Rev. Dr. Yvonne Delk, Minister of the United Church of Christ and Member of C-TAC’s Board of Directors, delivers remarks during the opening plenary of the 2020 C-TAC Summit on Oct. 28.
The 2020 C-TAC Summit was unlike any that came before it. Against a backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a national reckoning with racial and economic injustice, hundreds of leaders gathered virtually to chart a course forward for our movement.
From Oct. 27-30, attendees brought their passion and expertise to bear as we face a serious illness landscape that has been reshaped by three simultaneous pandemics – Coronavirus, as well as racism and economic injustice. In our opening plenary on Oct. 28, C-TAC Board Member and United Church of Christ Minister Rev. Dr. Yvonne Delk explained the urgency of the situation as well as our ability to rise to meet the challenge.
“We can transform the way in which we are present with and for each other as we move through these pandemics,” Rev. Dr. Delk said.
We kicked off the Summit with a gathering to honor essential workers, which included a moving performance of “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” from the Nicole Heaston Purple Robe Song Series and provided by the Progressive National Baptist Convention.
We heard firsthand stories from people facing serious illness, calls for action from leaders representing communities who have historically been left behind by our healthcare system, and inspiring commitments from changemakers that will help us reach our moonshot goal of ensuring a high quality of life for 12 million people with serious illness by 2030.
If you missed any of this year’s Summit or want to relive any moment of the event, click here to access the full Summit on demand! All session videos, transcripts, and resources will be available until Jan. 31, 2021. Take a look at the highlights from each day of our Summit below.
Pre-Summit Programming and Our Summit Kickoff
Before officially kicking off the 2020 Summit, dozens of attendees got a head start by joining our Pre-Summit sessions, hosted by the Home Centered Care Institute and the Center to Advance Palliative Care. This was followed by a moving kickoff session as faith and community leaders gathered to recognize the tireless dedication shown by essential workers throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
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We hosted a discussion that explored the potential for collaboration between home-based primary care and home-based palliative care, as well as a session that offered strategies for building strong payer-provider partnerships during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.
We officially kicked off our Summit by honoring essential workers who have been serving on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic for months. Faith and community leaders shared words of prayer and reflection on the incredible contributions made by these individuals. The session also featured an interview with 13-year-old Carragain, who was diagnosed with brain cancer at the age of three and is facing serious illness with the love and support of her family.
Relive the Summit kickoff with our on-demand Summit content by clicking here.
Day 1
The first plenary session of the 2020 Summit featured an array of leaders tackling key issues facing the serious illness care movement, from fairly compensating direct care workers to addressing systemic injustices have plagued our country for generations. Ira Byock MD, FAAHPM, electrified our audience with a challenge to field leading members.
We also hosted highly interactive visioning labs and shared learning sessions that investigated barriers to high-quality care and challenged attendees to share their own solutions.
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Driving change on a community level to improve serious illness care was a major focus during the first day of our 2020 virtual Summit. We were proud to be joined in our Opening Plenary by a range of voices calling for change, including C-TAC Board Members Rev. Yvonne Delk, Minister of the United Church of Christ, calling for a referendum on health inequities and Lucy Kalanithi, MD, a Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at Stanford School of Medicine, who shared what she’s seen on the front lines of the COVID pandemic.
Our first keynote presentation was provided by Providence Institute for Human Caring Founder and Chief Medical Officer Ira Byock, MD, FAAHPM, who shared powerful stories of direct care workers and drove home the need to fairly compensate and support these individuals who are so key to our healthcare system.
We also held a suite of shared learning sessions which focused on a variety of critical issues facing our field, from state strategies for addressing palliative care to implementing lay health workers in historically underserved communities.
During a session focused on the grief that comes from poverty, featured speaker and Dean of Howard University’s School of Social Work, Sandra Crewe, PhD, explained the risk of asking those who have been underserved to persevere without addressing flaws in our system.
Hundreds of attendees shared their input with experts in a pair of highly interactive visioning lab sessions. One of our most popular sessions, sponsored by Pfizer, addressed the urgent need to craft models of care that drive change on the community level. Experts outlined the policies that must be enacted in order to bring these models to life.
We were also joined by researchers Gary L. Stein, JD, MSW and Cathy Berkman, of Yeshiva University and Fordham University, respectively, who have studied the experiences of LGBT people and their families while receiving hospice and palliative care. They discussed their findings with Kimberly Acquaviva, PhD, MSW, CWE, Betty Norman Norris Endowed Professor, University of Virginia School of Nursing, who shared her firsthand experience of navigating serious illness with her wife, Kathy Brandt, a leader in palliative care who passed away in 2019. Learn more about their story here.
We were thrilled at the high level of engagement in each session, as attendees led lively conversations in multiple settings, from focused breakout rooms to full group discussions. Catch up on our other Summit sessions on-demand today by clicking here!
Day 2
The second day of our Summit saw a range of speakers, many of whom representing historically underserved communities, who offered solutions that can be used to ensure that the sickest and most vulnerable among us receive the support they need, during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. MIT AgeLab Founder and Director Joseph Coughlin, PhD delivered a powerful keynote presentation exploring how technology can transform the aging process. In our shared learning sessions and visioning labs, we reimagined long-term care, discussed how we can ensure equity in the telehealth revolution and explored methods for reaching new audiences.
