public. In order to assure the involvement
of the full spectrum of professionals providing end of life care, the Institute will work with other
U.S. colleges as well. Those colleges include the School of Social Work from University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the undergraduate School of Nursing from Central Carolina
University. The Institute plans to partner with this historically African-American college to
address today's general lack of access by ethnic minorities to hospice care.
We are genuinely thrilled by the prospect of what this Institute can accomplish and how quickly
they will be able to transfer research findings into real and tangible practice that helps all hospice
patients. The commitment to develop the world's leading center for the advancement and
improvement of care for the terminally ill and their families focuses on one of the most important
challenges that can be addressed in human society. This generation and all future generations
will be able to build a better life, knowing we are making progress in the way we provide for a
healthy death as those we care for come to life's end.
We don't forget for one second that the ability to make this significant commitment is a direct
result of your good work. It is your compassionate care for patients and their families at the most
important time of their lives that prompts families to make contributions to the VITAS Hospice
Charitable Fund. So as we share this thrilling news. we want to thank each and every one of you
for your role in this first-of-a-kind endeavor.
There will be more news shortly about the VITAS Charitable Fund, the Foundation for End of
Life Care and the myriad of issues it will address (including Special Needs). But today we
wanted to say thank you. Thank you for your direct contribution to a better end of life for your
patients and families. And thank you for your indirect contribution to an improved end of life for
millions more.
With warmest regards.
Tone Colliflowe
INNOVATIVE HOSPICE CARE
Hugh A. Westbrook
Esther Colliflower
Vol. Dialogue 14 No. 29
January 14, 2000
Reclaiming wetlands
A Duke Wetland Center project will
reclaim a degraded portion of the
Sandy Creek area near the Duke cam-
The Last Days
pus.
Page 11
Duke creates national institute on care at the end of life
by Linda Haac
national and international scope. It is
Duke University has received a
Foundation for the End of Life Care,
AIDS care
the first academic entity in the country
founding gift of $13.5 million arranged
the DadeFund of the Dade Community
to bring together a broad spectrum of
by hospice pioneer Hugh A. Westbrook
Foundation and VITAS, the nation's
A new NIH grant will help researchers
disciplines, schools and professions to
at Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill expand
to establish the Duke Institute on Care
largest hospice provider.
look at what has become a pressing
treatment for people with HIV.
at the End of Life to improve research,
"We are grateful for the leadership
social issue: how best to care, as a
education and practice across the
of Hugh A. Westbrook and VITAS
Page 4
community, for those in the last stage
nation for those near death, Duke
Healthcare in helping Duke to meet a
of life.
President Nannerl O. Keohane
critically important social challenge -
Westbrook is chief executive officer
announced Wednesday.
providing humane and compassionate
of VITAS Healthcare Corp. of Miami,
The new institute will be based in
care for those at the end of life,"
a 1970 Duke Divinity School graduate
Duke's Divinity School and will have
Keohane said. "This new institute is an
and an ordained United Methodist min-
an interdisciplinary focus with a
excellent example of the interdiscipli-
ister. He coordinated the gifts from the
(See CARE, page 6)
End of life issues draw researchers' interest
(CARE, from page 1)
toward aggressive interventions," said Divinity
Traditionally, Duke has moved to address broad
nary strength of the university, linking faculty from
School Dean L. Gregory Jones. "In light of these
societal issues through multi-disciplinary research.
our Divinity School with colleagues from across the
concerns, we need stronger research and improved
Nearly 50 years ago, the university broke new
campus and the nation whose research and expertise
practice that draws on religious, ethical and socially
ground in geriatrics research, establishing the
can help address the complexities of both living and
responsible commitments.
nation's first interdisciplinary Center for the Study of
dying well."
"We are excited about the innovative significance
Aging and Human Development. In addition, Duke
"Duke's commitment to developing the world's
of this new institute," Jones added. "Churches and
sponsors the Center for Health Policy, Law and
leading center for the advancement and improvement
synagogues have long been leaders in caring for peo-
Management through its Terry Sanford Institute of
of care to the terminally ill and their families focuses
ple at the end of life, and Duke's Divinity School is
Public Policy. It also conducts the Kenan Ethics
on one of the most important challenges that can be
well positioned to provide leadership in this area. To
Program for the study and teaching of ethics, and has
addressed in human society," Westbrook said. "This
deal with complex issues involved in dying well, we
recently established the Center for Medical Ethics
generation and all future generations will be able to
need interdisciplinary, inter-school and inter-profes-
and the Humanities in its medical center.
live a better life knowing that progress is being made
sional efforts. Hugh A. Westbrook's leadership and
"We anticipate programming for the Institute on
on behalf of those we care for at life's end."
founding gifts will enable us to embody our vision
Care at the End of Life will include research and
The new Duke institute will involve the full spec-
for focusing on more effective and faithful care at the
education on issues such as theological and medical
trum of professionals who provide end-of-life care,
end of life."
ethics, cultural diversity and pain management," said
including physicians and nurses at Duke's medical
In earning his master-of-divinity degree at Duke,
Dr. Keith G. Meador, institute director and a psychi-
center, theologians and ethicists from its Divinity
Westbrook specialized in ethics and pastoral care. For
atrist on both the faculties of Duke's divinity and
School, humanities scholars from its arts and sci-
the next 10 years, he served as a pastor in North
medical schools.
ences departments, pastors and other caregivers from
Carolina and Florida and worked as a hospital chaplain
Meador said he expects the Duke Institute on Care
across the nation, and social work faculty from the
caring for terminally ill patients and their families. In
at the End of Life will provide national leadership in
nearby University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
1978, he co-founded with Esther Colliflower the
training clergy who care for the dying, whether in
In addition, the institute is in the process of estab-
VITAS Healthcare Corp., which provides hospice care
parish or health-care settings. He also expects the
lishing a formal affiliation with researchers and
to more than 32,000 patients and bereavement services
new institute to use hospices across the country to
scholars in the Department of Palliative Care and
to more than 90,000 people annually across the nation.
give clinical training to clergy in end-of-life care. In
Policy at King's College, University of London, and
In 1979, Westbrook wrote and was instrumental in
addition, he said, he foresees the new institute serv-
St. Christopher's Hospice in London, England. St.
gaining passage in Florida of the nation's first hos-
ing as a national resource for community and health-
Christopher's is widely recognized as the site where
pice-licensing law and establishing a quality stan-
care professionals who desire to provide end-of-life
the modern-day hospice movement began.
dard for care of terminally ill patients in that state.
care that is attentive to spiritual concerns.
