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 Kate Swain
Eastman, Psy.D.,
L.C.S.W.,
Is the Executive Director of the Jason Program. She has an extensive experience working to improve the lives of
children and adolescents. She brings this experience, her deep
compassion for dying children, and a desire to help all people to
the Jason Program.
Dr. Eastman earned a BA at Bates College in 1982
then pursued advanced studies in social work at the University of
Vermont the following year. She worked as a community support
counselor for the town of Sanford, Maine until 1983, when she
served as a community support liaison worker in Augusta,
coordinating discharge planning for patients leaving the Augusta
Mental Health Institute. She then studied clinical pastoral work
at Central Maine Medical Hospital in Lewiston and later moved to
Boston, where she earned he masters in Theological studies at the
Boston University School of Theology. Kate earned a masters of
social work at the University of Houston and served as a medical
social worker at The Hospice at the Texas Medical Center and a
research assistant for the Texas Department of Human Services.
Kate next studied advanced grief and bereavement at the Center for
Death Education in Newton, Massachusetts. Kate worked as a
psychotherapist in Sanford, Maine, then earned her doctorate in
clinical psychology at Antioch New England in 1997. Kate has
lectured extensively. She is a member of the IPPC faculty, the
CHIPPS Education Committee and the AAHPM pediatric sub group. She
serves on several community boards and is the 2005 recipient of
the Bates College Alumni Service Award.
Personal Information:
Curriculum
Vitae
Presentations:
Model of Adolescent Care
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 Dr. Gary J. Allegretta is currently
the full-time medical director of The Jason Program. He is also an
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Vermont,
Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of
New England's College of Osteopathic Medicine, Consulting
physician at The Maine Medical Center in Portland and Southern
Maine Medical Center in Biddeford. His is a member of the
Gems of Care faculty as a
Continuity Specialist.
Dr. Allegretta earned his undergraduate degree at Bowdoin College
in Brunswick, Maine, then his doctorate in Medicine at the University of
Connecticut in Farmington, Connecticut. He completed his internship and
residency in pediatrics at the Maine Medical Center and completed a
fellowship in pediatric hematology-oncology at the University of
Connecticut. He served as staff physician at the Maine Children's Cancer
Program for the next 13 years, where he specialized in pediatric
lymphomas, brain tumors, and supportive care. He is board certified in
pediatrics, and his publications include a text on oncologic emergencies
and a review of the social aspects of caring for critically ill children.
He earned the Maine Medical Center "Specialist of the Year" award in 1991
and the "Master Teacher Award" in 1997. In February of 2003 he achieved
ABHPM certification in Hospice and Palliative Medicine.
Personal:
Curriculum
Vitae (last updated
February 20, 2008)
Relevant Presentations: Supportive
Care of the Seriously Ill Child;
Communication
& Preserving Hope; Medical
Futility; Whole
Patient Assessment,
Advances in the Relief of Pain & Suffering
Relevant Publications: Childhood
Cancer: Practitioner and Family Perspective
"Safety issues in pediatric patient-controlled analgesia by proxy"
was published in the December 2005 issue of the
Pediatric Pain
Letter
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 Greg Burns,
R.N., Nursing Director of The Jason Program, has a long
history of caring for seriously ill children and adults. After
graduating with a B.S.N. in nursing from the University of
Southern Maine, Greg worked on the medical-surgical ward at Maine
Medical Center, where he developed an expertise in orthopedics. He
transferred to the pediatric floor there out of his love of
children, where his duties ranged from direct patient care to
teaching, communication, and leadership. His close involvement
with seriously ill and dying children led him to join the Maine
Children's Cancer Program in 1994. His skills there were many, but
centered on delivering compassionate technical and psychosocial
care. Greg worked with New England Life Care, providing home IV
therapy for adults and children, and for Community Health Services
as a Hospice/Palliative Care Nurse for adults and children. While
at CHS he became a member of the Maternal Child Health Team. He is
a member of the Medical Home Advisory Committee, The Maine Hospice
Council Board of Directors, The Maine Hospice Council Retreat
Team, Caring Resources for Living Board of Directors, and a
reviewer/trainer for the End of Life Nursing Education Consortium
(ELNEC) Pediatric Palliative Care Curriculum.
Review
his Curriculum
Vitae.
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 Shelley Jacobs, LCSW is our clinical social worker. Shelley has worked with children living with serious
medical conditions and their families in a wide range of settings. She
received her B.S. in Human Development and Child Life Studies from Wheelock
College in Boston, Massachusetts in 2001. While Studying Child Life, she
completed a full time internship at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital in
Portland, Oregon within the Hematology/Oncology Department. Shelley worked
at Franciscan’s Children Hospital providing child life and palliative care
services to children, and volunteered for two years in
Boston as a grief facilitator for children and families during the tragedy
of 9/11. Upon completing her undergraduate
degree, Shelley joined The Jason Program as a Child Life Specialist and
worked with critically ill children and their siblings, using play as a
modality to reduce anxiety, increase normalcy, and foster expression of feelings
related to coping with a serious illness. In 2003, she pursued her MSW at
the University of Michigan, School of Social Work in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
She completed a yearlong clinical internship in a Detroit based community
mental health agency, focusing on individual and group work with children
and adults presenting with varied mental health issues. Upon returning to
Maine in 2005, Shelley worked in a residential group home for adolescent
males with significant mental health, emotional and behavioral issues,
providing individual, family, and group therapy for the residents and their
families. Shelley re-joined The Jason Program as a social worker in
October of 2007, and is excited and honored to work with the children and
their families who are a part of the Jason Program.
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The
Reverend Mary Lee Wile
serves as the Director of Spiritual Services for the Jason Program. An alumna of
Harvard/Radcliffe College, Colorado State University, and Bangor Theological Seminary, she has a Masters in English and a Masters in Theological Studies . Since the death of her step-daughter from cancer, Mary Lee has felt called to pediatric hospice.
Ordained as a deacon in the Episcopal Church, she is the author of the theological novel Ancient Rage, which reviewer Frederic Brussat referred to as a "mother's saga of grief, loneliness, and anger." She has also published an experiential Confirmation program for youth and adults, I Will, with God's Help, and a variety of religious and educational articles in such journals as The Living Church, The Witness, Daughters of Sarah, The Other Side, Harvard Magazine, Radcliffe Quarterly, Education Week, and Teacher Magazine. The 1993 recipient of Maine's Language Arts Professional Publications Award, Mary Lee has taught in the public schools since 1984 and serves on her school's Crisis Team. She participates in a variety of professional and religious organizations, and she leads Quiet Days and workshops on contemplative prayer.
Review her Resume.
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Leslie Morissette is a mother, wife, graphics designer, and the
Bereaved Parent Advocate for the Jason Program. Her son, Graham, died of leukemia at the age of eight. He has taught us many lessons, inspires much of our work, and lives on in our hearts. He is the energy
behind Grahamtastic Connections. This project endeavors to
bring computers and internet access to seriously ill children,
hoping to afford them greater access to needed information and
their peers. Read
about this project here. You
can contact Leslie by e-mail
(leslie@grahamtastic.org) What we give to the less fortunate in our lifetime
is what we take with us when we pass over...
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