ShareTheCaregiving™ is dedicated to educating the caregiving communities about the effectiveness of the Share The Care™ model, and making it more accessible throughout the country. It is focusing on its goal by teaching, presentations and networking by its Founder and President, Sheila Warnock and the Volunteer Directors of Outreach Support.


EDUCATION:

TRAININGS: HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS/CLERGY
Because family caregivers often tend to be isolated, depressed and less likely to reach out for help, we are targeting the health professionals and the clergy. They are in contact with caregivers and patients everyday and in the best position to identify those who could benefit from the support of a Share The Care™ group.

Currently, ShareTheCaregiving™ offers one day training sessions to help nurses, social workers, mental health workers, hospital personnel, hospice nurses, geriatric case managers, and clergy understand the model and how they can assist in the formation of groups for individuals in their communities. If your organization (or several organizations in collaboration) would like to host a full day training please contact us. Click here for more details and fees. We can tailor a workshop, presentation, or training to fit your specific needs. (Click here to read the comments of participants)

PRESENTATIONS: ORGANIZATIONS/SUPPORT GROUPS
If your organization is interested in a presentation or workshop for your caregivers and patients please contact us, for more details and fees: Click here we will be happy to work with you to tailor a presentation to your specific audience.


RESEARCH AND NETWORKING
By learning from Share The Care™ groups that were created since the book was first published in 1995, we were able to add their valuable suggestions and ideas into our second edition.

We are continuously seeking to improve our model and you can help us. If you currently participate in a group, have in the past, or plan one in the near future, please take a moment to respond to our questionnaire in the JOIN US section. We need to hear about your experiences and to learn from them.

This past year, whenever possible, we started putting new groups in touch with existing groups (or past groups) to exchange ideas and information. We try to match those in similiar circumstances based on the feedback you provide. The more we know about your group and where you are located, and if you are willing to share your experience with others, the faster we can create a better network.

So far, Share The Care™ groups have been found in at least 33 states as well as Canada, Israel, and Switzerland. The handbook has been published in Brazil and is also available in the United Kingdom.


LOOKING FOR PEOPLE TO WORK WITH US
Our organization is collecting names and information from those who have been in Share The Care™ groups and are helping others to start groups or talking about the experience at their church or local community centers.

We are also seeking qualified people around the country who could eventually help us with training and lectures. We'd love to know if you have been part of a Share The Care™ group or are a health professional, clergy, teacher, nursing or social work student. Please contact us: Click here

CLAIRE CULBERTSON, MPH
Volunteer Director of Outreach and Volunteer Support (Mid West)
Claire received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Sonoma State University in northern California, and her Master of Public Health degree from San Diego State University. She was employed at the University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center as an Outreach Specialist, where for two years she coordinated a program to introduce the Share The Care™ model to health care professionals, parish nurses and clergy in central and southern Wisconsin. The Cancer Center received grant support to conduct the program, and additional grant support also enabled Claire to facilitate the formation of Share The Care™ groups for women with breast cancer.

"In 2003 Claire officially joined Sheila Warnock in her efforts to found ShareTheCaregiving™ , Inc. and to continue to develop ways to spread the word about the Share The Care™ model to communities, parishes and healthcare providers in the Midwest as well as other parts of the country.

Since 2003, Claire also has administered the National Family Caregiver Support Program in Madison, WI at the Area Agency on Aging of Dane County.  In this role, Claire works with other professionals through a Caregiver Alliance to provide information, resources, training and support to family caregivers, as well as informing employers and health professionals about the program."

Contact Claire Culbertson by email: Click here

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SUSAN POOR, MPH
Volunteer Director of Outreach and Volunteer Support (West Coast)
Susan is the Owner of Susan Poor Consulting, specializing in cutting-edge approaches to supporting older adults who wish to remain in their homes and communities as they age.

Areas of the firm’s expertise include home-and-community-based services and programs for older adults; “aging in place” housing models; caregiver needs and support; care coordination and management; transitional care; advance care planning/advance directives; end-of-life and hospice care; intergenerational programs; publicly funded health care programs; and health insurance reform.

