Community Conversations on Compassionate Care

A “Community Conversation on Compassionate Care” (CCCC) is a facilitated group discussion and presentation on advance care planning led by trained lay and health professional staff. The goal of a Community Conversation is to promote conversations that help ensure that your health care wishes are honored if you are unable to speak for yourself.

Community Conversations will:

• Educate you about advance care planning: planning for future medical care when you are unable to make your own decisions
  
  
• Teach you how to choose a health care spokesperson (the “agent” specified in the “Health Care Proxy”) and what to do to ensure your wishes are understood and honored
  
  
• Increase your comfort level in discussing death and dying and promote conversations and appropriate actions that will lead to the completion or an update of your Health Care Proxy form

CCCCs usually last one to two hours and can be brought to an existing meeting of a community group. In turn, conversations can extend to the rest of the community represented by that group. There is a core menu of components of CCCC; note that each CCCC can be shaped to meet the needs of a particular audience.

The menu includes:

• The facilitator reflecting/sharing his/her personal story about a death experience;
  
  
• Facilitated discussions in pairs/small groups about death experiences and personal wishes;
  
  
• Facilitated discussions about considerations to choosing a spokesperson, and
  
  
• A short presentation outlining the specifics of advance care planning: what it is, why it is important, how to choose a spokesperson, life sustaining treatments, and practical issues related to advance care planning.
  

Each CCCC participant will be provided with an Advance Care Planning Booklet with New York State Health Care Proxy and Living Will forms and other printed material.

You may also wish to download a printable copy of information about Community Conversations on Compassionate Care to distribute to an organization interested in hosting a conversation. (A free Adobe Acrobat Reader is needed to view this.)

For a current schedule, view Events.

Schedule a CCCC

If you are interested in having our facilitators attend an existing meeting of yours or if you are interested in hosting a CCCC for those in your organization, contact Penny Weller at Penny.Weller@excellus.com or 585-453-6306 and indicate the date, time, place and address you wish for this to occur, along with the number of individuals you expect to attend the meeting and a phone number where we may contact you.

Facilitator Training for CCCC

We are currently looking for individuals to serve as facilitators. These facilitators co-lead, along with an experienced facilitator, small group discussions on various topics related to end of life care. Facilitators are also equipped to handle one-on-one discussions on Advance Care Planning.

To become a trained facilitator, an individual must:

• Complete a facilitator training form;
  
  
• Attend a Workshop and Facilitator Training Session
  
  
• Co-facilitate sessions with a trained facilitator; and
  
  
• Be available to facilitate a CCCC during the year.
  

Individuals can volunteer for as few as many hours as they are able.

Workshop and Facilitator Training is available. If you are interested in becoming a facilitator or have additional questions, contact Penny Weller at Penny.Weller@excellus.com at 585-453-6306. For a current schedule, view Events.

You may also wish to download a printable copy of the Facilitator Training Form to complete.

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