At its regular weekly meeting on Thursday, Feb. 1, Ossian Rotary will host Erica Downing, Parkview Health advance care planning specialist and Michael Kinsey, Parkview chaplain.
The meeting will focus on helping attendees think about who would make medical decisions if you were unable to make them for yourself. The Advance Care Planning team from Parkview Health will be here to discuss the process of thinking and talking about what type of medical care you would want, should you not be able to speak for yourself, also known as advance care planning. We invite you to attend this session to start the conversation surrounding your wishes. We encourage you to bring the person you think you would like to make decisions for you if needed; however, this is not required to attend the meeting.
Downing is a masters-trained social worker, who has a great passion for health care. Downing has worked as a medical social worker for the past seven years with experience as an emergency room social worker, advance care planning facilitator, and most recently as an advance care planning specialist. Downing walks alongside patients and community members as they reflect on their goals, values, and preferences to make well-informed decisions for their future health care in advance of a medical emergency.
Joining Downing will be Michael Kinsey, a Parkview chaplain who holds a master’s degree in organizational leadership. He has an extensive background in leadership and has served in the healthcare community for over a decade. As an advance care planning specialist, Kinsey follows his passion for helping individuals and their loved ones become better prepared for some of the most difficult moments in life. He is an integral part of the ACP team at Parkview Health and focuses on increasing the awareness and effectiveness of ACP within Parkview and the surrounding communities.
Both Downing and Kinsey are certified facilitators and instructors of Respecting Choices® First Steps®, Next Steps®, and Advanced Steps® conversations and curriculum.
Anyone is welcome to attend Ossian Rotary this Thursday morning, at 7:30 at First Baptist Church of Ossian, 1001 Dehner Drive for this program.
For more information, please contact Jeremy Penrod, Ossian Rotary President, at jeremy.penrod@edwardjones.com.
Please note that Ossian Rotary will cancel when Norwell Community Schools has a delay or cancellation due to weather.
Next Thursday, Feb. 8, Ossian Rotary will meet at and tour the Caylor-Nickel Foundation Family YMCA, 550 W. Dustman Road in Bluffton at 7:30 a.m.
Ossian Rotary is a small part of a larger organization, Rotary International, which was founded almost 120 years ago in Chicago. Ossian Rotary is a group of people with a desire to meet new people, network, get involved and make a difference in Ossian and the surrounding community. Each week we have a different speaker, usually business experts, political and civic leaders, and entrepreneurs, who help us stay informed on topics that are relevant to our community.