The firm’s work is varied and includes research in innovations and best practices; organizational and systems assessment and change; maximizing services, resources, and relationships among community providers; program planning, implementation, and evaluation; policy research, development, analysis, and advocacy; project management; meeting planning and facilitation; report writing; and concise and clear presentation of policy and program issues to varied audiences. 

Susan has a Masters Degree in Public Health from the University of California at Berkeley, and a Bachelors Degree in Political Science from Brown University. She is a Co-Chair of the San Francisco Bay Area Coalition for Care at the End of Life and a member of the Alta Bates Medical Center Ethics Committee in Berkeley. She is a member of the American Society on Aging, the Gerontolgical Society of America, and the National Aging in Place Council. 

Susan’s passion for Share The Care™ was sparked by the great caregiving needs she observed of families coping with terminal illness and the effects of long-term, debilitating chronic illness and disability. She believes that Share The Care™ 's network-based approach to caregiving - which systematically, compassionately, and respectfully involves an individual's own family members, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and others in sharing the caregiving role - can provide critically needed and affordable support for patients and families.  Susan joined ShareTheCaregiving™ , Inc. in September 2005 to help increase awareness about Share The Care™ among health care providers and community-based organizations in the western part of the country.

Contact Susan Poor by email: Click here

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FAY RADDING, MA, RN
Volunteer Director of Outreach and Volunteer Support (East Coast)
Fay Radding received her Masters degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Michigan, and her BS in Nursing from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She was the Director of Caregivers' Connections, a teleconference call program in NYC, where she developed support groups and educational programs for family caregivers. With an extensive background in eldercare, managed care and mental health, her primary areas of interest are group dynamics and community development. She is a Senior Gerontologist in Westport, CT and lectures around the country, speaking about the issues of aging, long-term care and the 50+ generation.

When Fay first heard about Share The Care™ , she was immediately drawn to it, having seen the pain of isolation that caregivers go through, and the loneliness of the ones afflicted by illness. As she puts it "After 9/11 so many of us New Yorkers lined up to help, yet the end of life years for most are desolate. Share The Care™ is a beautiful model for a humankind, that will help develop the best in all of us by providing a way to accept help and give in a meaningful way."

Contact Fay Radding by email: Click here

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JANE W. BARTON, MTS
Volunteer Director of Outreach and Volunteer Support (Rocky Mountain states)
Jane currently serves as the Community Educator for the Life Quality Institute (LQI), an institute established in 2003 by Hospice of Metro Denver (HMD) to promote quality of life for people with advanced illness by educating healthcare professionals, and increasing community awareness of palliative care. Share The Care™ has now become the cornerstone for LQI’s community educational efforts.

Jane’s background and professional training are diverse and include a productive career in geology, business, and most recently, theology and hospice care. Jane is currently completing a Master of Arts in Pastoral Care and Counseling at the Iliff School of Theology where previously she received her Master of Theological Studies. She is also a certified spiritual director through the Benedictine Spiritual Formation Program. Jane serves on the board of the Woodward Respite Care Fund, another Denver organization active in the promotion of Share The Care™ . These broad experiences contribute to Jane’s unique perspective and passion toward supportive care and community caregiving.

Jane’s enthusiasm for Share The Care™ is obvious and contagious. Having been a caregiver for her parents, she understands the challenges posed by chronic and terminal illness and the subsequent need for an expanded community of care.

Contact Jane Barton by email: Click here

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BOARD OF DIRECTORS


STEVE LANCE
Chairman of the Board, Treasurer
Three-time Emmy Award winner Steve Lance is the co-author of “The Little Blue Book of Advertising” with Jeff Woll and ghostwriter of the Wall Street Journal bestseller “It’s Your Money” for E*TRADE Chairman Christos M. Cotsakos.

In a distinguished 25-year career in advertising, Steve was creative director of NBC, Della Femina, Travisano, Sherman & Olken and & Partners Author and Backer & Spielvogel. He has written some of the most memorable lines in the advertising, including Explore Your World (Discovery Channel); NBC Proud As A Peacock and Othello: A Minute To Learn, A Lifetime To Master. He also conceived the format for The More You Know and wrote the first 17 spots for that campaign.

