Our Vision

Director, Palliative Care Institute
Representing: Western Washington University

Dr. Devyani Chandran is currently the Director for Western Washington University’s Palliative Care Institute. The Institute seeks to improve care for those with serious or terminal illness - mounting projects with other partners focused on provider training and community education and activation to demonstrate how ‘palliative care’ can improve quality of life, both physically and also in mind and spirit, helping patients live as actively as possible until death and ease their dying process when that time arrives. She is an Associate Professor in the Human Services Program housed in the Department of Health and Community Studies in Western Washington University and the Director of the Palliative Care Institute. Dr. Chandran received her PhD in Social Welfare from the University of Kansas. Her doctoral dissertation explored the experiences of older adults living with HIV/AIDS. She currently teaches courses on Aging and health, interpersonal and small group systems and diversity and social justice dynamics. Dr. Chandran’s research focuses on community-based approaches to chronic illness, aging, end of life and palliative care. Her research findings have been published in Social Work and Health Care, Journal of Palliative and End of Life Care, Social Work Education, and AIDS and Behavior. 

Palliative Care Nurse Practitioner
Representing: Individual

About: Sharmon Figenshaw is a board-certified nurse practitioner with 30 years of experience in hospice and palliative medicine, providing compassionate support to people and their trusted companions in the midst of serious illness. In addition to over 20 years on the WSICC, she serves as a clinical consultant for the Honoring Choices Pacific Northwest POLST/Serious Illness Clinical Skills program aimed at improving how we care for people with serious illness in Washington state. By strengthening communication skills among clinicians and teaching the proper use of POLST to guide care, she hopes to ensure that each person will receive care that honors their goals and values—and have the opportunity to shape their own ending. She enjoys seeing patients as a relief nurse practitioner for the Okanogan Palliative Care Initiative, a service of Family Health Centers in Okanogan County, and lives in the Methow with her husband, enjoying the best of Washington’s ski and hiking trails. 

 Executive Director
Washington State Hospice & Palliative Care Organization
Representing: WSHPCO

  Barb has worked in hospice and home health serving patients at the end of life since 1985. She has served patients and families in several roles, including direct patient care and as director of a hospice, home health and inpatient hospice facility. Barb has been in her role with WSHPCO since July of 2015. She also serves as the CEO for the Oregon Hospice and Palliative Care Association. Barb serves on the NHPCO Regulatory and Council of States committees and on the CMS Technical Expert Panel for Post-Acute Care and Hospice Quality Reporting Program Measurement Sets. 

Outpatient Palliative Care Coordinator
Virginia Mason 

Representing: Virginia Mason

Ginny has worked in hospice in Wenatchee Valley for 25 years; 1985-2010. She served patients and families through direct patient care, program development, mentoring and education of new staff, and interim directors of both home health and hospice. In 2010, along with physician Dr. Gail Feinman, started inpatient palliative care at Confluence Health in Wenatchee; eventually expanding the service to outpatient clinics and the community. Ginny provides consultation to patients either through MD referral or self-referrals from patients and families. She strives to draw forth the patient's story and understanding of their illness and situation, and then begin to tailor health care to the patient's hopes and values, so as to provide the best possible care as the patient defines living well. She also is involved in providing education and mentorship of effective communication for health care providers throughout Confluence Health, and also provides community education centered on how to effectively talk to your doctor while trying to navigate the complicated maze of health care when you are serious and/or chronically ill. 

Attending Physician
Providence Regional Medical Center Everett
Representing: Individual

Dr. McGoodwin is board-certified in hospice and palliative medicine and has worked in the inpatient palliative care service for the past eight years (the first six years at Harborview Medical Center and the most recent two years at Providence Regional Medical Center Everett). Dr. McGoodwin is particularly interested in helping patients understand the role of advance directives and encouraging their use and expanding efforts to train the "front line" (i.e., primary care providers, nurses, etc.) in the palliative care skill set. In her clinical faculty role at the University of Washington, Dr. McGoodwin has made it a priority to train future health care professionals (from the fields of medicine, nursing, social work, etc.) how to work with patients at the end of life. In her former life, before she became a physician, she ran a bioethics agency. Most of her work was directed at legislative campaigns to prevent genetic discrimination. Dr. McGoodwin helped draft legislation and testified before state legislatures and Congress. 

