THE DYING CHILD: END OF LIFE ISSUES IN PEDIATRICS
Facilitated by: Kat Kowalski, Mdiv. BCC, Emily Johnson, MSN, CRNP & Cora Welsh, CCLS, MA
Date: Sunday, June 9, 2024 | 10:00 am – 5:30 pm ET
Price: $250.00
More than 40,000 children in the U.S. die every year from trauma, lethal conditions, heritable disorders, acquired illnesses, and prematurity. Pediatric palliative care is a dynamic interdisciplinary approach to care that, in the face of a complex and life-threatening diagnosis, strives to enrich a child’s quality of life through relief of pain and other symptoms while also addressing the child’s and family’s social, psychological, and spiritual needs. In this session, members of the Johns Hopkins Pediatric Palliative Care Team will share their experience and expertise working with pediatric patients and their families. Students will gain a sense of life and death in an ICU and how the palliative care team works to ensure that even the briefest lives are infused with sacredness and dignity. Topics covered will include perinatal palliative care, the role of parents as decision-makers, the inclusion of children and teens in a death (their own/siblings’), memory-making, and more.
Facilitator
REV. KAT KOWALSKI, MDiv, BCC, is the Perinatal Palliative Care and Chaplaincy Coordinator at The Johns Hopkins Hospital. She often works with parents who have received a worrisome prenatal diagnosis and has ministered to countless families experiencing the serious illness and/or death of a baby.
Facilitator
EMILY JOHNSON, MSN, CRNP, is a certified pediatric nurse practitioner who provides palliative care in Johns Hopkins’ Pediatric ICU. With extensive experience in pediatric critical care nursing, she has cared for hundreds of dying children. In addition to advanced degrees in nursing, Emily holds certificates in nurse education and pediatric bioethics.
Facilitator
CORA GALLAGHER, CCLS, MA, is the Program Manager of Pediatric Palliative Care at Johns Hopkins. She provides psycho-social support to patients and families as well as follow-up bereavement care. She has degrees in Child Life, Literature, and Pastoral Care, and a special interest in adolescents and informed decision-making at all stages of development.