south africa

Jacqueline Jones Royster, PhD, Professor English and African – American & African Studies, The Ohio State University. Her academic focus is on African-American Women’s Studies and the intellectual traditions of Black women writers. She is interested in cross cultural perspectives, particularly of women of African descent.

Jeri Mikosz, grief therapist and director of community education for the Life Transitions Center, Inc. of the Center for Hospice and Palliative Care in Buffalo, N.Y. She has partnered with the Good Shepherd Hospice in Middleburg, South Africa and served as the group’s guide in Middleburg and managed many of the trip logistics. She currently serves as Director of the Home Connections Care Management Program at the Life Transitions Center.

Pat Gibbons, R.N., Nurse Manager of Beacon Place at Hospice & Palliative Care of Greensboro, N.C. Beacon Place is a residential hospice. She provided a peer-to-peer perspective on health, hospice, and nursing with South African caregivers and administrators, and an informed comparative view of hospice in the two nations.
	Dara Pizzuti, PhD candidate at the London School of Economics focusing on global aide and reconstruction in post-conflict societies. This economic perspective added another lens to the group’s vision. She has been a marketing and communications professional in central Ohio.
Dianne Radigan, Chief Operating Officer of the Children’s Hunger Alliance of Ohio. She has focused on breaking the cycle of hunger and poverty for individuals and families, and focused the group on the implications of hunger for health and wellness. She is now Director of Community Relations for Cardinal Health, a global healthcare company based in Dublin, Ohio
	Cathe Kobacker, 25-year hospice volunteer, initiated the trip. She has traveled to Russia and Poland as well as South Africa to examine end-of-life practices. This comparative view brought a wider perspective to the group. Her many contacts in South Africa facilitated the warmth and candor of many discussions.