[428] “LISTENING TO THE DYING” TOPIC OF MTSU BROWN BAG DISCUSSION

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 21, 2009
EDITORIAL CONTACT: Gina Logue, 615-898-5081

“LISTENING TO THE DYING” TOPIC OF MTSU BROWN BAG DISCUSSION
Science and Spirituality Talks to Include Guardian Hospice Personnel

(MURFREESBORO) – “Listening to the Dying: Spiritual Growth at the End of Life” is the theme of the next Science and Spirituality Forum, a brown bag luncheon and discussion slated for 11:30 a.m. Thursday, April 24, in the fourth floor conference room of MTSU’s James E. Walker Library (Room 475). This event is free and open to the public.
Three officials from Guardian Hospice in Murfreesboro are scheduled to participate. Scott Owings is the chaplain and spiritual director of the hospice. He also is an adjunct professor and a Doctor of Ministry candidate at the University of the South in Sewanee. Before working at Guardian, Owings was a minister in Brentwood and missionary in Eastern Europe for 10 years. One of his hobbies is helping people of all ages, especially those facing death, interpret their dreams.
Rhonda Price, R.N., B.S.N., is Guardian’s director of clinical services. She has worked in the hospice profession for more than seven years, providing direct patient care to admission nursing. Price also has worked in hospital settings and on mission trips to assist families with medical care.
Shawn Wright, L.M.S.W., is Guardian’s bereavement coordinator. He specializes in end-of-life care. Wright has worked for many years in an inpatient hospice setting focusing care on patients and families in an acute, short-length-of-stay setting. Wright also has facilitated support groups related to grief and loss.
Science and Spirituality Forums, which began in spring 2008, are co-sponsored by the James E. Walker Library, the Colleges of Basic & Applied Sciences, Liberal Arts and Honors, the Department of Physics & Astronomy and the Office of the Executive Vice President and Provost. The purpose of these exchanges is to help us appreciate how both areas of thought can enrich the human experience without regarding them as mutually exclusive of one another. For more information, contact Bill Black at 615-898-2772.