Ethical Foundations of Palliative Care for Alzheimer Disease

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgments The editors acknowledge with gratitude: The Greenwall Foundation,NewYork,for a grant to support the development of this book, including the funds for an international working group of scholars to convene at Berg en Dal, Netherlands. This Greenwall Foundation support made it feasible for this book to emerge as one outcome of the ongoing European and U.S. dialogue; The administration of Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, and the University Medical Centre Nijmegen, in Nijmegen, Netherlands, for their commitment to an international dialogue on Alzheimer disease, expressed through their financial and other substantive support for expenses incurred by the coeditors, authors, and support staff in their preparation of this volume. We also are grateful to: Ms. Helen Shew, Creighton University Center for Health Policy and Ethics— for her skill, commitment, and patience with us during several phases of the project. We thank her for her key role in coordinating and staffing the Berg en Dal conference and, even more critical, for the hours upon hours she devoted to two years of follow-up,correcting,editing,retyping,and proofing the draft manuscripts while coordinating the efforts of the twenty-two contributors. Without her assistance, this book simply would not have seen the light of day; Ms. Valesca Hulsman, Department of Ethics, Philosophy, and History of Medicine, University Medical Centre Nijmegen, in Nijmegen, Netherlands, for her leadership, with Helen Shew, in coordinating and staffing the Berg en Dal conference. Her contribution in taking care of the on-site logistics was invaluable ; Ms. Rita Nutty and Ms. Marybeth Goddard, Creighton University Center for m Health Policy and Ethics, for their able assistance as support staff to Helen Shew and the coeditors on this project. Ruth Purtilo also expresses her gratitude to Ann Caldwell, president, and the faculty and staff of the MGH Institute of Health Professions, Boston, Massachusetts , for their support while she completed the final editing during her ninemonth tenure as the Henry Knox Sherrill Visiting Scholar in Ethics (October 2002–July 2003). We have deeply appreciated the gentle but expert guiding hand of Ms. Wendy Harris, medical editor, and the staff at the Johns Hopkins University Press, throughout the process of producing this book. Finally, we would be amiss if we failed to thank the families of the participants who bravely supported the attendance of their loved ones at the Berg en Dal conference , held shortly after September 11, 2001.We had an opportunity while there to acknowledge that many of them were reticent to allow their loved ones to travel, some of them far from home, at such an uncertain time. We thank them once again for overcoming their fears—and helping us overcome ours—so that we could proceed with the important work of finding humane solutions to the challenges posed by Alzheimer disease. xviii Acknowledgments ...