SPIRIT: The 7th Vital Sign…..”Inspire before you Expire” with Liz Allen

Liz Allen is a fun, loving, enthusiastic, compassionate and joy filled leader. She is a local hospital chaplain who’s special interests include life threatening illness, death and dying, stress illness and well being/preventing burnout for caregivers. Her work facilitates spirit for patient, families and staff at turning points of life and death. She leads the CareGiver Renewal Course nationally and heads up their non-profit international project. In addition she is an occupational therapist and previously on the faculty of the Occupational and Physical Therapy Curriculum at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Spirit the Seventh Vital Sign focuses on the spiritual aspect of wellness in the domain of the medical world (vital sign as in blood pressure, pulse). Liz has spoken nationally on this topic and is a passionate, knowledgable speaker. You can see her in video format here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S7uLkEfNNZ0

In a discussion of spirit as a vital sign, Mary Elizabeth Allen encouraged chaplains to begin recording a patient’s spirit by asking them to rate it on a scale of 1 to 10, using the pain scale that has become widely accepted as a fifth vital sign. “We’re doing great on the body and better on the mind, but spirit not so much, if you ask me,” she said.

Allen said that all children’s hospitals have low Press-Ganey scores for meeting emotional and spiritual needs, and simply asking the question on a regular basis can help raise them. “If you have a will to live, it’s going to get you down the road,” she said. “Nurses see it.” It should be recorded on every shift with every patient, she said, on a 1-10 scale, or, for children too young to count, on a smiley-face scale.

She defined spirituality as the way we make meaning, sense and purpose of life, and the relation to self, others, the physical world, and the holy. “I can lay my hand on you, but it’s an inside job,” she said. “It’s between you and your creator.”

She has presented workshops at the Conference for Global Transformation on this topic and Spirituality and Well Being: An inquiry with Others as well as other national/international presentations.

Here is a link to her website: http://www.seventhvitalsign.com/

Optional tour of the Natural Path Sanctuary (NPS) by Director Shedd Farley following the presentation and discussion with Liz Allen.. The tour is contingent upon weather but for those who attend who would like a tour, we can schedule you in for a future NPS private tour date with Director Shedd Farley.

Suggested donation of $10.00 but no one will be turned away due to lack of funds. Light Refreshments will be served.

Please reserve a spot by e-mailing or calling the Farley Center at 608-845-8724.