Palliative Care: Advancing Quality and Improving Costs

As part of the continuum of care, the palliative care model incorporates a multidisciplinary team approach that includes health professionals and family members to focus on the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of patients. Palliative care encourages a radical shift from traditional delivery of prolonged, unnecessary medical treatment to providing patients with care centered on quality of life. This program will address palliative care and its impact on the quality and cost issues central to healthcare reform.

Moderator: George Roberts Jr, FACHE

Chief Executive Officer

Northeast Texas Public Health District

Panelists:

Tiffany Evans

Clinical Social Worker

CHRISTUS Good Shepherd Medical Center

Laura Ferguson, MD

Medical Director

Hospice of East Texas

Andy Navarro

Vice President, Mission Integration

CHRISTUS Trinity Mother Frances

Tickets include: Heavy Appetizers & Refreshments; parking free.

Speakers' Bios:

Tiffany Evans is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Advanced Certified Hospice and Palliative Social Worker with a BSW and MSW from Stephen F. Austin State University. After many years of building a career in hospice and palliative care, Tiffany has recently stepped into a new role as the first LCSW at the new CHRISTUS Health Cancer Center in Longview, TX. Outside of work, Tiffany can usually be found with her family or on a pickleball court and is an active member of the Gladewater Parks and Recreation board, the UT Tyler School of Social Work Advisory Committee, the Secretary/Treasurer for the Gladewater Pickleball Association, and a loyal attendee at a monthly book club.

Dr. Laura Ferguson has been practicing in East Texas since 2008. She attended medical school at UT-Houston and trained in Internal Medicine and Hospice and Palliative Medicine at The University of Alabama in Birmingham. She serves as the medical director for The Hospice of East Texas and Texas Palliative Care, and partners with The University of Texas - Tyler as the Program Director of the Hospice and Palliative Medicine fellowship. Dr. Ferguson is happily married and the mother of two boys. Her passion is advancing care for those with incurable conditions and her heart is most fulfilled when caring for her patients.

George T. Roberts, Jr., has served as the Chief Executive Officer of the Northeast Texas Public Health District (NET Health) since November 2006. Services provided by NET Health include Community Outreach, Disease Surveillance, Environmental Health, Immunization, Tuberculosis Control, Public Health Emergency Preparedness, Regional Laboratory, Vital Statistics, and WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) Program. The Health District primarily serves Tyler and Smith County but also provides some services in 21 counties in East Texas. The WIC Program serves a 20 county area and Public Health Preparedness serves a 7 county region.

Mr. Roberts has over 40 years of health care experience, the majority of which was spent in hospital administration, having previously served at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Mother Frances Hospital in Tyler, and Henderson Memorial Hospital in Henderson, Texas. He received his Bachelor of Business Administration from SMU in Dallas and a Master’s Degree in Health Administration from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri. He is a Fellow in the American College of Health Care Executives (ACHE), and he currently serves on the Board of the East Texas ACHE Chapter. He is a member of the Board of the American Board of Preventive Medicine, the Texas Health Institute, Carter BloodCare, Mosaic Counseling, the Piney Woods Regional Advisory Council, and the Tyler Area Chamber of Commerce. He is Past President of the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) and the Texas Association of City and County Health Officials (TACCHO), and the Past Chairman of the Texas Health Institute. Mr. Roberts is active in a number of church, community, and statewide efforts. Mr. Roberts has been married to his wife Leslie for 37 years, and they have 2 children – Claire (32) and Travis (27).

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