Steve has been a member of the Board of Directors of The Copy Club of New York; a guest lecturer on promotion and advertising at universities, clients and advertising clubs across America; a guest professor at the University of Connecticut and Purchase College; and author of “The 49th Annual of Advertising, Editorial & Television Art and Design.” He co-hosts a radio talk show with his brother, screenwriter Paul Lance, and is currently working on his next book, “You’re On Your Own Now, Kid: 40 Lifelong Money Tips For The Financially Illiterate”

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ARLENE JACKS
Secretary
Arlene has spent the past 30 years working for key executives in high profile corporations from the advertising industry to the publishing world.

During her 16 years in Creative Services and Account Management at the McCann-Erickson advertising agency, Arlene worked on many of their well-known accounts such as Coca-Cola, L’Oreal, The Miller Brewing Company, and The New York Racing Association.

Arlene left McCann-Erickson to try the client side, moving to RJR Nabisco where she began her career in event marketing. She eventually moved to a position at Millsport, Inc. where she assisted in coordinating promotional events for such major clients as Visa, Pepsi-Cola, Reebok, and American Airlines.

Presently, she serves as Assistant to the President/Event Coordinator for Oxford University Press where she is responsible for the planning and execution of the company’s numerous corporate events that bring together management personnel from many of Oxford’s overseas offices. She is also responsible for the management of Oxford book-related events.

Arlene is an active volunteer for the New York Blood Center organizing blood drives at Oxford and other venues. Prior to joining the board of directors of ShareTheCaregiving™ , Inc., Arlene was an active participant on the Events Committee and instrumental in pulling together the suppliers and venues needed for the organization’s first awareness event.

An avid theater-goer, she has been a strong supporter of Broadway Cares, as well as PBS and The Central Park Conservancy.

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EILEEN ROGERS BRADY has worked in the advertising industry for more than 25 years, first as a Producer of TV commercials for ad agencies McCann-Erickson and Doyle, Dane, Bernbach, and currently as a partner and Executive Producer for Mathew Brady Films in New York.

She and her husband, director Mathew Brady, produce TV commercials for clients like M&M Mars, Smirnoff, Subway Foods, Hershey, Seven-Up and Jack-in-the-Box, specializing in up-close food photography.

Eileen has served as a volunteer at Hutzel Hospital in Detroit, where she was responsible for reinstating their Pediatric Volunteer program. In New York City, she volunteered at Bellevue Hospital’s Pediatric Ward, working primarily with infants born addicted to drugs, and with HIV positive infants and toddlers. A great number of these children are the “boarder babies” --- babies who live in the hospital because their parents are often incarcerated or unable to care for them because of problems like drug addiction or histories of abuse. These are the children who need to be loved, to be held and soothed and played with … things the otherwise caring staff does not have time for.

When she is not filming commercials Eileen serves on the Advisory Council of the Double “H” Hole in the Woods Ranch, one of the Hole in the Wall Camps founded by Paul Newman. Their mission is to help advance the purpose of providing children living with a critical illness an outdoor Adirondack adventure. Her responsibilities involve anything from helping to heighten public awareness of the Ranch’s important mission to working in the stables and introducing the children to the baby animals.

Eileen was a part of the first Share The Care™ group, Susan’s “Funny Family”, with Sheila Warnock and Cappy Capossela. In 2002, when Cappy was diagnosed with a brain tumor, Eileen was a member of her group, lovingly named “Cappy’s Brain Trust”.

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ELLEN FREUDENHEIM  is a Brooklyn-based writer and activist. She holds a masters degree in the field of public health from Columbia University, a masters degree in social science from the University of Chicago, and a BA from New York University, and is a member of various public health professional organizations. She was a Join Together Fellow (1998), a Robert Wood Johnson-supported leadership fellowship program, awarded for her work on gun violence issues. She has written 7 books, including an award-winning guidebook to Brooklyn. Her 2004 book, entitled "Looking Forward: An Optimists’ Guide to Retirement" has been recommended by the Wall St Journal, Time Magazine, Library Journal and others. She is founding member of several non profits including two gun control organizations and  NYC’s Women in Health Management. Early in her career she worked in London for Ogilvy and Mather in the qualitative research department, and later ran the PR department for Chemical Bank’s retail banking division.


