Sisters women talk about future healthcare planning

Diane Goble, MSCC, and Maureen (Mo) Bidasolo, RN, BSN, will present a workshop "Having "The Conversation,'" on Sunday, January 27, from 1 to 3 p.m. in the Sisters Library Community Room.

Goble is a transitions and end-of-life educator, author of several books including "How to Die Consciously" (e-book), and offers workshops and groups about end-of-life matters. She was a hospice volunteer with Partners in Care in Bend for several years, and off and on over two decades at hospices in Florida and California before moving to Sisters four years ago. She has also taught stress management, time management and small-business start-up classes since 1987.

"I developed this workshop," Goble says, "because what I found working with families who were dealing with terminal illness and aging decline issues was a lack of coherent information about what to do next, what services they might need, where to get the answers, whom to talk to, where to find the resources, and a reluctance on the part of medical people to be honest with their patients. They talk in jargon and euphemisms, without empathy, to people whose minds went blank after they heard the word "cancer' or whatever the diagnosis."

Before moving to Sisters in 1997, Bidasolo taught nursing and did medical sales in Nebraska for 14 years, then moved to Missouri where she operated an occupational health clinic doing case management and setting up health plans for major corporations. Here in Sisters she started Integrated Care Corporation, where she focuses on senior issues and patient advocacy. She is also the school nurse at Bridges Boys Academy and teaches caregiver classes for Home Instead Senior Care.

"Oregon has one of the best palliative care systems in the country, and since it is so new many people don't realize what is available to them when they first come out of the hospital," Bidaloso said. "Under Medicare, the transition from acute care to rehab is another tricky path fraught with obstacles. Fortunately, we have a growing healthcare services sector in and around Sisters and we can help people find the services to meet their needs."

Just as prevention is a key to good health, studies show that families who have "The Conversation' before tragedy strikes, handle the stress of its occurrence and the aftermath much better than those who continue to deny its inevitability and put off the family meeting, Bidasolo and Goble report.

"It is an act of love to fill out your Advance Healthcare Directive and tell your family what your wishes are instead of leaving decisions up to them in the heat of the moment," Bidasolo says.

Following some information about the rapidly changing field of end-of-life care, Goble and Bidasolo will guide participants through a series of questions and exercises to begin to explore their feelings about their own deaths and clarifying their end-of-life wishes. This will provide the tools people need to then go home and begin to have "The Conversation" within their own families.

This workshop will be limited to 30 people. If you are unable to attend on this date, call Goble at 541-588-0081 to get on a list for a future workshop, or for other information.