Talking about Advance Directives
April 26, 2019
11:30 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
Birch Bay Village Inn
Dr. Vanessa Little, Medical Director of the Palliative Care pilot program, will discuss the importance of having an advance directive. The Palliative Care Team at MDI Hospital meets with people living with serious illness to talk about what kind of health care they want for themselves and what kind of support would be helpful for them and their family. But you shouldn’t wait to start thinking about your wishes regarding end of life care. It is important to think about some meaningful and personal questions, assess your own values and wishes, and get them documented in an Advance Directive document. Have you documented your wishes? Have you discussed them with your family and your medical providers? Come engage in an exploratory discussion about why Advance Directives matter and get your questions answered.
Dr. Julian Kuffler will discuss preliminary results of the pilot program that will be completed early this summer. The goal of the community funded pilot program is to provide Palliative care services in the hospital and have it expand in to the clinics and then home services.
Dr. Vanessa Little was born in Falmouth, Maine and attended University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine, completing her family medicine residency at Brown University with an additional year of medical training in a Hospice and Palliative Care Fellowship affiliated with Connecticut Hospice and University of Connecticut. She is board certified in both Family Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Care. She has worked in various settings providing hospice and palliative care over the last decade including hospitals, home hospice, and long term care facilities. Most recently, Dr. Little was involved in the development of the Community Based Palliative Care Program at MDI Hospital.
Dr. Julian Kuffler graduated from Antioch College 1971. He taught at Land Mark School in Massachusetts for 3 years and later graduated from Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health with an MD MPH in 1980. Dr. Kuffler completed his residency in Family Practice at Maine Medical Center Portland in 1983. He has lived and practiced on MDI since 1984.
