I am honored to be interviewing Terry Kaldhusdal and Mike Bernhagen about the new film, Consider the Conversation – A must see for all of us on April 6 at 2PM PST, 4PM CST on www.blogtalkradio.com

This is a “must-see” documentary about the important conversations in life. I am honored to be interviewing Terry Kaldhusdal and Mike Bernhagen about this remarkable film. April 6 at 2PM PST, 4PM CST on www.blogtalkradio.com

About the movie:
www.ConsidertheConversation.org

Motivated by their personal experiences with loss, two long-time friends – one a hospice educator in rural southern Wisconsin, Mike Bernhagen, and the other a former State Teacher of the Year, Terry Kaldhusdal – decided to join forces in early 2009 to begin a creative journey that has resulted in a film entitled Consider the Conversation: A Documentary on a Taboo Subject.

This project sheds light on the 21st century American struggle with communication and preparation at the end-of-life. It examines multiple perspectives on end-of-life care and includes interviews with patients, family members, doctors, nurses, clergy, social workers, and national experts from around the country. While in production, Mike and Terry donated more than 3,500 hours to the effort which included shooting 70 hours of film and conducting in-depth interviews with 40+ individuals from California, Illinois, Indiana, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Vermont and Wisconsin. 62 “person on the street” interviews were also conducted in New York City in April of 2010.

The bottom line is that Consider the Conversation does not seek to hand down answers. Instead, it provides something far more important – the questions all of us need to contemplate. That being said, the producers have three goals for this film: 1) to change the current American attitude from one that predominantly views end-of-life as a failed medical event to one that sees it as a normal process rich in opportunity for human development, 2) to inspire dialogue between patient and doctor, husband and wife, parent and child, minister and parishioner, and 3) to encourage medical professionals, healthcare organizations and faith leaders to take the lead in counseling others.

Consider the Conversation was released on DVD via Amazon.com on March 1st and will air on several PBS stations later this year.

“With simplicity and grace, Consider the Conversation leads us to confront, on numerous levels, one of the characteristics common to us all: our mortality. This film is a wonderful catalyst for all of us to engage ourselves and our loved ones in this all-important, but oft-neglected, conversation,” said Nathan A. Kottkamp, Chairman of the upcoming National Healthcare Decisions Day.

Terry Kaldhusdal

This is Terry Kaldhusdal’s fifth documentary film. His previous work includes Thinking Like a Historian, for the Wisconsin State Historical Society, and America’s Kings and Queens, The Gilded Age in Middle America, winner of the Wisconsin Historical Society’s 2010 Public Programs Award. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has written that Kaldhusdal’s work is “clear and concise” and added that he has a “passion for learning and a talent for communicating.” Columnist Laurel Walker has called his work “A-plus” and stated that he has “a knack for documenting history.”

In 1991, Terry joined his wife as a classroom teacher and moved from Southern California to Wisconsin. He currently teaches fourth grade at Magee Elementary School in Genesee Depot. He and his students have created documentaries that include the history of the Kettle Moraine School District and personal digital stories on everything from responsibility to the three branches of government. In 2009, one of Terry’s students was featured at the AHA Film Festival in Southern Illinois.

Terry has traveled across his state and across the country as a speaker to improve our
educational system. He was honored in 2006 with the Kohl Fellowship Award and in 2007 as the Wisconsin State Teacher of the Year. Terry resides in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin with his wife, Janet, and their three children.

Mike Bernhagen

Mike Bernhagen is well-acquainted with the American medical system. From 1994 to 2003, he worked in business development with one of the Midwest’s largest integrated healthcare delivery systems and multi-specialty group practices. During this decade, his time and energy were spent focusing on things like “physician incentive compensation plans”, “revenue growth”, “patient acquisition”, and “referral relationship development”. Those priorities changed in late 2003, however, when his mother, Rita, passed away from congestive heart failure and vascular dementia. Watching her slow, physical and cognitive decline as well the struggle of his family and her healthcare providers to deal with the process inspired him to join the hospice movement in 2004.

Since that time, Mike has been on the road working as a hospice advocate. Over the course of that journey, his travels have taken him to countless destinations – clinics, churches, hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, senior citizen centers, disease specific support groups, and private residences – where he’s talked with literally thousands of people from all walks of life. But, it has been with the dying and their loved ones that his most meaningful and rewarding conversations have taken place. In fact, one of the great lessons he’s learned from terminally ill people is that most are not afraid to die; rather they are afraid of the dying process. Some of the common fears they have are:

•Am I going to suffer?
•Will I be a burden upon my family?
•Will I have to leave my home?
•Will I die alone?
•Will I still get to see my doctor?
•Will I leave unfinished business?

In this documentary film, Mike sees the potential it has to make a difference—both in terms of demystifying the dying experience and encouraging people to begin the conversation about their end-of-life wishes well before the finish line is in sight. Mike currently works as the Director of Community Engagement and Care Partner Relations with Rainbow Hospice Care in Jefferson, Wisconsin. He and his wife, Denise, live in nearby Waukesha along with their two children.

Have a kind and respectful day.