Two institutes in the College of Nursing are teaching about both the beginning and end of life.
The Institute for Natural Family Planning and Human Sexuality and the Institute for End of Life Care Education, according to college officials, are both focused on educating health care officials and offering services in their respective areas of expertise.
The institute has three purposes: to conduct research, provide teacher training in natural family planning and provide new and innovative services in natural family planning, according to Richard Fehring, nursing professor and the director of the Institute for Natural Family Planning and Human Sexuality.
"New natural family planning innovations are being pioneered at Marquette," Fehring said.
One such innovation includes researching a computerized fertility monitor, and the institute is set to publish its findings in January.
The institute offers two three-credit, online, teacher-training courses through the College of Nursing. Fehring said health care professionals as far away as California and Florida are currently enrolled in the Internet classes.
In cooperation with various Milwaukee area Catholic parishes, Fehring said the institute offers courses and services about natural family planning to local couples. The classes are offered in English and Spanish and are meant to develop simple natural family planning methods that can be easily taught to and employed by the couples.
Much like the Institute for Natural Family Planning and Human Sexuality, the Institute for End of Life Care Education has a focus on professional education. A goal of the institute is to improve the quality of end of life care people receive, said College of Nursing Professor Sarah Wilson. A national study of end-of-life care, in which each state was issued a letter grade for quality of care, was recently conducted, and "most states did not get a passing grade," Wilson said.
Associate Dean for Graduate Programs and Research Judith Fitzgerald Miller sees the work of the institute as being especially relevant, given the current state of end of life care in this country. She hopes the institute will become a model of improvement for the rest of the United States.
College of Nursing faculty say the Institute for End of Life Care Education is a program that fits well with the university's mission.
"The institute's work to affirm the goodness of life while life still exists is congruent with the Catholic Jesuit mission of Marquette," Miller said.
The institute has a partnership with Aurora Sinai hospital that allows students to deal with the dying and their families as part of their clinical experience. The institute also offers a three-credit course dealing with death and dying and a community education course on grief work.
Both the Institute for Natural Family Planning and Human Sexuality and the Institute for End of Life Care Education are currently seeking endowments to help fund their endeavors. According to Fehring, the Institute for Natural Family Planning received its first grant in 1984 for the purpose of training nurses in natural family planning.
Since then, the institute has received a number of grants, and in 1997 a local private organization began providing money for the institute.
The Institute for End of Life Care Education is often engaged in fundraising, Miller said. According to Miller, the institute will create a chair for end of life care education should it be the recipient of an endowment.