PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

Contact: Simon Fox, 805-962-4500, ext.2

simon@adventuresincaring.org

Compassion in Action

the art of facing challenges with heart

The Adventures in Caring Foundation is celebrating the completion of its latest video production, Compassion in Action, with a premiere screening at 4:00PM on Thursday, November 30^th at the Karpeles Manuscript Library Museum.

Best known for its all-volunteer Raggedy Ann & Andy patient care program in local hospitals and nursing homes, the Adventures in Caring Foundation is also successfully publishing educational videos and books that teach the art of communicating with people who are seriously ill or injured.

“The bottom line is: does the patient know that you care?” explained Simon Fox, Executive Director, “because compassion isn’t about how you feel – it’s about how other people feel. Compassion doesn’t go to work until you can get it across – until the patient can see, hear and feel – that you care. This is the art that we teach.”

The 45-minute video, Compassion in Action is about being effective in emotionally difficult conversations. Using footage from real life, mostly shot in Santa Barbara, the video shows how compassion is practical in turning a tense situation into an opportunity for better understanding. These skills directly relate to improvements in the quality and safety of health care, and they are especially helpful for young men and women in the early stages of their health care careers.

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“We interviewed national experts and followed truly gifted nurses, physicians and therapists on their rounds – and found that they diffuse difficult situations on a regular basis, almost from the moment they walk into the room” recounted Fox. “In fact, it was challenging to capture emotionally charged situations on videotape because the healing presence the caregivers brought with them dissolved tensions so fast.”

Compassion in Action builds on the material presented in the Adventures in Caring release, The Medicine of Compassion, winner of the 2004 International Health & Medical Media Award for best video in patient care. Both videos were produced by Bent Myggen of VisionEars.com in Los Olivos. They were made possible by funding from the Wood-Claeyssens Foundation and the collaboration of Santa Barbara and Goleta Valley Cottage Hospitals, Visiting Nurse & Hospice Care, the Rehabilitation Institute, City College, Vista del Monte, Ventura County Medical Center, Good Samaritan Hospital, UCSB Health Professions Association and many other people and organizations in the Santa Barbara area.

“The Adventures in Caring mission is all about making love visible and practical in the service of healing” said Karen Fox, founder of the Adventures in Caring Foundation. “Our Raggedy Ann & Andy volunteers have been delivering compassion to hospital patients all year round for the past 20 years. Now our videos are showing health care professionals to do the same, by giving them practical training in how to face the challenges of human suffering with heart.”

You can see a short preview of each of the Adventures in Caring videos, by visiting the website: www.AdventuresInCaring.org, and looking in the videos section. For more information about the November 30 premiere screening, contact Jennifer Gardner at 805.962.4500 ext. 7.