Calvary Hospital hosted a screening of highlights from the groundbreaking documentary Defining Hope on Tuesday, April 3rd, for more than 70 people. The film prominently features Diane Ryan, RN, a nurse who works at Calvary’s 200-bed Bronx campus.
Immediately following the screening, Patricia (Pat) Farnack, WCBS Newsradio 880 Radio anchor and host of the WCBS Health and Well Being Report, moderated a thought-provoking panel discussion with: Christopher P. Comfort, MD, Medical Director of Calvary Hospital; Carolyn Jones, Director and Executive Producer of Defining Hope; and Mark Rosenberg, DO, Chair, Emergency Medicine, St. Joseph’s Healthcare System (NJ).
The panel covered a wide-ranging list of topics such as:
- The state of Palliative Care in the U.S. over the past 30 years
- What we are doing to provide access to excellent palliative care – especially at the end of life – for people who need it most
- How we can encourage more people to create an Advance Care Directive
- What we need to do to improve palliative care in the short- and long-term
- How we can overcome cultural and generational obstacles to beginning the conversation on End-of-Life choices
Defining Hope is a story about people weighing what matters most at the most fragile junctures in life, and the nurses who guide them. It follows patients with life-threatening illnesses as they make choices about how they want to live, how much curative treatment they can tolerate, what they hope for and how that hope evolves when life is threatened. It reminds us that we have choices in how we die and the importance of making advance directive plans well ahead of time.
The film follows Ms. Ryan at work as a staff nurse at Calvary and at home with her family. As she goes through her day, Ms. Ryan shares candid thoughts and insights about caring for her beloved patients and their families, about her work as a hospice nurse, and how she deals with her own serious health challenges. With her indomitable spirit, Ms. Ryan also illustrates that humor can have an appropriate place in the life of a hospice nurse.
As the population rapidly ages and the healthcare environment continues to offer incalculable challenges, especially in end-of-life care, Defining Hope brings an important perspective to the subject of palliative and end-of-life care. The will to live is a powerful force, yet we all will have to make individual decisions when faced with very complex choices.
Defining Hope is made possible through the generous support of the Jonas Center for Nursing and Veterans Healthcare, the American Nurses Foundation, Jeannie Patz Blaustein, The E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, The Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation, Walden University, and the Fledgling Fund.
To learn more or to find a screening near you, please visit: http://hope.film/.
To see a trailer of the film, go to http://hope.film/trailer/.
Please visit our website: www.calvaryhospital.org it’s designed to address a range of needs, whether a visitor is:
- seeking basic information on how to access quality hospice/end-of-life care
- a healthcare professional who wants to make a referral or seek employment
- someone who wants to support the Calvary mission with a charitable gift
Broadcast Update
Defining Hope will air throughout the month of April on PBS stations. In the greater New York area, tune in to WLIW, Channel 21 on: April 5 at 10:00 pm; April 7 at 5:00 pm; April 30 at 7:00 pm and May 1 at 12 am, 8:00 am and 2:00 pm.
