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A note from the 2022 SWHPN Executive Committee

Dear Members,

We are thrilled to welcome you to the 2022 SWHPN Annual Assembly in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It’s so nice to finally meet in person and we hope you enjoy your time connecting with colleagues you haven’t seen since 2019. 

It’s been an unprecedented two years with the pandemic, murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and too many other Black and Brown people, social unrest, and the war in the Ukraine. In reflecting on this year’s theme, “Looking forward & back: celebrating our history and the future of hospice and palliative care social work,” we’re struck by the word “celebrate.” While there is a lot that we are proud of in this field, and proud 
of SWHPN as an organization, it’s a difficult time to “celebrate” when we are aware of our roots in white supremacy and anti-Blackness. As an organization, SWHPN is dedicated to cultivating a sustainable community rooted in belonging and justice. An important part of this is to own our past and move through a period of disruption and discomfort. To develop new ways of working to ensure we do not perpetuate harm to historically marginalized and excluded communities, including our colleagues in hospice and palliative care. 

In Alicia Elliott’s memoir, A Mind Spread Out on the Ground, Elliott, a Mohawk writer, reflects on her childhood growing up on a reservation in Ontario, Canada:

“Perhaps one day this neighborhood, this city, this country will finally hear its neglected past whispering. Look at me plainly. Look at me. Look at your patterns. Don’t make the same mistakes. Don’t hide who you were. Acknowledge it, then make something new, something beautiful, something that will make everyone proud.” (Elliott, Pg. 57)

SWHPN is in the process of reflecting on its patterns, its history – so we can acknowledge where we have colluded with oppressive structures, so we can stop making the same mistakes, and make something new.  We have committed the human and financial resources necessary to help us identify our patterns and plan for a more equitable future. As the history of systemic racism and oppression within the medical system begins to be acknowledged and addressed, we as social workers need to look at ourselves as individuals and at social work as a profession. As a profession that is rooted in “nice” whiteness, we need to question its role in proliferating power structures and imagine a new future. In 2022-2023 and beyond, my hope for SWHPN, to borrow from Elliott’s words, is that we not only “hear the neglected past whispers” but actively work to turn whispers into trumpets to address systemic racism. 

Acknowledge the neglected whispers of the past
Make something new
Something beautiful 
Something that will make everyone proud (A. Elliott)

We look forward to seeing what SWHPN will create together, in 2022 and for many more years. Jessica Strong, Executive Director, will share more about these exciting updates. 

SWHPN Executive Committee:
Anne Kelemen, LICSW, APHSW-C, Chair 
Danielle Jonas, LCSW, Vice Chair
Caitlin Scanlon, LCSW, Secretary/Treasurer 
Stacy Remke, LICSW, APHSW-C, Past Chair 

Join Us to Support Hospice & Palliative Care in Ukraine

Many of us have been anxiously watching the news from Ukraine and wondering what we can do to help. SWHPN is part of the World Hospice and Palliative Social Workers (WHPCSW.net) community. We are coming together now to support our HAPC colleagues in Ukraine, who are facing a humanitarian emergency through a critical lack of necessary medical supplies for patients in hospices, palliative care settings, and hospitals. These vulnerable patients and their families, as well as healthcare staff, are unable to leave the country while Russia is attacking.
 
SWHPN is collecting donations of funds and ensuring they get distributed to bona fide organizations and NGOs on the ground in Ukraine, Poland and Romania. The WHPCSW is actively helping connect people throughout our network. The head of the Ukrainian Association of Palliative and Hospice Care is asking for donations of needed medical supplies. Our contact in Ireland is planning to buy the supplies and get them to another contact at the Poland/Ukrainian border, and from there, we are working to secure transport to hospices throughout the country. You can help by donating here.

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