C-TAC Presents Advance Care Planning at USAging Conference

C-TAC’s partnership with USAging’s Aging and Disability Business Institute continued this summer with a sold-out session at the Answers in Aging Conference in Salt Lake City, July 16, where the partners presented a pre-conference intensive, Making Advance Care Planning Part of Your Services Portfolio. The attendees included program directors, health care professionals, social workers, and other staff who work in the aging services field, including many from Area Agencies on Aging (AAA), and community- and faith-based organizations.

Pre-conference intensives provide attendees an opportunity to develop a deeper understanding of a specific program or subject with the goal of bringing the knowledge and resources back to the workplace for implementation. And that’s exactly what this session achieved. The highly engaged audience asked probing questions and were vocal in their resolve to start programs on advance care planning once back home.

USAging CEO Sandy Markwood kicked off the session, with Marisa Scala-Foley, Director of the Aging and Disability Business Institute also in attendance. They were joined by speakers reporting from the field including Jayla Sanchez-Warren, AAA, Denver Regional Council of Governments; Jetta Wiedemeier Bower, Senior LinkAge Line; and Connie Benton Wolfe, Aging & In-Home Services of Northeast Indiana, Inc.

C-TAC Strategic Advisor Torrie Fields provided the keynote address on Why Advance Care Planning is an Aging Network Priority. ACP is one of many integral, foundational services that underpins the value of person-centered care that C-TAC and its partners embrace.  C-TAC advisors Marisette Hasan and Brian Lindberg also provided input as panelists, with Marisette sharing insights on working with minority, low-income, and faith-based communities.

A special presentation by Charlie Sabatino, Former Director of the Commission on Law and Aging, American Bar Association, focused on the nuts and bolts of ACP and the many ACP tools available to support programs.

Jon Broyles, C-TAC CEO, commented on the outcome of the session, “This intensive workshop was a golden opportunity to delve into advance care planning from the ‘big picture’ to the details of ‘how to.’  I am so pleased that our partnership with USAging allows us to work directly with the committed professionals of the aging services network.”

The session concluded with the joint partnership promising ongoing support and a toolkit  to help attendees establish their ACP programs. Session slides are available here.