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RICHARD (Rick) KENDALL has been in the fluid power business all of his adult life. He had previously worked in a family owned business for over 20 years in the Boston area, bringing new markets and products to the company. He has been involved with hundreds of technical applications in the fluid power arena that support the industrial, plastics, pulp and paper, machine tool, mining, military, marine, entertainment, agricultural and oilfield markets. He has published articles in Machine Design and Hydraulics and Pneumatics magazines.

His move from New England to Houston, Texas in 1992 shifted his expertise to the oilfield market, primarily on safety oriented products for drilling activities worldwide. His position as Executive Vice President of Accumulators, Inc. has allowed him to consult and design specialty products for use on all land, offshore and subsea drilling rigs.  His expertise in the hydraulic accumulator market has provided his company with valuable application skills and a reputation in the oilfield market as the premier manufacturer for the design, application and manufacturing of accumulators worldwide. Richard has presented many seminars to drilling contractors on the application of high pressure accumulators for offshore drilling technologies in Texas and Louisiana. 

Rick has served on several boards in an advisory capacity for more than 25 years; Abilities, Inc., Albertson, NY, The University Club of Houston; The National Council for Northeastern University in Boston,  and on a more of a community effort, The Roudenbush Community Center in Westford, MA. He is an active participant in the Anti Defamation League, as well as several industry associations.

Richard and his wife Nancy enjoy spending time with their 3 grandsons;  He enjoys films, cooking, photography, sports and high technology products.

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LIVIA JOHNSON lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland with her husband, Gene. She has two sons and four grandchildren. As a graduate of Skidmore College with a B.S. in nursing, she has worked at New York Hospital, as well as hospitals in the Washington, DC area. For many years, she worked with patients suffering from cystic fibrosis, a chronic, degenerative lung disease. She left the practice of nursing in the 1980's to work for Presidents Reagan and Bush.

During the Reagan administration Livia was a member of The President's Commission on Executive Exchange, a program designed to bridge the gap between the public and private sectors. During the Bush administration she was with the Office of National Service/Points of Light Initiative. It was President Bush's aim to recognize those individuals or groups who volunteer selflessly to help those less fortunate in their communities.

Presently, she is a co-chair of Rebuilding Together/Christmas in April. This is a non-profit organization that renovates homes for physically or economically disadvantaged families, allowing them to preserve their dignity by remaining in their homes and communities. Livia is also a regular volunteer at the Vice President's Residence.

Livia is an avid golfer and enjoys spending time with her four young grandchildren and at her home in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

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MARY MANNING has more than twenty years of Marketing experience in the U.S. and overseas in the fragrance and cosmetics industry. From 1979 until she co-founded Manning Abelow at the end of 2000, she was responsible for strategic marketing and new brand development for Coty worldwide, where she headed conceptualization, product development and the introduction of such market-leading fragrances as Stetson,
! ex•cla•ma•tion, Vanilla Fields and most recently Adidas and Esprit.

Prior to Coty, Ms. Manning held positions in International Marketing at Revlon, Fabergé and Yardley as well as in Market Research at Beecham U.K.

As Senior Vice President of International Development and Licensing at Coty, Ms. Manning's primary responsibility involved identifying new product licenses, concept and market opportunities and leading her internal and external teams through all aspects of the "concept to creation" process. From research, advertising product and package supervision, to five year business plans, the focus gave her invaluable background in the complexities of brand and business building within the International consumer products industry.

Ms. Manning continues to serve as an officer on many industry boards, including Advertising Women of New York Foundation Board, Cosmetic Executive Women Trade Board, Fashion Institute of Technology's Masters Program in Cosmetic and Fragrance Marketing, as well as the Board of the Sense of Smell Institute. She has been instrumental in eight Fifi wins for Coty, been named YWCA woman of the year while at Pfizer as well as receiving the New York City Hometown Hero Award for charitable efforts. She is an industry event speaker and an adjunct professor at F.I.T. in Marketing/Market Research.

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VIRGINIA (GINGER) WITT began her career in advertising as a production assistant in the music department of McCann Erickson, Inc. It was there she began a 7-year sojourn into the world of jingles. She worked on many of the numerous campaigns for Coca-Cola, Miller Brewing Company, and Lowenbrau that produced those jingles we still remember today.

