FITCHBURG — The Pro-life Healthcare Alliance (a program of the Human Life Alliance) and the Wisconsin Catholic Medical Guilds are sponsoring a conference on “Dignity at the End of Life, from Suffering to Hope” to be held on Saturday, March 4, from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Wyndham Garden Hotel, 2969 Cahill Main in Fitchburg.
The conference will feature six presentations:
• “Compassion as Accompaniment with Those who Suffer: a Roman Catholic Understanding of Suffering” with Ramon Luzarraga, PhD, assistant professor of theology and division chair of undergraduate studies at Benedictine University in Mesa, Ariz.• “Patient Advocates (and Befrienders) Are Desperately Needed” with Julie Grimstad, LPN, founder and executive director of Life is Worth Living and founder and coordinator of St. John’s Befrienders, a ministry to nursing home residents and homebound elderly.
• “Journeythrough Grief of Disease toward Meaning: A Case Study” with Mark Davis Pickup, a pro-life speaker who has advanced multiple sclerosis and is wheelchair dependent. He will share the story of his journey from despair to hope as he found meaning through his Christian faith.
• “Finding New Pathways to Care for the Elderly, the Sick, and Terminally Ill” with Nan and Edward Weber, founders of Holy Family Ministry Center and Loreto on the Plains, whose mission is to care for those who are sick and terminally ill through respite care, transitional care, and end-0f-life care.
• “Hospice Care in the 21st Century” with Cristen Krebs, DNP, ANP-BC, founder and executive director of Catholic Hospice of Pittsburgh.
• “Perinatal Hospice: What it Means to Do No Harm — Medical Ethics and Anomalous Pregnancies” with Dr. Byron Calhoun, MD, FACOG, FACS, FASAM, MBA, professor and vice-chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, West Virginia University, Charleston, W. Va.
The conference includes continental breakfast and lunch. For information or to register, go to prolifehealthcare.org/madison or call Human Life Alliance at 651-484-1040. Application for CME and CEU has been approved.
For accommodations at the hotel, call 608-274-7200.