LOS ANGELES — Dr. Justin Nathaniel Baker stormed on stage with a handful of stuffed koala bears. He periodically threw them out into the audience, pelting us with plush. "Where am I?" I thought to myself. Isn't this supposed to be a conference about death? Why is everyone so happy? Why am I so happy?
Welcome to the EndWell Summit, a gathering of more than 700 caregivers, clinicians and advocates who've grieved, are grieving or are working with those at the end of their lives. Speakers included a pediatric palliative care physician, a global health economist and a prison hospice advocate, not to mention celebrities like Emma Heming Willis (Bruce Willis' wife) and Katherine LaNasa ("The Pitt"). It's an inviting space – smiles abounded despite the uncharacteristically cold, somber and wet Los Angeles weather, and thousands joined virtually – where casual conversations and formal talks about death are tear-jerking one second and laugh-out-loud funny the next.
I wondered why. "Being around death makes you really appreciate life," death educator Gail Rubin told me before the conference began as attendees sipped coffee and nibbled on bite-size muffins, Greek yogurt, granola bars and fruit. And she was right.
