Attendees at the Summer 2015 Greater Philadelphia Healthcare Partnership meeting were presented with a unique opportunity to meet and interact with a unique team of healthcare innovators — two members of the design team behind My Gift of Grace: A Conversation Game for Living & Dying Well, a new initiative receiving national press coverage and sparking important, but often avoided, conversations about death, dying and end-of-life care among families and throughout the US healthcare system.
As usual, the meeting opened with IP Director Susan B. Thomas’s review of Partnership achievements in training, fundraising and other activities. As this meeting kicked off GPHP’s eleventh year of service to local healthcare workforce and employer community, it featured a full run-down of GPHP’s activities during the 2014-15 IP cycle. Major achievements included: 528 training participations, registration of Pennsylvania’s first Community Health Worker Apprenticeship Program, receipt of a 4-year US Department of Labor “Ready to Work” OJT grant, participation in an Apprenticeship “roundtable” with US Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez, leadership of the annual School District of Philadelphia “Health Career Fair” attended by 150+ high school students, four quarterly IP meetings, launch of the new GreaterPhilaHealthcare.org website, and attendance, presentations and advocacy at numerous national, state and local workforce development conferences and events.
Following the quarterly IP update, assembled GPHP members had the opportunity to hear from My Gift of Grace and Common Practice CEO Jethro Heiko and designer Rob Peagler, who delivered a presentation on End of Life Discussion for Healthcare Workers. “This is an emerging need,” Heiko explained. “People are seeing quality conversation as essential to improving the patient experience and patient care. Every time these conversations are avoided — and they’re avoided far too much — there’s a cost, even if it’s often a hidden cost.”
Heiko and Peagler next led a GPHP first, as attendees played the My Gift of Grace conversation game in small groups. The deck of 47 cards uses prompting, open-ended questions to get players talking about funerals, disability, philosophy and other topics that can help resolve important questions about end-of-life care. Designed to stimulate important but too frequently avoided conversations among anyone from friends and family, to colleagues, to IP meeting attendees, My Gift of Grace is available online at mygiftofgrace.com, with training details from Common Practice at ourcommonpractice.com.
Readers interested experiencing My Gift of Grace firsthand can join Heiko, Peagler and other members of the Common Practice team on the final Friday of each month at the Reading Terminal Market at noon. Details about this free event are available online through the My Gift of Grace website.
The Partnership will meet next at 8:30 AM on October 22nd, 2015, at the District 1199C Training & Upgrading Fund’s Breslin Learning Center (10th floor of the Land Title Building, at 100 South Broad Street). October’s featured speaker is yet to be announced.
If you or your organization are interested, the Greater Philadelphia Healthcare Partnership welcomes healthcare employers, academics, public sector and community partners, and workforce development professionals to its quarterly meetings and other special events. For additional details, news and events, and other updates, please visit our website (greaterphilahealthcare.org), check out and “like” our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/GreaterPhilaHealthcare), contact IP Director Susan Thomas (sthomas@1199ctraining.org) or follow us on Twitter @PhilaHCPartners.
Following the quarterly IP update, assembled GPHP members had the opportunity to hear from My Gift of Grace and Common Practice CEO Jethro Heiko and designer Rob Peagler, who delivered a presentation on End of Life Discussion for Healthcare Workers. “This is an emerging need,” Heiko explained. “People are seeing quality conversation as essential to improving the patient experience and patient care. Every time these conversations are avoided — and they’re avoided far too much — there’s a cost, even if it’s often a hidden cost.”
Heiko and Peagler next led a GPHP first, as attendees played the My Gift of Grace conversation game in small groups. The deck of 47 cards uses prompting, open-ended questions to get players talking about funerals, disability, philosophy and other topics that can help resolve important questions about end-of-life care. Designed to stimulate important but too frequently avoided conversations among anyone from friends and family, to colleagues, to IP meeting attendees, My Gift of Grace is available online at mygiftofgrace.com, with training details from Common Practice at ourcommonpractice.com.
Readers interested experiencing My Gift of Grace firsthand can join Heiko, Peagler and other members of the Common Practice team on the final Friday of each month at the Reading Terminal Market at noon. Details about this free event are available online through the My Gift of Grace website.
The Partnership will meet next at 8:30 AM on October 22nd, 2015, at the District 1199C Training & Upgrading Fund’s Breslin Learning Center (10th floor of the Land Title Building, at 100 South Broad Street). October’s featured speaker is yet to be announced.
If you or your organization are interested, the Greater Philadelphia Healthcare Partnership welcomes healthcare employers, academics, public sector and community partners, and workforce development professionals to its quarterly meetings and other special events. For additional details, news and events, and other updates, please visit our website (greaterphilahealthcare.org), check out and “like” our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/GreaterPhilaHealthcare), contact IP Director Susan Thomas (sthomas@1199ctraining.org) or follow us on Twitter @PhilaHCPartners.
