Ira Byock. PHOTO VIA THE CITY OF SAN MARCOS

STAFF REPORT

Dr. Ira Byock, after 20 years of working with families and patients facing health crises and life changes, believes there are eleven words, just four phrases, that can improve all relationships.

The San Marcos Public Library will host a lecture and book signing with Byock at the San Marcos Activity Center, 501 East Hopkins, at 7 p.m. on Sept.  22. Byock will be speak about his most recent book, The Four Things That Matter Most (Simon and Shuster 2004). Admission to the event is free.

Byock, a palliative care physician, is director of palliative medicine at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and professor of anesthesiology and community and family medicine at Dartmouth Medical School. His first book, Dying Well (Riverside 1997) has become required reading in the palliative health care field.

A book signing featuring both of his books, Dying Well and The Four Things That Matter Most will follow Thursday’s lecture.

The Four Things That Matter Most has received glowing reviews from many distinguished authors including Steven R. Covey, author of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, who said,”It shows that the things that matter definitely aren’t ‘things.'”

Byock has been featured on ABC’s Nightline, the CBS show 60 Minutes and the The News Hour on PBS. He has also appeared on NPR’s All Things Considered and Fresh Air, Letting Go: A Hospice Journey on HBO, NBC’s Dateline and MSNBC’s Summit For A Cure.

He was president of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine in 1997, and the of the Academy’s Distinguished Service Award in 2002. He was awarded  the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization prestigious Person of the Year award and the National Coalition of Cancer Survivorship’s Natalie Davis Springarn, Writers Award.

Byock is also the co-author of A Few Months to Live (Georgetown University Press, 2001) and co-editor of Palliative and End-of-Life Pearls (Hanley & Belfus, 2002), a collection of clinical case studies.

More information on Byock is available at www.thefourthings.org/book.htm.