Hope Hospice hosting town halls on grief, senior care and end-of-life planning

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Tri-Valley nonprofit Hope Hospice is organizing a series of educational live webinars during the next three weeks featuring its in-house experts discussing issues around end-of-life planning, understanding grief issues and caring for the elderly.

The town hall series begins this Wednesday evening (May 20) on the topic, “Having a Higher Awareness of Your Mortality: Planning for the What Ifs.”

The free webinars aim to help fill the programming gap created by the COVID-19 crisis, which is preventing Hope Hospice from offering its typical set of face-to-face classes and seminars.

Attendees will have the chance to ask questions of the Hope Hospice panelists. Log-in information will be posted ahead of this Wednesday’s seminar online at HopeHospice.com/townhall.

“Having a Higher Awareness of Your Mortality: Planning for the What Ifs”

May 20, 5:30-6:30 p.m.

Panelists: Dr. Jatinder Marwaha, Hope Hospice medical director; Dr. Kuljeet Multani, Hope Hospice associate medical director; and Jennifer Hansen, Hope Hospice CEO.

“For young adults and middle-agers, it’s easy (and common) to push aside thoughts about our days being numbered. After all, the average lifespan in the U.S. is about 80 years.

“You can — and should — make the most of your youth, but don’t let thoughts of ‘I’ve got time’ inspire procrastination when it comes to adequately preparing for the possibility that you could become incapacitated and/or terminally ill. If there’s one takeaway from the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s that a life-altering health emergency can happen at any time.

“This is precisely why Hope encourages all adults, regardless of health status, to have an advance medical directive in place, to have financial and legal affairs organized with a proxy assigned, and to engage in end-of-life conversations with loved ones well before the need actually arises.”

“Understanding Loss and Grief”

May 27, 5-6 p.m.

Panelists: Kathleen Brand, LMFT, ATR, Hope Hospice grief support center director; and Rev. Melissa Tumaneng, MBA, MDIV, BCC, Hope Hospice supervisor of spiritual care.

“Leaders from our supportive staff will discuss how different kinds of loss can affect a person and how friends and loved ones can support one another during this time of uncertainty.”

“Understanding the Care Needs of Aging Loved Ones”

June 3, 5-6 p.m.

Panelists: Veronica Martin, MSW, ASW, Hope Hospice supervisor of medical social workers; and Debbie Emerson, MS, Hope Hospice community educator.

“Many families wait until there is a crisis to start discussing care needs, sharing of responsibilities, and finances, but you can save yourself a lot of stress by starting research early. You’ll hear from the program manager of Hope’s Family Caregiver Education Series and from our lead medical social worker about considerations.”