The institute, moreover, will be a partner with one
He has also chaired the National Hospice Education
The institute will celebrate its founding with a
or more historically black colleges in the United
Project, a grassroots effort to promote awareness of
symposium and dinner on Thursday, March 2, at
States to address issues of particular relevance to the
hospice care.
Duke. The symposium, "Opening Doors: Access to
African-American community.
Activities of the new Duke institute will include
Care at the End of Life," will address the virtues and
"Issues surrounding end of life care are always
academic research and teaching; practical training
strength of character needed for caretaking, quality-
significant and increasingly urgent because of chang-
for health-care providers, pastors and other care-
of-life issues for the dying, a patient-and-family cen-
ing demographics, economic pressures in contempo-
givers; and public information and educational pro-
tered model of care, and ways to access care for
health technological advances tending
grams for a wider public.
those approaching death.
Gift funds study of end-of-life care - Thursday, January 13, 2000
Page 1 of 3
CLICK HERE to find the best kep
THE CHRONICLE online
Gift funds study of end-of-life care
Greg Pessin
current issue
A $13.5 million donation will establish Duke as a national
January 13, 2000
leader in improving medical and pastoral care for the dying.
Issue
A $13.5 million gift arranged by hospice innovator Hugh Westbrook,
Archive Listing
Divinity '70, will establish an interdisciplinary institute at Duke to study
and promote compassionate care of patients in the last stages of life,
President Nan Keohane announced late Wednesday afternoon.
main
Westbrook organized gifts from the Foundation for the End of Life Care,
Today's lews
the DadeFund of the Dade Community Foundation and VITAS
Healthcare, the hospice provider he co-founded in 1978.
Archives
Using a three-pronged approach-training, public education and research
Reference Desk
and teaching-the Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life will address
the ways in which caregivers, from pastors to surgeons, can best attend
Search
to the dying elderly.
Emeprint
"I would hope the institute would have direct influence so that in 20
Feedback
years from now, we would see changes in terms of public policy and care
at the bedside as well as a deeper and more effective understanding of
what it means to die well," said Divinity School Dean Gregory Jones.
The institute's work will focus mostly on bringing together the issues-
religious, financial and medical-involved in medical decisions for dying
patients and their families.
"Good pain management from the medical side allows for patients to
deal with the end of life and.. the spiritual and other issues," said
institute director Dr. Keith Meador, an associate clinical professor of
psychiatry. "On the other side, family and spiritual care will promote
better pain management."
Since Westbrook founded VITAS, the company has grown into the
largest hospice care provider in the United States, serving 32,000
patients each year-more than four times its closest competitor.
Westbrook, an ordained United Methodist minister and now CEO of
VITAS, lives in Miami.
"This will be the first comprehensive institute of its kind that will
address areas with care at the end of life," Westbrook said. "That says a
lot about the status of end-of-life care. It is something that happens every
http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/chronicle/2000/01/13/01Giffundshtml
1/26/2000
Gift funds study of end-of-life care - Thursday, January 13, 2000
Page 2 of 3
day and we avoid talking about every day Duke's willingness to not
only study and teach but to commit itself to delivering end-of-life care
are the important elements that make Duke the unique place for the
institute to be created."
In addition to doctors and nurses from the Medical Center, theologians
and ethicists from the Divinity School and humanities experts from arts
and sciences departments, the institute will involve a few new faculty
hires both inside and outside the Divinity School.
The center will also work collaboratively with pastors and caregivers
around the country and social work professors from the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
In other words, caregivers from across the nation will have different
levels of commitment to the institute's work-while some will research,
teach and train for the institute full time, others will consult with the core
staff at the University.
In the next few months, the institute will establish ties with a historically
black college or university to help it address issues of unique relevance
to the black community, which has largely been neglected by the hospice
industry.
There are also plans to affiliate with the Department of Palliative Care
and Policy at King's College at the University of London and London's
St. Christopher's Hospice, where the modern-day hospice movement
began.
The institute's first program, the March 2 symposium "Opening Doors:
Access to Care at the End of Life," will draw to campus experts from
around the nation to discuss accessibility of end-of-life care, quality-of-
life issues, a patient-and-family caregiving model and the character
virtues needed to be an effective caregiver.
Ultimately, organizers hope that the seminar's findings would be widely
disseminated, like the research the institute will eventually produce.
By formulating a public relations strategy to bring research to mass
media and professional journals, the institute will make education a
major part of its work.
Later in the year, a seminar in Washington D.C. will address the problem
as it relates to public policy and the community, and is meant to attract
ordinary citizens as well as politicians.
"This is quite a large gift for a divinity school program, maybe the
largest I've ever seen nationally... said John Burness, senior vice
president for public affairs and government relations. "It tells you how
big and complex the issue is."
1. 1998 The hronicle / Duke niversity / comments a www.chronicle.duke.edu
http://www.chronicle.duke.edu/chronicle/2000/01/13/01Giffunds.html
1/26/2000