Annual Meeting of the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Western Pennsylvania

A brief business meeting and election of officers and trustees will be followed by an educational program:

"Hospice Care and Family Conversations Before I Go"

featuring a panel of experts:

Robert M. Arnold, MD, is a Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh and in the University of Pittsburgh Center for Bioethics and Health Law.  He is Director of the Institute for Doctor-Patient Communication and the Medical Director of the UPMC Palliative and Supportive Institute, and is clinically active in palliative care.

The Rev. Dr. Moni McIntyre is assistant professor in the Graduate Center for Social and Public Policy at Duquesne University.  Since 2005 she has been the Rector of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Cross in Homewood, the only predominantly African American congregation in the Diocese of Pittsburgh.  A retired Navy Captain, she teaches ethics to senior U.S. Navy physicians and dentists.  For the past five years she has given the annual holiday grief presentation at Allegheny Cemetery.

Lillian S. Sweeney, RN, BSN, CHPN, is the Educational Coordinator for Family Hospice and Palliative Care.  She coordinates education for the staff as well as presentations in the community about hospice and end-of-life issues.  Her background is in oncology nursing, where she has moved from patient treatment, to research, to end-of-life care and education.

Founded in 1957 as the Pittsburgh Memorial Society, the Funeral Consumers Alliance of Western Pennsylvania is a nonprofit organization whose mission is "to provide consumers with up-to-date information, guidance, and options for planning affordable funeral arrangements and other end-of-life issues, in order to relieve survivors of that burden."