Compassionate Care

1
Saving Lives Together

• Compassionate Care

Mily Teske Maria Bourne Family Care
Coordinators
2
Who Are FCCs, and What Do We Do?

• Together with hospitals, advocate for families
• Express condolences
• Assess understanding
• Engage the family in conversation about their
  loved one. We HONOR their story. It is theirs
• Transition to donation as appropriate.

3
It All Starts with Us

• Initial impression in the ER sets the stage for
  the rest of the experience
• Early, excellent family support
• Compassionate Physicians and Nurses
• Chaplains, Social Services
• Admissions, Secretaries, Security
• Doctor / OPO Huddle

4
Families Tell Us What They Need to Know

• That the staff are working and hoping for the
  best outcome even though the injuries are serious
  and they may not survive.

• Taking away all hope for recovery from the very
  beginning may anger families as they feel the
  staff have given up and wont do everything
  possible to treat them. This may lead to
  distrust, frustration and confrontation later on.

5
Helping Families,Saving Lives

• Establish a connection
• Build trust
• Identify family power dynamics
• Provide technical information and education
• Judge timing/pacing
• Evaluate familys emotional level

6
Helping Families,Saving Lives

• Support and normalize familys grief
• Address and affirm religious and cultural views
• Identify and address issues caused from a broken
  process
• Help family transition from loved one being
  present to past
• Provide ongoing support

7
If Family Consents

• Offer a Memory Box, Handprint, Angel
• Offer support to family friends as management
  of the donor continues
• Provide The Next Few Days
• Family Services Brochure
• Call family after recovery of organs with
  information about recovered organs

8
Our Philosophy

• Adopted Dr. Alan Wolfelts idea of companioning
  a bereaved family
• We are not the experts on grief we will take the
  familys lead to understand what we can do to
  support them
• We will not lead the family in any direction, but
  be with them through their journey

9
The We

• An optimist sees an opportunity in every
  calamity, a pessimist sees a calamity in every
  opportunity.
• Sir W. Churchill
• We have to believe that donation is the right
  thing to do. You have to have your own
  conviction or families will see right through it.
  We are here to empower the potential donor family
  and We are here on behalf of recipients. WE are
  their voice. Together we can save lives.