Hosted by WNYT's Benita Zahn, Healthlink is an award-winning weekly series designed to provide you with access to current information about health issues and healthy living! 

Corporate support provided by:

Prime Care Physicians, P.C. St. Peter's Health Care Services

 

GUESTS:

Joan E. Dacher, Ph.D., MS, RN, GNP
Dr. Joan Dacher is the Director of Palliative Care for The Community Hospice, Inc. She has a Doctor of Philosophy Degree from the School of Social Welfare, Rockefeller College of Public Affairs and Policy at SUNY Albany and a Masters of Science Degree in Nursing from the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing, CUNY. She is also a graduate of the Harvard Medical School Program in Palliative Care Education and Practice and a John H. Hartford Foundation Gerontological Nursing Scholar. Prior to joining The Community Hospice, Inc., she was full-time faculty at The Sage Graduate School and (at various points in time) served as Graduate Program Director for Nursing, Gerontology and Health Services Administration, and continues to teach at the school in an adjunct capacity. Dr. Dacher has extensive clinical experience working with older adults in office, nursing home and community settings and as an educator to facility-based staff who work with older adults. A significant portion of her clinical work has been with patients with dementia, their caregivers and assuring that they have access to appropriate care and education, especially for palliative and end-of-life care.

In her current role as Director of Palliative Care for The Community Hospice, Inc., Dr. Dacher is responsible for the management and growth of The Palliative Home Care Program, a demonstration project that is a collaborative effort with local health care insurers. This program provides comprehensive support, through an interdisciplinary team, for persons with advanced progressive illness. Dr. Dacher is engaged in work to expand access to these services to high-need populations in the greater community and identify future partnerships and demonstration projects to promote palliative and end of life care.



Harry V. B. Miller, Esq.
Harry V. B. Miller, a principal of the Herzog Law Firm since 1978, has been managing partner since 1998. Mr. Miller's practice areas include estate planning, Medicaid planning, estate administration and elder law, as well as corporate law, real estate law, and family limited partnerships. He services clients in the Firm's Albany and Kingston locations.
Mr. Miller served as Director of Albany Memorial Hospital from 1986 to 1999, acting as Secretary and Treasurer during part of that time. He served as a Director of Samaritan Hospital, Troy, New York, from 1997 to 1999. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Albany City Hostel, Inc., and the Albany-Schenectady League of Arts, Inc.

He is co-author of the layperson's guide to Medicaid planning, Sooner is Better than Later, and is a frequent speaker on estate and Medicaid planning.

Mr. Miller received his J.D. from Albany Law School of Union University in 1974 and his B.A. from Drew University in 1970.



John Balint, MD
Dr. Balint is a Professor of Medicine and Director of the Center for Medical Ethics. He is a graduate of Cambridge University in England (BA 1945, M.B., B. Chir. 1948, M.R.C.P. 1952). After extensive training in England, Dr. Balint came to the US in 1958. After fellowship in Hepatology with Dr. Len Schiff and Lipid Biochemistry with Dr. Albert Mendeloff at Johns Hopkins, he joined the faculty at the University of Alabama in Birmingham in 1960. He came to Albany in 1963 as Head of the Division of Gastroenterology. In 1968 he was promoted to Professor of Medicine. In 1981 he was appointed Chair of the Department of Medicine. In 1989 he was named the Richard T. Beebe Professor of Medicine. In 1993 he took a 1 year fellowship in Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago and in 1994 established the Center for Medical Ethics, Education and Research. In 1995 Dr. Balint took part of the Eddy Ethics Committee in Albany, in 1997 he served as a member of the N.I.H. Consensus Committee on the treatment of Hepatitis C. In 1999 he became part of the Hospice Board and Planning Committee of the Community Hospice of Albany. Among other recent publications is a chapter on "Ethical Issues in Genetic Research, Testing, Counseling and Therapy" in Advances in Bioethics, 1999, vol. 5, p.p. 171-213 in JAI Press Inc. Dr. Balint was co-editor with Dr. Wayne Shelton for the book Ethical Issues in Organ Donation and Transplantation, published by Elsvier Science in 2000. Dr. Balint was awarded the Third Age Achievement for Senior Citizens of the Albany Foundation. In 2002, Dr. Balint was honored with the installation of the John A. Balint, MD Endowed Chair for Medical Ethics. Dr. Balint is a member of ASCI, AGA, AASLD, APS and Fellow of ACP and Royal College of Physicians in the UK.

Laura Hagen
Laura Hagen is the former Executive Director of the Capital District Center for Independence, a local disability rights organization. Under the Cuomo administration, she served as co-chair of the Head Injury Services Coordinating Council, an advisory council to the NYS Commissioner of Health on public policy and brain injury issues. In 2000, Laura cared for her Dad and was able to fulfill his last wish to use the Hospice program and die in his own home. Since her Dad's death, Laura has returned to her former profession as a music teacher and performer of Renaissance and Baroque music and is writing a book about her Dad's last sacred journey.