A number of campus programs scheduled in the next few weeks are designed to increase awareness about death, dying and end-of-life care.
GUEST SPEAKER: David Muller of Mount Sinai Medical Center will address “Caregivers and Care Providers Coping with Death” on Wednesday, Sept. 24 at 6:30 p.m. in the Reamer Campus Center Auditorium. He will discuss three cases that illustrate many of the challenges and blessings that the dying bring to those who provide care.
Muller is associate professor of medicine and chair of medical education at Mount Sinai and a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine. He received his M.D. from New York University School of Medicine and completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Mount Sinai, where he also served as chief resident.
He co-founded and directed the Mount Sinai Visiting Doctors Program, now the largest academic physician home visiting program in the country.
Co-sponsored with the Community Hospice of Schenectady, the event is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Carol Weisse, director of Health Professions Program, at weissec@union.edu, or call 388-6300.
FILM SERIES: A Wold House “Death in Film” series will offer a look at how different views about death are captured in popular films on Tuesdays, 5:30-7:30 p.m. A light dinner of soup and bread will be served. The schedule:
Sept. 30, “The Bucket List”: This Rob Reiner comedy is about two men, portrayed by Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman, who go on an adventurous road trip together after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. (The film is produced by Warner Bros. Entertainment, whose president is Alan Horn ’64.)
Oct. 7, “Two Weeks”: Four adult children return home to handle the final care and arrangements for their dying mother, played by Sally Field.
Oct. 14, “Ponette”: This French drama captures a young child’s unique perspectives after the sudden loss of her mother.
Oct. 21, “Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself”: This Danish black comedy features two Scottish brothers, one who is chronically suicidal and the good-hearted sibling who is left to care for him.
Oct. 28, “Harold and Maude”: This 1971 cult classic, a black comedy, follows the relationship between a death-obsessed 19-year-old and a life-loving 79-year-old widow.
Nov. 4, “Death at a Funeral”: Chaos erupts at a funeral when romance, jealousy, in-laws, hallucinogens, dark secrets, life-long yearnings and a spot of bold blackmail collide in this British black comedy.
Nov. 11, “The Last Lecture”: Randy Pausch, a Carnegie Mellon professor who recently passed away at age 47 from pancreatic cancer, became known around the world from his videotaped “last lecture” and the book based on his advice about living a full life.
COMMUNITY SERVICE: Many Union students are volunteering at the Joan Nicole Prince Home, a local comfort care home that provides a safe, comfortable caring residence for terminally ill patients in need of a home during their final days. For more information, go to www.joannicoleprincehome.org.
Several members of the community are also training or have trained to become hospice volunteers through Community Hospice of Schenectady, and a number of students will be volunteering at Camp Erin, Upstate New York’s first weekend overnight camp for children who have lost someone close to them. For more information, go to http://www.communityhospice.org/