For the past 11 years Ginger has worked in the world Broadway shows and is the Director of Business Affairs and Associate Producer for the largest theatrical advertising agency in the country, Serino-Coyne, Inc. She oversees all the union talent negotiations for the large roster of Broadway shows handled by Serino-Coyne (Aida, The Lion King, Boy From Oz, Fiddler On The Roof, 42nd Street, Hairspray, Mamma Mia, Movin’ Out, The Producers, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Wicked). She is also responsible for producing the TV and Radio commercials you see and hear for Les Miserable and The Phantom of the Opera.

For the past 16 years on weekends, in addition to her “9 to 5” schedule, Ginger is a licensed real estate broker. Stemming from of her passion for acting Ginger is a member of the Board of the Douglaston Community Theatre, considered the oldest community theatre in Queens. Ginger recently appeared in their winter production entitled “Love Letters” by A.R.Gurney.

Ginger also enjoys horseback riding and tennis. And lastly, she has survived the challenges of step parenting, raising 3 teenagers, and still maintains a sense of humor.

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THE ADVISORY BOARD

MARC BAILIN, ESQ is a founder/senior partner of Rubin & Bailin, LLP, has been engaged in the practice of entertainment, media and corporate law in New York and California for twenty-five years. In addition to his activities as senior partner of Rubin & Bailin, LLP, Mr. Bailin is also the co-founder/co-manager of W Financial, LP, (www.w-fund.com) a fund which originates and services a portfolio of special situation short term bridge and Mezzanine mortgage loans to real estate developers. Mr. Bailin received a B.A. from Yale University; an M.B.A. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Business and attended New York University and Boston University Schools of Law (J.D.). Mr. Bailin is admitted to practice in New York and California.

Mr. Bailin's clients have included actress Meg Ryan, actress Julianne Moore, actor/musician L.L. Cool J., best-selling author and video star, Callan Pinckney, playwright Richard Greenberg. Mr. Bailin serves as General Counsel and line production counsel to Pangolin Pictures, Inc., the award winning documentary television production house. Mr. Bailin also served as General Counsel to Lancit Media Entertainment Ltd., the Emmy award-winning producer of the "Reading Rainbow" series and was Lancit's legal advisor in connection with the production of "Ramona Q", a co-production of Lancit Media Productions, Atlantis Films (Canada) and Revcom Television (France). Mr. Bailin has also served as the line-production attorney for the "Reading Rainbow" Children's Television Series for the entire fifteen year history of the Series' run on the PBS television network and currently serves as Lancit Media's line-production attorney on "The Puzzle Place", the highly rated PBS pre-school series being co-produced with KCET-Los Angeles. Mr. Bailin has also served as the Executive in Charge of Production for the "Callanetics" series of videocassettes released by MCA Home Video, all of which videos have been accorded "Platinum" sales status and have been ranked number one by Billboard magazine, the leading industry publication. Mr. Bailin has also represented significant licensing, publishing and media related activities for the widely syndicated cartoonist, Gary Larson.

Recent authors and books represented by Mr. Bailin include Gary Larson "There's A Hair In My Dirt: A Worm's Story" - Harper Collins; L.L. Cool J. "I Make My Own Rules" - St. Martins Press; Cappy Capossela and Sheila Warnock "Share The Care™ " - Simon & Schuster; and Epicenter Communications "Sarajevo" and "The Mission" - Warner Books.

Mr. Bailin has also acted as agent/representative for a number of network news producers on programs including "Dateline" (NBC), "The Early Show with Bryant Gumble" (CBS), "Good Morning America" (ABC) and Court TV Network.

Mr. Bailin was first engaged in the entertainment industry as the Legal Assistant to the Senior Vice President - General Counsel for Warner Communications in New York City. From 1976 to 1980 Mr. Bailin was an associate attorney with the New York law firm of Beldock, Levine & Hoffman.

Mr. Bailin has, since 2000, served as a member of the Board of Directors of New York City Industries for The Blind, a non-profit manufacturing facility dedicated to the gainful employment of blind and partially signted workers..

