Baylor to Host Health Care Symposium Nov. 14-15

WACO, Texas - "Responding to Illness and the Aging" will be the focus of the Pruit Memorial Symposium set for Nov. 14-15 at Baylor University. All events will be held in the Cashion Academic Center, located in the Hankamer School of Business.
The speakers of the symposium include Dr. William May, professor of ethics and director of the Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility at Southern Methodist University; Dr. Arthur Frank, professor of sociology at the University of Calgary; Dr. David Hilfiker, former director of Community of Hope Health Care Services in Washington D.C.; Dr. Ian McWhinney, professor emeritus at the University of Ontario; and Dr. Kay Toombs, associate professor of philosophy at Baylor.
All of the speakers are accomplished authors in the areas of illness and health care. May is a former president of the American Academy of Religion and is Founding Fellow of the Hastings Center. Frank is the 1996 National Coalition for Cancer Survivors award winner. He is a frequent lecturer to international audiences of health care professionals, medical students, nurses, pastoral care workers and persons living with cancer.
Hilfiker has served as a physician to the poor in Washington, D. C. since 1983. He lived and worked for five years in Christ House, a medical recovery shelter for homeless men. For three years he lived and worked in Joseph's House, a community for former homeless men with AIDS. McWhinney was a member of the Pew-Fetzer Task Force on Advancing Psychosocial Health Education and was the Foundation Professor of Family Medicine at the University of Western Ontario. Toombs, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, is an international lecturer and award winner in the area of illness research and writing.
The conference subject matter is so important that it is one of the highlights of the year at the university, said Dr. Donald Schmeltekopf, provost and vice president for academic affairs.
"We are making a significant contribution to a serious subject of the day," Schmeltekopf said. "We will not consider anything more important all year as an academic community."

The Pruit Memorial Symposium was established by Mr. and Mrs. Lev Prichard and Mrs. Helen Pruit Matthews in memory of Mrs. Matthews and her brothers, Dr. Lee Tinkle Pruit and William Wall Pruit. The symposium's purpose is to assist Baylor in promoting a world view that is distinctly Christian and draws on the best thought in the Baptist tradition.
The Texas Council for the Deaf will provide interpreters for the deaf and hearing impaired upon requests made by Nov. 11.
To request an interpreter or for more information contact Janice O' Bryant, administrative assistant to the vice provost for academic affairs, at (817) 755-3434. All lectures are free and open to the public.