Two Conference Presentations

by Henry Fersko-Weiss

Earlier this month INELDA had the opportunity to present at two different conferences. The first was the Coalition for Compassionate Care of California (CCCC) in San Francisco, CA and the second was the Professional Women’s Conference of the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA) in Annapolis, MD. 

At the CCCC conference Kris Kington-Barker, an INELDA instructor and Executive Director of the Hospice of San Luis Obispo County (Hospice SLO) and I presented on the role of end of life doulas and how they function as a complementary layer of care supporting the work of hospices and palliative care organizations. I began the presentation by explaining what an end of life doula does and how their role fits into the current health care system. I did an overview of the three-phase model we use, the doula philosophy, and values. I talked about what people want at the end of life and how this is reflected in what doulas offer. I briefly discussed the tools doulas use, the kind of training we provide, and the different settings in which doulas work. This last part of my talk led very nicely into Kris’s portion of the presentation on how her hospice is using doulas.

The doula program at Hospice SLO has worked with the INELDA model since late 2015. Kris shared how the program makes a huge difference in the end of life experience of the patients and families they serve through their non-medical, volunteer-based hospice. Kris’s hospice also provides doulas to medical hospices in that part of California. She explained how her hospice had researched doula programs and selected INELDA because the training was very structured, thorough, and presented with the spirit of true service. 

Hospice SLO has now taken on the training for themselves, using the INELDA presentations, manual, and experiential exercises at the heart of the training program. Kris strongly encourages all of the doulas in her program to become certified, a process that continues their learning and provides feedback on their work. Almost four years into the partnership with INELDA, the program at Hospice SLO is garnering high praise for the work it does with the dying. 

We had a standing room only crowd of attendees who enthusiastically received the information. Throughout the rest of the conference people kept coming up to Kris or me to ask more questions about end of life doulas and how they could bring that approach into their hospice or palliative care program.

Less than a week later I presented at the Professional Women’s Conference of the NFDA. The audience seemed less familiar with the concept of end of life doulas and wondered if doulas would take away from the work that they do. I was able to explain how doulas can be a bridge to the services they offer, rather than a competitor. I told them how we at INELDA see the potential to work together, seamlessly serving a dying person and family as they plan for both end of life care and the after-death treatment of the decedent provided by the funeral home. All that is required to make this happen is awareness of each other’s work and excellent communications. Doulas can also be a good referral source for funeral homes, and vice versa. 

I also related that when I spoke at the NFDA national conference several months ago, some of the funeral directors approached me with the idea of hiring a doula to extend the services they offer. I can see how this makes a lot of sense and can be a wonderful win-win situation for both. I believe in the next couple of years doulas and funeral directors will work much more closely together to the benefit of both. 

INELDA has been doing more presentations at conferences around the country and even internationally. We are always open to opportunities and welcome contact from organizations that have a stake in the end of life field. If you would like to have one of our leaders speak at your conference, please contact us at [email protected].