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EDWARD W. BARRY's publishing career spans more than forty years. He spent over 21 years at Macmillan Publishing Company in New York, achieving the post of President of The Free Press, and subsequently President of the Professional Books Division, which included The Free Press, Macmillan Library Reference, Schirmer Books, Macmillan Medical Books, and Macmillan Sci/Tech publishing. He was appointed President of Oxford University Press-USA in 1982. During his tenure, the Press more than quadrupled in size, from revenues of $24 million to over $100 million. Many of Oxford University Press-USA’s successful books, especially reference works, resulted from partnerships with scholarly and educational institutions. He was instrumental in forging these alliances, which have created a role for Oxford University Press in American cultural and educational life. The American National Biography was published in conjunction with the American Council of Learned Societies. Other partners include the American Psychological Association, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Annenberg School of Communications, Dance Perspectives Foundation, American Chemical Society, Rockefeller Foundation, Lampadia Foundation, National Endowment for the Humanities, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, American Academy of Religion, and Smithsonian Institution. Upon his retirement he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Oxford. As evidenced from the associations listed below, he continues to be active in publishing and related fields.

•	Advisory Board, Pace University Graduate Program in Publishing – 1990-
•	Executive Council, Professional and Scholarly Publishers, 1993-94
•	Board of Directors, Research Libraries Group, 1993-97
•	Board of Directors, American Association of Higher Education, 1993-96
•	Board of Library Overseers, University of Pennsylvania Libraries 1998-
•	Board of Directors, iuniverse inc. 2000-
•	Board of Directors, Alliance for Lifelong Learning, 2000-
•	Chairman, Management Council, Flora of North America, 2000-03
•	Board of Trustees, Columbia University Press, 2000-
•	Advisory Committee, American University of Cairo Press, 2001-
•	Advisory Committee, Central European University Press, Budapest, 2000-2002
•	Advisory Committee, Johns Hopkins University Press 2001-
•	Adjunct Professor, Pace University Graduate Program, 2000-
•	Board of Directors Knovel Inc., 2001-
•	Board of Trustees OnLine Computer Library Center Inc., 2003-
•	Advisory Board, ShareTheCaregiving™ , Inc., 2005-

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DR. JAMES CLEARY is Associate Professor of Medicine, Medical Oncology Section; Director of Palliative Care Program at the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics; and Academic Medical Director of HospiceCare Inc. After receiving his medical degree from the University of Adelaide Medical School, South Australia, Dr. Cleary did his Internal Medicine Residency and Oncology fellowship at the Royal Adelaide Hospital and three years of research in opioid pharmacology at the University of Adelaide.

Dr. Cleary is co-chair of the American Pain Society's Cancer Pain Guidelines. He is a Master Facilitator for the Education of Physicians in End-of-Life Care Program (EPEC). He has led training sessions over 6 years, educating more than 1000 physicians throughout the United States. He serves as a North American Editor of Palliative Medicine, the Research Journal of the European Association of Palliative Care. In 2004 he assumed the presidency of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM).

It is as a Faculty Scholar of the Soros Foundation's Project on Death in America, that he continues to develop and implement educational initiatives in palliative care for faculty, residents, and medical students within the UW Health System and UW Medical School partners throughout Wisconsin, particularly HospiceCare Inc.

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MARGOT DISHNER earned her bachelors and masters degrees in journalism with a focus on advertising from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

She enjoyed a long and successful career in advertising, rising to Senior Vice President, Management Supervisor at Dancer-Firzgerald-Sample, Inc. in New York. Extensive experience with some of the most sophisticated marketers in the United States provided a broad background for her current work as a small business consultant at SCORE in San Francisco.

Margot served the Sierra Club in numerous capacities, including as a member of the Executive Committee in the San Francisco region. Committed to supporting families and friends of those facing serious and terminal illness, Margot applies this broad scope of experience in business and service to Share The Care™ .

A close friend of Cappy Capossela’s, Margot was a sounding board for her as she wrote Share The Care™ and was a member of “Cappy’s Brain Trust”.


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EILEEN HOFFMAN, M.D.   is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at NYU School of Medicine.  She has been in the forefront of the emerging field of women’s health and gender-based medicine.  She has consulted with government and the healthcare industry, both domestically and abroad, on the redesign of services to improve women’s healthcare.