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Supporting communities that have been historically underserved and affected by health disparities is central to C-TAC’s mission and a major component of our Summit. We began today by hearing from leaders like Gov. Brian Vallo of the Pueblo of Acoma and Gayle Dine’Chacon, MD, Founder of the Center for Native American Health, who underscored the inequities that have affected American Indian communities long before the COVID-19 pandemic.
MIT AgeLab Founder and Director Joseph Coughlin, PhD delivered a keynote presentation that highlighted the potential for new technology to reshape the way that we age. A panel featuring Elder Angela Overton, Senior Advisor to C-TAC’s Interfaith and Diversity Workgroup, offered updates and insight from the frontlines of our Louisville, KY Faith Community Pilot Project.
Experts like Marisette Hasan, BSN, RN, President and CEO of The Carolinas Center, discussed the importance of creating a connection with patients in order to deliver high-quality palliative care, even in the midst of a pandemic.
Our shared learning sessions created lively and impactful dialogues on key topics facing our field. We examined the challenges of supporting the serious illness care workforce during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, in a session that featured CSU Shiley Institute for Palliative Care Executive Director Jennifer Ballentine, Rev. Dr. Carla Cheatham, MDiv, PhD, as well as Margherita Labson, BSN, MS-HAS, Founder and Executive Director of the Home Care Program’s Joint Commission.
Scores of leaders also attended a lab designed to find new ways to engage with audiences which have previously been overlooked by our healthcare system. End Well Founder Shoshana Ungerleider, MD, Pastor Corey L. Kennard of Amplify Christian Church and Michael Hebb, Founder of the End of Life Collective and Death Over Dinner, highlighted compassionate and culturally sensitive techniques for communicating about serious illness and the end of life. Many participants made commitments to improve the lives of those with serious illness in the communities they serve.
To learn more about these commitments and access all other Summit materials on-demand, click here.
Day 3
The third and final day was the culmination of days of conversation moving the field forward. We welcomed a true pioneer to our virtual plenary stage. Center to Advance Palliative Care Director Diane E. Meier, MD, FACP, FAAHPM, highlighted the dire need to address the systemic issues that keep members of vulnerable communities from receiving care and resources when they are needed most. We were also inspired by a host of leaders who took our plenary stage to make commitments to action in the coming year.
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In addition to Dr. Meier, we were honored to be joined by patient advocate and new C-TAC Board Member Shirley Roberson, who shared her “Blue Chair” story, an experience in which she encountered a doctor who refused to listen to her concerns. Her message has inspired so many in our movement and she explained the importance of every person facing serious illness having the opportunity to determine what matters most to them.
We also convened an expert roundtable to examine the implications of the 2020 elections on our healthcare system, especially for the most vulnerable among us. Our featured speakers, SCAN Health Plan Chief Medical Officer Romilla Batra, MD, MBA, POLITICO Executive Health Editor Joanne Kenen, and Bob Blancato, President of Matz, Blancato and Associates and National Coordinator at the Elder Justice Coalition, shared unique perspectives on how those with serious illness will be affected by the reelection of President Donald Trump or by an incoming Biden administration. Over 200 attendees tuned in to share questions and their own comments with our panel.
Commitments
Several key leaders also used the Summit stage as a platform for committing to bold actions that will change the way that their organizations serve those affected by serious illness. We were excited by these announcements and look forward to providing support however we can.
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Vice President Bradley T. Rosen, MD, MBA delivered a compelling presentation that outlined the Cedars-Sinai commitment to ensuring goal-concordant care. This includes launching a new initiative to measurably improve the Serious Illness Communication Skillset for all Cedars-Sinai clinicians.
Brynn Bowman, MPA, serves as Chief Strategy Officer for the Center to Advance Palliative Care, which has provided online training in palliative care for roughly 70,000 clinicians. During our Summit, Bowman committed to doubling the number of clinicians that receive this training within the next three years.
Alex Drane, CEO of Rebel Health and ARCHANGELS, also serves as a member of C-TAC’s Board of Directors. She is a steadfast advocate for caregivers who bear the financial, social and emotional burdens of caring for loved ones. She has committed to putting her own organization out of business in order to ensure that caregivers receive the support they need.
Torrie Fields, MPH, CEO of Votive Health, has committed to collecting the best-available evidence, in partnership with C-TAC, to enforce a standard of care that is based in clinical and operational excellence. She committed to ensuring that this is made available to all, regardless of their ability to pay.
Our Summit closed with a moving word of prayer and reflection from Rabbi Richard Address, Co-Chair of C-TAC’s Interfaith and Diversity Workgroup and Founder of Jewish Sacred Aging. Catch up on the final day of our Summit and access all other session materials by clicking here!
Don’t forget that all Summit content is now available on demand! All session videos, resources and chat transcripts will be available until Jan. 31, 2021. Click here to register or log into our event venue to catch up on any discussions that you missed or to relive the moments that made this Summit so powerful.
We would also like to thank our 2020 Summit sponsors, whose dedication and support made this event possible:
