PitchLine Programs   

Preparing well for our futures includes learning about options, making difficult decisions, and having hard conversations. Decisions about where and how to live, what our wishes are if we become seriously ill, and how to approach conversations with families and friends about what we want will all be discussed. An overview of terminology and concepts related to death and dying will be presented.  

These offerings were developed by OLLI volunteer Beth Spencer in collaboration with OLLI's PitchLine.

Location: The Pond Room, Morris Lawrence Building, WCC | In-person and Zoom, recorded. Each session will include lecture, discussion and Q&A. Coffee and pastry before the talks.

Multiple approaches to the dying process will be illuminated in this session, with input from physicians, as well as some personal experiences. Topics will include Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking (VSED), Palliative and Hospice care, and the role of Death Doulas.  

These offerings were developed by OLLI volunteer Beth Spencer in collaboration with OLLI's PitchLine.

Location: The Pond Room, Morris Lawrence Building, WCC | In-person and Zoom, recorded. Each session will include lecture, discussion and Q&A. Coffee and pastry before the talks.

Medical Aid in Dying is a controversial topic.  This session will include an overview of US legal and policy options; ethical and psychosocial issues; legal, financial, and medical considerations. An in-depth account of a personal experience with a dying sibling in Vermont will be presented.

Speakers:

Beth Spencer, MSW, MA, MA, has been at many bedsides of dying individuals throughout her career as a geriatric social worker, care manager, and hospice social worker.  Personally, she has had friends and relatives use hospice, voluntarily stop eating and drinking, deny that they are dying, choose not to have treatment – hence, her interest in understanding available options.  For 30 years she taught courses on aging, caregiving and dementia-related topics at three Michigan universities.

Kathy Laing, MD has been a physician, directly caring for patients, for 40+ years until her retirement in 2022.  As she aged along with her beloved patients, she noted the great differences in the way we all age, and how the choices we make in our maturity greatly impact our trajectories: whether we decide to treat this as an adventure for which we plan or wait for the crises to occur.

Dr. Palmer Morrel-Samuels received an MA in research methodology from University of Chicago, an MPhil & PhD in social psychology from Columbia, and a MS in Law from Northwestern. He has been an expert witness specializing in discrimination, testified on that topic to Congress, and has taught several related courses at University of Michigan’s School of Public Health. As his sister’s dying wish, he brought her to Vermont and helped her receive Medical Assistance in Dying.

Dr. Adam Marks, MD, MPH, completed a combined Internal Medicine/Pediatrics Residency followed by a fellowship in Hospice and Palliative Medicine at the University of Michigan, where he joined as a faculty member in 2012. His clinical work focuses on caring for adult and pediatric patients living with serious illness. Since 2016 he has also worked as a Faculty Ethicist within the Clinical Ethics Service at Michigan Medicine. 

These offerings were developed by OLLI volunteer Beth Spencer in collaboration with OLLI's PitchLine.

Location: The Pond Room, Morris Lawrence Building, WCC | In-person and Zoom, recorded. Each session will include lecture, discussion and Q&A. Coffee and pastry before the talks.

All of us have experienced the loss of friends and family. But in American culture, it is common to deny one’s own death. As older adults look ahead, it can be liberating to plan for the future and provide a road map for families should we become ill or actively dying. This workshop will examine ways in which we can educate ourselves about options and gain some control over the dying process. 

These offerings were developed by OLLI volunteer Beth Spencer in collaboration with OLLI's PitchLine.

Location: The Pond Room, Morris Lawrence Building, WCC | In-person and Zoom, recorded. Each session will include lecture, discussion and Q&A. Coffee and pastry before the talks.

In-person only at Neutral Zone, 310 E. Washington St., Ann Arbor, 48104

Join us for a poetry circle planned and led by teens at the Neutral Zone (NZ), a youth-driven community established in downtown Ann Arbor in 1998. NZ and OLLI members taking part in this generation-bridging experience will discuss a featured poem and then write poetry of their own in a relaxed and welcoming environment with sharing encouraged. We welcome all OLLI members, not just those who write poetry. This is an opportunity for us to interact with young people and to learn more about the NZ organization and its mission -- and for the teens to learn more about us. For more information about Neutral Zone, see neutral-zone.org.

This event was developed by OLLI volunteers Bonnie Gabowitz, Richard Garrett, Linda Tompkins, and Mary Vardigan in collaboration with Brittany Barron at Neutral Zone and OLLI's PitchLine.