National eldercare expert to speak at St. Olaf March 8
Joanne Lynn, one of the first hospice physicians in the United States and a national leader in research and policy on care for the last phase of life, will speak at St. Olaf College on March 8.
Her lecture, titled Sick To Death and Not Going to Take It Anymore!: Reforming Health Care for the Last Years of Life, is part of the Institute for Freedom and Community’s spring series on “Freedom, Community, and Health Care.” It will begin at 7 p.m. in Viking Theater in Buntrock Commons, and is free an open to the public. It will also be streamed and archived online.
In her talk on eldercare and end-of-life care, Lynn will discuss why she believes “a whole new system” is needed to help support the elderly through medical care, adaptive housing, disability transportation, in-home nutrition, and more.
Lynn serves as the director of the Center for Elder Care and Advanced Illness at the Altarum Institute. She focuses on shaping American health care so that every person can count on living comfortably and meaningfully through the period of serious illness and disability in the last years of life, at a sustainable cost to the community.
She is a trusted advisor to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator and staff, faculty member of the Institute for Health Care Improvement, and nationally renowned Clinical Professor at George Washington University. She has formerly held leadership roles with the RAND Corporation and Dartmouth Medical School.
Lynn is the author of more than 250 professional articles, and her dozen books include The Handbook for Mortals, a guide for the public; The Common Sense Guide to Improving Palliative Care, an instruction manual for clinicians and managers seeking to improve quality; and Sick to Death and Not Going to Take it Any More!, an action guide for policymakers and advocates. She has authored various amicus briefs for pivotal appellate court cases and is a trusted resource for the nation’s journalists on these topics.
Lynn is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Social Insurance. She is a Master of the American College of Physicians and a Fellow of the American Geriatrics Society. She is also a fellow of The Hastings Center, having been awarded its lifetime achievement award for ethics and the life sciences.
Read about other upcoming events in the “Freedom, Community, and Health Care” series.