 Author,  Consultant
Representing: Individual

Donna worked in the field of organ and tissue donation as the director of the Lions Eye Bank, serving Washington, Northern Idaho, and Alaska. Although committed to educating health care professionals and doing public education on the importance and benefits of donation, it was when her husband was diagnosed with terminal colon cancer her interest in improving end-of–life care became a passion. She has authored a book, "Legacy...Reflections Along the Way," that is being used to assist personal storytelling and promoting "dignity therapy" for hospice patients and their families. Donna presents educational workshops for Cancer Lifeline and EvergreenHealth and is a certified laugh leader with the World Laughter Tour. She is on the executive committee of the Northwest Parish Nurse Ministries and serves as a network coordinator for the Seattle/Eastside area. 

Clinical Assistant Professor

U of Washington Medical Center

Representing: Individual

Dr. Schlenker is a palliative care physician and the associate medical director of the inpatient palliative care consultation service at the University of Washington Medical Center Montlake. She provides direct patient care, including symptom management, support, and guidance with complex medical decision-making for patients and families facing serious illness. She also provides end-of-life education throughout the hospital as well as support/debriefs for difficult cases. She acts as an educator for medical students, residents and fellows. She has also given talks regionally and nationally about palliative care and end-of-life topics. 

Retiree 

 Representing: Individual

Now retired, in his practice career Dr. Smith provided primary care and specialty geriatrics for many years. He later served as medical director for Group Health's hospice, palliative care and nursing home programs and as the medical director for Providence Hospice of King and Pierce counties among other roles. He is active in a variety of regional and national organizations representing geriatrics, end-of-life care, medical ethics, and health policy. He is a past chair of the steering committee and serves as co-chair of the Washington POLST Task Force. 

 Co-Executive Director 

End of Life Washington Representing: 

Representing: EOLWA

 Cassandra Sutherland (she/they) is a long-time supporter of autonomy and choice. She holds degrees in Global Public Health and International Studies and has worked at End of Life Washington (EOLWA) since 2020. Cassa’s involvement with EOLWA is a result of supporting her father as he faced dementia and was making his own end-of-life decisions. She is passionate that everyone has information and access to end-of-life care — and is consistently in awe of the courage and fortitude of those who show up. Outside of her work, Cassa spends most of her time outdoors and with loved ones. 

Medical Director  

EvergreenHealth Hospice 

Representing: EvergreenHealth

Dr. Hope Wechkin is the medical director of EvergreenHealth Home Care Services (Hospice and Home Health) in Kirkland, WA. A family physician by training, she has devoted herself full-time to the practice of Hospice and Palliative Medicine since 2007 and is Board-certified by the American Board of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. 

She has served on the Palliative Care Consult Service at the University of Washington Medical Center, developed and led the EvergreenHealth Palliative Medicine program from 2007-2021, and is a member of the clinical faculty of the University of Washington School of Medicine. Dr. Wechkin has served as chair of

the Washington State Medical Association’s Serious Illness Care Coalition and served as course chair for the first-ever national conference on “planned death” at the University of Washington  in 2019. She is the lead author of the first national clinical guidelines for voluntarily stopping

eating and drinking (VSED) published in 2023, and she is especially interested in training and supporting bedside clinicians of all disciplines in goals of care discussions.

(non)Executive Director 

A Sacred Passing

Representing:A Sacred Passing 

Lashanna (she/they) is an intentional tender.  A tender of people and spaces, a recovering corporate employee and avid learner and deathcare educator.  A mistake maker, community lover, published author, consensual hugger, garden witch, and mother; a midwest-grown University of Michigan graduate, artist, facilitator, and holder of heavy things. 

Creating space for belonging is at the core of all their work, from teaching medical practitioners or massage students to working with youth in the community garden, shrouding a community member, or hand-grinding herbs for tea. Lashanna lives and works in the intersections of death, art, education, and love. As a member of multiple community and national boards, she gathers, guides, and supports efforts to remain purposeful, creative, sustainable, and free from the anti-Black patriarchal Western structures currently present.  Lashanna is a Scorpio, which means she was born an agent of change and has lived that life, internally and externally- and is always excited to be the next best version of herself through learning.