Speakers

This program will focus on the new building WAFER is moving into, along with the increased outreach to the food insecure. It is timely because of the gathering of food items which has been at the heart of our combined Rotary Lights annual event.s

Mark Solyst served as pastor in the Lutheran Church for 46 years. Retiring in 2020, he served the last 21 years of his ministry as pastor of English Lutheran Church in La Crosse. He grew up in Kerkhoven, Minnesota, a beautiful, small community in Western Minnesota and attended Concordia College in Moorhead Minnesota where he majored in physics. Graduate education included Luther Seminary and Princeton Theological Seminary where he earned a M.Div., M.Th., and D.Min. In 1978, Mark married Carol, who is an art director, and they have three grown children.

Dr Hammes served has the Director of Medical Humanities and Respecting Choices for the Gundersen Health System in La Crosse, WI from 1984 until 2018.  In this position he provided education programs for house staff, as well as medical, nursing and physician assistant students.  He also provided in-services and workshops for the medical staff, nursing staff, social workers, and the pastoral care department.  Dr. Hammes chaired both the Institutional Review Board and Ethics Committee.  For the institutional ethics committee, he served the role of ethics consultant.   From 2018 to 2020, Dr. Hammes served as the Executive Director of Respecting Choices which had become a free standing not-for-profit.   Currently Dr. Hammes is the Executive Director Emeritus of Respecting Choices.  

Dr. Hammes’s work has been primarily focused on improving care at the end-of-life.   To this end he developed institutional policies and practices, staff education, and patient/community education with a special focus on advance care planning.   This work resulted in two nationally recognized programs on advance care planning:  If I Only Knew… and Respecting Choices®.  He has authored or coauthored 43 articles and book chapters that are focused on clinical ethics, advance care planning, and end-of-life issues.