If you're in the room with Tori Murden McClure it's hard not to feel like an underachiever. Currently the President of Spalding University in Louisville, she has worked for the Mayor of Louisville and Muhammad Ali. She graduated from Smith, has a master's degree in divinity from Harvard, a law degree from the University of Louisville, and an MFA from Spalding.

Along the way, she's climbed mountains, traveled to the South Pole, and rowed alone across the Atlantic. She didn't need to tell us her story about her ocean voyage. Instead, she shared a TED Talk video with singer/songwriter Dawn Landis, who turned McClure's story into a song. Landis called it "A song for my hero, the woman who rowed into a hurricane."

As you may already know, palliative care is the management of physical, emotional, social and spiritual suffering. It also involves directed treatments related to chronic, life-threatening or terminal pain and disease. Most important, palliative care means improving the quality of care through communication and informed decision making. It is a HOLISTIC approach.

Palliative care is NOT a single treatment algorithm and not limited to end-of-life care or restricted to pain management, nor is it only appropriate for cancer-related diagnoses.

"It has been the biggest battle with healthcare providers to separate the differences between hospice and palliative care," explained Dr. Riar. He then clarified that hospice is an insurance-provided service and palliative is a way of improving quality of life.

As part of Kindred's celebration honoring veterans in our country, Divisional Vice President Selece Beasley paid tribute to the men and women who have served over the years, including both her father and grandfather.

The service and sacrifice of these veterans, she noted, is humbling. She is proud that Kindred is able to help care for veterans and proud of the employees who provide that care. She shared the story of Julius Lenhbeuter, a World War II veteran and Kindred hospice patient in St. Louis.

Glenda Mack, Divisional Vice President of Clinical Operations for Kindred Hospital Rehabilitative Services, introduced Christa Dempsey, Chief Nursing Officer of Press Ganey.

Dempsey began by asking the audience to remember why they began working in the medical field. "We didn't get into this business for the money or the hours," said Dempsey. "We need to get back to WHY we all got into this business in the beginning."

"We've talked about pain, pain management and how pain is treated. Now we turn toward our relationships and interactions with patients," said Dr. Marc Rothman, Kindred's Chief Medical Officer, in his introduction to the next presentation during the 2016 Clinical Impact Symposium.

Rothman then introduced Dr. VJ (Vicente) Velez - MD, FACP, FHM, Internal Medicine Hospitalist at the Cleveland Clinic and Institute Experience Officer for the Department of Medicine Institute.

Dr. Ed Covington is the former director of the Cleveland Clinic Chronic Pain Rehabilitation Program and his career has largely centered on understanding and treating pain. He is quick to note that there is no "one right way" to treat pain, but emphasizes that "success comes only from addressing the whole person."

At the beginning of his presentation, he asked one question: "Why talk about pain?" It turns out the simple answer is because it needs to be talked about. We don't know enough and some of what we believe, or have been taught, is simply wrong. 

The University of Kentucky's College of Health Sciences presented this morning to kick off day two of Kindred's Clinical Impact Symposium. "How do we keep patients progressing at the expected rate, and what gets in the way of that?" asked Art Nitz, PhD, PT, ECS, OCS. How do we keep pain from getting in the way of that?

Pain, and sometimes our very best efforts, have unintended consequences. We have a shared responsibility to develop approaches that are more efficient, more accessible, more effective and do no harm. He began by discussing how the understanding and articulation of pain also has changed over time.

It's often been said that no one can or could give a facility tour like Paul Diaz. Paul was CEO of Kindred Healthcare for 10 years and is now a board member. Paul made a great impact on families and employees alike, which is why every year Kindred honors outstanding employees for going above and beyond with this special award in his name.

This year, there were 110 nominations from all Kindred divisions across the country. It's a long and challenging task to go through 110 applications, but at today's Clinical Impact Symposium, that list was narrowed down to two individuals. 

Speaker Dr. Ronald Crossno, Chief Medical Officer of Kindred at Home, opened his presentation with a poll asking the audience several questions, including how many of them are dealing with chronic pain. The answer was 30%, which is very similar to the percentage of people in the general population who are affected.

He then asked how many people in the audience know someone who has an opioid misuse disorder. The number went up to 75%. These responses reflect what Dr. Crossno calls “the crises of pain management.” Specifically, that we do not manage pain well--whether it’s acute or chronic—and that with opioid prescriptions nearly tripling between 1999 and 2011, we are facing an epidemic of opioid misuse.

Presentation by Scott Strassels, PharmD, PhD. A clinical pharmacist with Optum Hospice Pharmacy Services, a partner of Kindred  

Medications, while prescribed to promote healing and symptom relief, often have unintended effects that can hinder care goals. All clinicians must be able to recognize medication-related problems and reach out to pharmacists as necessary.

In Scott's presentation, he sought to help the audience understand the roles of pharmacists in pain and palliative practice and understand how analgesics are chosen based on type and severity of pain.