The live-via-satellite video broadcast, the Hospice Foundation of America's ninth annual "Living with Grief: Loss in Later Life," will examine ways health care professionals can better understand and respond to the needs of older people coping with loss and making critical end-of-life decisions.

The teleconference will take place at 10:30 a.m. in the Oviatt Library, Garden Level Room 1, in the center of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge.

"Currently, there are more than 35 million Americans over the age of 65; that number may double by the year 2030," said Jack D. Gordon, chairman of Hospice Foundation of America. "By gaining a better understanding of the range of losses experienced by older persons, healthcare professionals can provide more compassionate care to those in later life."

The program will provide insight and practical suggestions for professionals who regularly deal with aging clients and their families and friends. The broadcast will explore both the challenges and the opportunities that older persons experience as they face loss and make critical decisions about end-of-life issues.

The program will be moderated by Cokie Roberts of ABC News, the panel of experts includes Kenneth J. Doka, minister and professor of gerontology at the College of New Rochelle; Dr. Robert Butler, CEO of International Longevity Center; Phyllis Rolfe Silverman, associate in social welfare at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and Dr. J.R. Williams, president of Foundation for End of Life Care.

"There are 5 million older Californians and they represent one of the most diverse older populations in the nation," said Debra Sheets, coordinator of the CSUN's Interdisciplinary Gerontology Program. "As the graying of the Golden State continues, we will need professionals who are prepared to work with older persons and their families dealing with end-of-life issues."

The teleconference is produced by Hospice Foundation of America, a non-profit organization that works to educate healthcare professionals and the families they serve in issues relating to terminal illness, grief and bereavement. The program is sponsored in part by a grant from Last Acts and the Foundation for End of Life Care, with additional support from the Project on Death in America.

The annual broadcast reaches an estimated live audience of 150,000 people nationwide. For more information, contact Debra Sheets at (818) 677-2344, Diane Kelly at (818) 832-7491 or visit the website at http://www.csun.edu/~csungero/geroevents.html.