2009 Annual Conference October 1-2 Death With Dignity and Meaning
Thursday, October 1
8:30-10:00 Registration and Coffee
10:00-10:15 Welcome & Opening Meditation VCA President Jerry Shields
10:15-11:45 Session 1 Ars Moriendi: The Historical Art of the Good Death Laura Cruz, PhD Associate Professor of History at Western Carolina University
11:45-1:00 Luncheon Buffet
1:00-2:30 Session 2 Death with as Little Dying as Possible in the American Hospital Helen Chapple, PhD Nurse Ethicist at Creighton University
2:30-3:00 Discussion Session
3:00-3:30 Break
3:30-4:30 VCA Business Meeting Jerry Shields, VCA President
6:00-6:30 Cash Bar
6:30-7:30 Banquet
7:30-8:30 Entertainment
Friday, October 2
8:00-9:00 Continental Breakfast
9:00-10:30 Session 3 Absurdity and Creativity in Redefining Salvation at the End of Life Rev. Donald G. Dawe, ThD Professor Emeritus at Union Theology Seminary/P.S.C.E
10:30-11:00 Break for Checkout
11:00-11:15 Final Business Introduction of Officers
11:15-11:45 Interfaith Worship Charles Hunt & Alma Hassell
Helen Chapple, Ph.D.
Nurse Ethicist, the Center for Health Policy and Ethics at Creighton University “Death with as Little Dying as Possible in the American Hospital”
Rev. Donald G. Dawe, Th.D.
Robert L. Dabney Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology at Union Theology Seminary/P.S.C.E. “Absurdity and Creativity in Redefining Salvation at the End of Life”
Laura Cruz, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of History at Western Carolina University “Ars Moriendi: The Historical Art of the Good Death”
Hotel: Members VCU--$85 per night plus tax Non-Members--$92 per night plus tax
Helen Chapple is the Nurse Ethicist at the Center for Health Policy and Ethics at Creighton University. Her Ph.D. is in Medical Anthropology from the University of Virginia and her major research focus is how dying occurs in the American hospital. Her dissertation investigated dying in two hospitals, a Catholic community hospital and an academic medical center. She became a nurse after being a hospice volunteer, and her bedside nursing practice spans hospice, oncology, research nursing, and critical care. A book based on her research is in progress.
Before arriving in Omaha, Dr. Chapple served on the UVa. Health System’s Ethics Committee for 10 years and was an instructor for the School of Medicine’s Introduction to Clinical Ethics course for five years. She served as co-founder and chair of the hospital’s Bereavement Services Committee. She has been an active member of the Association for Death Education and Counseling since 1989, serving as its President in 2007-2008.
The Reverend Donald G. Dawe, ThD is the Robert L. Dabney Professor Emeritus of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary / P.S.C.E. in Richmond, Virginia. His long and distinguished career has taken him all over the world including teaching positions in India, Nigeria, and South Africa. As an advocate of pluralistic dialogue, Dr. Dawe has directed commissions on Muslim and Jewish dialogue and attended the International Seminar on Inter-Religious Relationships at Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea. He is the author of nine books, including; The Form of a Servant, No Orthodoxy But the Truth, Christian Faith in a Religiously Plural World, Jesus:The Death and Resurrection of God, Christians and Jews Together and many articles in journals and magazines.
Laura Cruz (PhD, UC Berkeley, 2001) is an Associate Professor of History at Western Carolina University. In addition to her published work in Dutch history, she is the author of numerous articles about historical attitudes towards death, historical suicide, and death education. She is also the editor of Making Sense of Dying and Death V. 18 (Interdisciplinary Press, 2004).
