"This is an excellent educational tool, offering valuable insights to improve culturally competent end-of-life care to patients and families whose racial, ethnic, cultural or religious background may be different from those of their providers. Members of specific ethno-cultural groups teach us their own perspectives on death and dying."
-José Lusende, Former Diversity Committee Co-Convener for Last Acts Partnerships, and Founder of the Institute for Language and Cultural Diversity, Indianapolis, Indiana
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This film was created by editing highlights of the first five programs in the Cultural Diversity Series planned and presented by the Multicultural Education Committee of the Community Alliance for Compassionate Care at the End of Life in Springfield, Missouri. The film is intended to serve as a training resource to stimulate discussion about specific local traditions and respectful honoring of death-related customs in the health care setting. The four cultures highlighted are Latino/Hispanic, Asian, African-American and Native American.
While highlighting customs of each culture, the film acknowledges that there is considerable variance within each of these cultural groups. This variance includes the range of persons who are traditionalists in their cultural practices to those who have lived in and have become acculturated to the Amercian customs, as well as educational and economic variables.
With each program, members of that specific culture were invited to help plan the content of the programs, including speakers, cultural displays, food associated with special times of gathering for that culture and, where appropriate, music and dance. The Alliance has received national recognition for its programs including this diversity series.
This film is a training resource for various health care organizations who work with the aging and the dying, as well as schools involved in training a range of health care personnel.
These programs were originally planned for residents of Southwest Missouri, so there are occasional references to the specific ethnic populations of this region. The basic messages and value of the film transcend this specific region and can be valuable as an educational tool for those working with diverse populations in other areas of the country as well.
This 45 minute film can be divided into four segments and is available on DVD (or VHS can be requested by calling our office) with a discussion guide, all for the affordable price of $45 plus $5 for shipping and handling.
Click on the menu "Order Form for Training Video" to order!
Questions? Please call 417-865-4501 - Community Alliance