I also found the description by Dr . Kimberly Curseen of planning , pitching , and implementing an ambulatory palliative care clinic equally helpful as we create our pilot program with better defined goals and clearly established stakeholders . Transparent dialogue with colleagues who have been shouldering the same burdens of building a palliative network but have already traversed many of the paths that our program is taking was insightful and encouraging .
Tell us about your experience with the Cultural Communication Workshop at the Summit .
March 2021 | Issue 2 | Page 9
Participating in the summit highlighted the benefit of utilizing community benefit of utilizing community advisory groups to develop culturally tailored and meaningful communication . The specific focus was on endof-life issues for African American patients and families in rural southern settings . I am grateful to be a part of a diverse palliative care team and discussions of points highlighted in the workshop have been a beginning point for honest sharing among my staff about communication trends that apply and some that may not translate into our urban setting . Our team also discussed that the technique of utilizing patient and community advisory groups could be applied to various other specific patient populations beyond cultural lines to clinical groups such as patients with advanced heart failure requiring advanced circulatory support devices and their caregivers . We look forward to applying this approach and potentially new insights that may come to light through community engagement to those we serve in Memphis with the hope of improving palliative communication among vulnerable and unique patient populations . In your opinion , what are some ways the palliative care organizations could collaborate in the Southeast ? Inter-program communication not only normalizes similar struggles , adding to a more resilient response , but allows for growing programs to avoid potentially predictable pitfalls as we all continue to move through this unique time of a global pandemic and cultural complexities . Collaborating to maintain and foster greater communication as we strive to expand palliative care using what we have been through this past year coupled with what we are learning as a region , would be helpful . The mission to provide excellent and appropriate palliative care with improved cultural understanding to patients and families throughout the southeast is one with which we can all resonate . Our program in Memphis is poised to expand to home palliative care in the coming weeks and we hope to continue to grow in outpatient palliative care in the coming months . I look forward to the next summit and to ongoing communication through this initiative so that we can all move forward together .
Quotes from Summit Attendees
“ T h e C u l t u r a l C o m m u n i c a t i o n W o r k s h o p w a s a d y n a m i c a n d e d u c a t i o n a l e x p e r i e n c e f o r m e .
V e r y w e l l f a c i l i t a t e d ! A n d F U N t o o ! ”
W . Greg Mullinax , MD , FAAFP - Bio Dr . Greg Mullinax received his training in Family Medicine at Ventura County Medical Center in Ventura , California through UCLA prior to moving to Memphis in 2002 to begin working with Christ Community Health Services . He practiced full scope family medicine , including surgical obstetrics , for 14 years before pursuing training in Palliative Medicine . He completed a fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine with the University of Tennessee prior to joining Baptist Medical Group in August 2017 . He currently serves as the Medical Director of Palliative Medicine and is working to expand and build upon the palliative program at Baptist . He is happily married to Dr . Clarice Mullinax and has two teenage children .