2006 Life Care Planning Summit Proceedings

Networking with colleagues, celebrating individual and professional achievements, getting the latest on best practices, and hearing from panels of provocative, engaging and inspiring speakers, more than 150 life care planners gathered in Chicago, Illinois for the 2006 Life Care Planning Summit on May 6-7, 2006. The organization of this year’s Summit required some creative thinking on the part of the planning committee to be responsive to attendees’ expectations while also be reflective of current life care planning practices and issues. Hopeful to step “outside the box” to view the complex situations and challenges faced by new and experienced life care planners, the 2006 meeting was, for the first time ever, conducted in a “town hall” style. Similar to previous Life Care Planning Summits, the purpose of this year’s Summit was to demonstrate the continuation of the review of process and methodology for life care planning and the exploration of issues impacting the field. The town hall style was selected to provide an open forum for discussions in a relaxed, supportive environment. This style of meeting was in contrast to previous Summits where roundtable discussions about specific issues were focused on achievement of consensus from the field (Weed & Berens, 2001; Riddick-Grisham, 2003; Deutsch & Allison, 2004).