Payne to Provide Insight to End-of-Life Care

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ATLANTA – Dr. Richard Payne, director of Duke Institute on Care at the End of Life, Duke Divinity School, will give a free breakfast presentation entitled “Faith, Hope & Hospice.”  The program will be at 8 a.m. Tuesday, Sept. 19, in the Trustees Dining Room on the Mercer University Atlanta campus, 3001 Mercer University Drive, just off I-85 inside the northeast perimeter. A lunch presentation will be held at noon at Cascade United Methodist Church, 3144 Cascade Road.
 
Dr. Payne, a renowned neuro-oncologist and pain management specialist, pioneered research in the delivery of palliative care to the medically underserved populations. He will discuss the “under use” of palliative and hospice care among African Americans and explain the differences in how African Americans and other ethnic groups perceive end-of-life care. Additionally, he will talk on the potential role of clergy and lay leaders in helping to establish effective partnerships with physicians and other members of the medical team to improve      end-of-life care in the African American community as well as that of other minorities.
 
Designed to enhance the knowledge of professionals who are caregivers at the end of life, the program will best benefit clergy, church lay caregivers, hospital/military chaplains, grief counselors, family counselors, social workers, discharge planners, case managers palliative care specialists hospice professionals and nursing home/assisted living staff.
 
The morning program is being sponsored by the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and the Office of Student Affairs at Mercer University’s Atlanta campus, along with Embracing Hospice of Atlanta, Snellville and Jonesboro, the Parish Nurse Association and the American Hospice Foundation.
 
Seating is limited. For reservations or more information, call (404) 659-0110.
 
About Mercer University:
Founded in 1833, Mercer University is a dynamic and comprehensive center of undergraduate, graduate and professional education, the University has 7,300 students; 11 schools and colleges – liberal arts, law, pharmacy, medicine, business, engineering, education, theology, music, nursing and continuing and professional studies; major campuses in Macon and Atlanta; four regional academic centers across the state; a university press; teaching hospitals in Macon and Savannah; an educational partnership with Warner Robins Air Logistics Center in Warner Robins and Piedmont Healthcare in Atlanta; an engineering research center in Warner Robins; a performing arts center in Macon; and a NCAA Division I athletic program. For more information, visit www.mercer.edu.
 
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