Closer to home, PDIA recently awarded $250,000 in five fellowships to photojournalists, poets and other writers, and a fabric artist. According to PDIA director, Kathleen Foley, M.D., “The arts and humanities is a powerful tool in understanding and conveying meaning to illness, disability and death. This groundbreaking grants program is part of PDIA’s mission to transform the culture of death and dying.”
In another effort to reach those who work with the dying, PDIA also announced seven grants worth $420,000 made to social work faculty and clinicians. The awards will fund programs that range from a certificate program in end-of-life care for post-master’s level social workers to a program that will create a telephone support groups for dying cancer patients and their families. Eventually, PDIA will provide $1 million in funds for its social work leaders project.
Annapolis, MD - Last month, Exchange reported that the Anne Arundel County State’s Attorney was contemplating bringing charges against a 16-year old youth who, in a suicide pact with his girlfriend, had given her a gun then watched as she shot herself. Charges were brought under the state’s law banning assisted suicide. State’s Attorney Frank Weathersbee explained to the press that charges were brought, in part, to enable the state to force the young man into a psychiatric rehabilitation program. Assistant Attorney General Jack Schwartz told Exchange that “the assisted suicide law, although enacted to forestall physician-assisted suicide, is written more broadly.”
New York - This fall, PBS will broadcast a four-part Bill Moyers program on end-of-life care, On Our Own Terms: Moyers on Dying. On April 18, community leaders are invited to participate in the Community Leadership Training Videoconference from noon to 1:30 p.m. ET. Organizations interested in becoming involved and individuals interested in participating in the call-in program should download the program’s leadership guide from the web at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/onourownterms/community/index.html.
Hinesburg, VT - The Funeral and Memorial Society of America (FAMSA) is a consumer organization that scrutinizes the funeral home industry. This fall, the group testified at a meeting of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on the proposed Funeral Rule. FAMSA is urging the FTC to enact several seemingly common-sense changes to the rule, such as adding rental caskets to the required options, listing the cost of the cremation process, allowing private family viewings without embalming, and standardizing the general price list. For more information on FAMSA, visit them on the web at www.funerals.org.
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