What is the Deathcare Superconference?
The 2024 Deathcare Superconference: Building Bridges in the Deathcare Landscape was jointly organized by four nation-leading nonprofits working around the end-of-life care and education space. The four host organizations were:
- Funeral Consumers Alliance (FCA)
- National End-of-Life Doula Alliance (NEDA)
- National Home Funeral Alliance (NHFA), and
- People's Memorial Association (PMA)
An in-person and livestreamed event was hosted at the Seattle Public Library September 27-29, 2024.
Opening Remarks
Deathcare Superconference Videos
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Opening Remarks
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How can we better align state and federal legislation with the current deathcare ecosystem? Through what avenues can we advocate for legislation better aligned with current deathcare practice?
Panel #1: Legal Issues
How can we better align state and federal legislation with the current deathcare ecosystem? Through what avenues can we advocate for legislation better aligned with current deathcare practice?
Our Panelists are:
- Ben Field, Attorney, Institute for Justice
- Kevin Díaz, JD, Chief Legal Advocacy Officer & General Counsel for Compassion & Choices
- Joyal Mulheron, Founder & Executive Director, Evermore
- Tanya Marsh, Senior Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of Law, Wake Forest University School of Law
- Isabel Knight, President of the National Home Funeral Alliance (moderator)
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What are the current systems in place to promote affordable deathcare? Panelists will discuss indigent death programs across the United States and court-appointed Public Guardianship Burial Programs.
Panel #2: Affordability
What are the current systems in place to promote affordable deathcare? Panelists will discuss indigent death programs across the United States and court-appointed Public Guardianship Burial Programs.
Our Panelists are:
- Heather Massey, Co-Founder, Equitable Disposition Alliance
- Victoria Haneman, Frank J. Kellegher Professor of Trusts & Estates at Creighton University School of Law
- Mel Bennett, Co-Founder, The Life Forest
- Dr. Kami Fletcher, Co-Founder, Collective for Radical Death Studies
- Ashley Johnson, President of the National End of Life Doula Alliance (moderator)
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How do diversity, equity, and inclusion issues impact how people access current deathcare systems, both formal and informal? Panelists will discuss their own experiences in accessing deathcare.
Panel #3: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Our Panelists are:
- Jasmine Cobb, Clinical Director and Lead Therapist at Visual Healing Therapeutic Services, PLLC
- Joe’l Simone, Funeral Director/ Embalmer & Death Care Educator
- Tiana Dargent, Founder, Queer Community Deathcare
- Alex Casas, Founder, Pale Hearse LLC
- Vienna Lopes Booth, Founder, Old Briar Botanicals
- Chris Ronk, Managing Funeral Director at the Co-Op Funeral Home (moderator)
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What are our models for inclusive, affordable deathcare? Panelists will discuss A Place to Die, the Humane Prison Hospice Project, medical aid in dying (MAiD) care, Omega Homes, and more, as well as how these offerings might be expanded across the U.S.
Panel #4: Models of Care
What are our models for inclusive, affordable deathcare? Panelists will discuss A Place to Die, the Humane Prison Hospice Project, medical aid in dying (MAiD) care, Omega Homes, and more, as well as how these offerings might be expanded across the U.S.
Our Panelists are: Dr. Aditi Sethi, MD, Executive Director and Founder of Center for Conscious Living & Dying Dr. Kaishauna Guidry, MD, HMDC, Mourning Dove Medical CEO Laura Musselman, Director of Communications, Humane Prison Hospice Project Lashanna Williams, Executive Director, A Sacred Passing Sara Williams, President, Funeral Consumers Alliance (moderator)
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Dr. Aditi Sethi, MD, Executive Director and Founder of Center for Conscious Living & Dying speaks to Sara Williams, President of the Board of the Funeral Consumer Alliance.
Dr. Aditi Sethi Interview
Dr. Sethi was unable to appear at the September 2024 Deathcare Superconference as planned, and instead offered to record an interview after the fact.
2024 Sponsors
The 2024 Deathcare Superconference is sponsored by Compassion & Choices, Keeper Memorials / Talk Death, Cremation Association of North America, End of Life Washington, Final Exit Network, Fitting Tribute Funeral Services, LLC, A Good Goodbye, Green Burial Council, Passages International, Titan Casket, Conservation Burial Alliance, and Recompose. Learn more on our Sponsors page.
Learn more about the sponsors here.
This event is NOT hosted, sponsored, or endorsed by The Seattle Public Library. Any views that are discussed in this meeting are not a reflection of The Seattle Public Library’s views.
All four hosting organizations are nonprofits and split all proceeds from this event evenly. Please consider supporting our ongoing collaboration and advocacy work by donating to any of our organizations.