As a medical educator, she collaborates with all specialty groups and was a member of the task force delineating clinical competencies in women’s health sponsored by the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics. She has published widely about the need to transform healthcare services and improve medical education to better serve women.  She is a founding Board Member of the American College of Women’s Health Physicians, a group advocating for a specialty in women’s health.  Dr. Hoffman is also a founding member of the Plexus Institute, dedicated to finding healthcare solutions, both clinical and administrative, using principals of complexity science.  She is on the advisory board to The Transition Network, an organization serving women who are leaving the paid workforce and facing retirement.

Dr. Hoffman is the author of Our Health, Our Lives – A Revolutionary Approach to Total Health Care for Women, a book that helps women negotiate their care in a system not currently designed for them.

Dr. Hoffman has a private practice in internal medicine.  Integrating medical, reproductive and mental health care, she provides comprehensive primary care to both women and men.  A current focus of her work is early detection and nutritional management of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.


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SUKIE MILLER, Ph.D.is a Psychotherapist in full time private practice in Marin and Sonoma California with clients who have chronic or terminal diseases.

Dr. Miller, an early director of Esalen Institute, has been a member of the Board of the Jung Institute of San Francisco and the Board of Medical Quality Assurance, the licensing board for the State of California. She has been a frequent consultant to Cancer and Social Action programs in Brazil and is now living there.

In 1972 she founded and directed the pioneering Institute for the Study of Humanistic Medicine. One of the first researchers to study the cross cultural dimensions and implications of beliefs of the Afterdeath, her books Finding Hope When a Child Dies and After Death; How People Around the World Map the Journey After Life are published by Simon and Schuster.

It was Dr. Miller who suggested and encouraged Susan Farrow to ask for help from her friends and was responsible for the incredible meeting that bonded the first group together. Dr. Miller has always been a staunch supporter of the Share The Care™ model and wrote the FORWARD for the handbook when it was
published in 1995.

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SUZANNE GEFFEN MINTZ Is President and Co-founder of the National Family Caregivers Association as well as a family caregiver for her husband, Steven, who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1974. Her longtime personal involvement with caregiving led her to the conclusion that chronic illness and disability affects the person who provides care as well as the one that requires it. In addition its impact goes beyond individual families and has become a national healthcare and social policy issue. She has testified before Congress on several occasions and is frequently quoted in the national media.

In September 2006, Suzanne Mintz was named a winner for the first-ever national Purpose Prize, a major new initiative to invest in Americans 60 and above who are leading a new age of social innovation sponsored by Civic Ventures and funding by The Atlantic Philanthropies and The John Templeton Foundation. Suzanne is also the 2004 recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Eli Lilly Welcome Back initiative.

Suzanne Mintz is author of A Family Caregiver Speaks Up … It Doesn't Have to be This Hard, (Capital Books 2007) and regularly writes for numerous publications on the issues related to family caregiving.

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DENNIS SPRING began his career at what was then the largest public relations database marketing company anywhere. The company had offices in more than 8 U.S. cities and London. The company served over 2,000 corporate PR departments and firms. He was promoted numerous times and rose to the title of VP/Marketing & Client Relations.

After many years on the marketing communications side, Mr. Spring decided to enter the public relations search profession. In 1980, Spring Executive Search, Inc. was founded in New York. The name of the firm was later changed to Spring Associates, Inc. to better reflect the firm's expanded consulting services which included: communications audit, mergers and acquisitions, client/agency review and PR agency selection.

Mr. Spring has served on the Management Boards of the New York chapters of the IABC, The Publicity Club, and the International Committee of the PRSA. He has spoken before many professional communications groups and authored a chapter in the book entitled Choosing & Working With Your Public Relations Firm on the subject of the PR Agency Search & Selection Process based on a comprehensive agency search for the Sony Corporation of America.

On the journalistic side, Mr. Spring has been a contributing editor to such publications as PR News and the Public Relations Journal. He was a regular columnist for 3 years for the newsletter PR Business and was a regular columnist writing about PR Careers in Jack O'Dwyer's monthly publication, Public Relations Services for 7 years.

Mr. Spring is a decorated combat veteran who served in the Vietnam war and rose to the rank of sergeant. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature from Brooklyn College. He resides in New York City with his wife Penny and son Evan.

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