The San Francisco Palliative Care Workgroup and the Stupski Foundation are sponsoring a Community Grantmaking Initiative. Following on the Learning Journeys work, the Stupski Foundation is providing funding and support to Black, Chinese, and Latin Community Grantmaking Committees.

Made up of community members, the Committees will collectively determine the process for selecting grantees, select the grantees, and decide on funding amounts for each grantee. The grantmaking will focus on community-based education, awareness, and acceptance of serious illness care services (palliative care, advance care planning, caregiver support, and social services) for people living in San Francisco within each of the three communities. We anticipate that this will be a 3- to 6-month project for each community.

Residents encouraged to prepare for important medical decisions to ensure care is consistent with their personal goals and preferences.

WHAT: In honor of National Healthcare Decisions Day on April 17, the San Francisco Palliative Care Work Group has organized a series of free Advance Care Planning workshops across San Francisco that will help people prepare for making decisions about their medical care, including during a serious illness and at the end of life. Advance Care Planning is the process of preparing people and their proxy decision makers for communication and medical decision making. It empowers patients and proxy decision makers, who are often family members, to make their voices heard about their loved one’s medical wishes. It also reduces family distress and burden.

The free workshops will begin on April 17 and run through May 7. The classes will help participants identify their wishes for medical care and identify a proxy decision maker, which is someone who will advocate for their wishes when they no longer can. Attendees will learn how to speak with doctors, family and friends about their directives, and guidance will be provided on how to prepare an Advance Care Directive. The workshops will be offered in English, Spanish and Cantonese.

WHY: Millions of older adults and their surrogate decision makers will face medically and emotionally complex decisions over the course of chronic and serious illness, yet over 80% are unprepared. This lack of preparation can lead to uninformed decisions, unnecessary suffering, and care inconsistent with personal goals, especially for individuals with limited English-proficiency. The gatherings engage participants in culturally sensitive Advance Care Planning in multiple languages, in their trusted communities across San Francisco.

All events are free and open to the public. The events are presented by the San Francisco Department of Aging and Adult Services, the Palliative Care Workgroup and the Stupski Foundation, as well as partners including Self-Help for the Elderly, Open House, Mission Neighborhood Center, On Lok, Saint Francis Memorial Hospital, Bayview Senior Services and Third Baptist Church.

Sign up for a free community workshop…

 

      

Hello All,

Now that we've ushered in the summer with Memorial Day weekend, we have a few things to share…

The Search is On!
We have launched the search for an Executive Director for the Palliative Care Work Group! You can find the position specs, attached, and online here. Please share far and wide. If you are interested in the position or know someone who may be, please contact David Randall (david@randallsearchassociates.com).

Member Survey
We are interested in your ideas! Look for a Member Survey to hit your inboxes later this week. We want to know more about what you're up to, what you'd like to see at meetings and ideas you may have for PCWG engagement going forward.

All-Member Meeting Reminder
The next All-Member meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 15, 3pm – 4pm via Zoom. Look for an Evite coming your way later this week. Here's a sneak peek at the agenda:

• Introductions
• Member Shares
• General Updates
• Anni Chung, Self-Help for the Elderly will share about a new partnership between Dignity Health and SHE and the Stupski/PCWG sponsored Chinese Community Grantmaking Committee progress
• Dr. Sarah Nouri, UCSF will share about a project she is working on that is looking at disparities in outpatient palliative care at our UCSF clinics

See you soon on Zoom!
The PCWG Steering Committee

An Art Exhibit Inspired by the PCWG's Learning Journeys!
Learning Journey's Program Manager, Molly Wertz, has a piece entitled "Love Lasts Longer Than the Human Heart" in this exhibit at the Sanchez Gallery in Pacifica. The show opens Friday night, June 3rd, runs through June 26. On June 11 there is an Artist walk and talk. The show's producer was inspired by the Work Group's Learning Journeys project. Stop by and check out the art!

The LCOE Aspiring Physicians Program @SFSU is looking for partner CBOs. This multi-faceted program provides support for Latinx and Black premed students. See below and attached for details.

Openhouse + On Lok Community Day Services are hiring an Adult Day Program Manager see below and attached for details.

The LCOE Aspiring Physicians Program @SFSU Opportunity

Dr. Kelechi Uwaezuoke, Assistant Director Diversity, Inclusion and Community Partnerships; SF BUILD- San Francisco State University kelechi@sfsu.edu.

Dr. Kelechi is in the process of securing CBO's to partner with for our upcoming cycle of the LCOE Aspiring Physicians Program @SFSU. This multi-faceted program provides support for Latinx and Black premed students via an intensive 6 week summer cycle followed by an academic year support component. One of our summer components matches our scholars with local CBOs as part of their health policy and advocacy training. Their final deliverable is a factsheet on behalf of the CBO (see samples of previous factsheets attached). We are looking to secure 5-6 new orgs this summer to partner with. I am also attaching a copy of the invite letter. If you know of any CBO's that would be interested I'd love to connect. Thanks so much for your consideration.

Openhouse + On Lok Community Day Services Opportunity

We have very exciting leadership and care staff opportunities at Openhouse + On Lok Community Day Services. The Adult Day Program Manager manages daily operations, compliance, service delivery and supervision of activities and care staff. Care staff provide assistance with personal care, reminders, and programming. Please feel free to share this job announcement with your networks.

Happy New Year! Lots of exciting things are on tap for 2022.

The first thing I'd like to announce is that, thanks to generous support from the Stupski Foundation, the PCWG will be hiring its first Executive Director!

Attached, please find the job description. Please share far and wide! Please let me know if you have any questions or suggestions.

The new 2022 meeting schedule will be published soon.

– The PCWG Steering Committee