What Mortality Can Teach Us About Living

press release: Dr. Ira Byock, a leading palliative care physician, author and public advocate for improving care through the end of life, will present “What Mortality Can Teach Us About Living,” in Madison on April 30. His visit co-hosted by Agrace Hospice & Palliative Care and University of Wisconsin Palliative Care.

Byock is author of “The Best Care Possible,” “The Four Things That Matter Most,” and “Dying Well.” The free presentation is open to the public and will take place Tuesday, April 30, at 6:15 p.m., at the Madison Public Library – Sequoya Branch, 4340 Tokay Blvd., Madison.

The presentation is made possible by the John Peterson endowment of the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship, which funds vital hands-on experience in palliative and end-of-life care to local physicians-in-training at University of Wisconsin Hospitals, the VA Hospital and at Agrace HospiceCare.

Byock is founder and chief medical officer for the Institute for Human Caring of Providence St. Joseph Health, a 50-hospital health system serving communities across seven states. A Fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Byock’s first book, “Dying Well,” (1997) has become a standard in the field of hospice and palliative care. “The Four Things That Matter Most,” (2004) is used as a counseling tool widely by palliative care and hospice programs, as well as within pastoral care. His most recent book, “The Best Care Possible” (2012) tackles the crisis that surrounds serious illness and dying in America and his quest to transform care through the end of life. It won the Annual Books for a Better Life Award in the category of Wellness.

Byock has been involved in hospice and palliative care since 1978. From 1996 through 2006, he served as director for Promoting Excellence in End-of-Life Care, a national grant program of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed academic articles on the ethics and practice of care. His research has led to conceptual frameworks for the lived experience of advanced illness, subjective quality-of-life measures, and simple, effective life-completion counseling.