The need for health-care professionals to communicate better about end-of-life issues with African-American patients and overcome their mistrust will be the focus of a two-day conference starting today in Shadyside.

The sessions at the Herberman Conference Center for about 100 physicians, nurses, social workers and other professionals will use a program called APPEAL, developed at Duke University. It's designed to educate professionals who work with a high percentage of African-American patients about that group's particular concerns.

The black population has traditionally used hospice and pain relief measures to a lesser extent than other groups, which studies have attributed in part to their fear that the medical establishment won't do all it can to extend their lives.

"Many African-American churches have been reluctant to embrace hospice care, because of concerns that hospice care may be hastening death," said Dr. Richard Payne, director of the Duke University Institute on Care at the End of LifePayne. "That's a myth that stems from a fundamental lack of understanding of what hospice is about."

The APPEAL program is the first in a series of public events envisioned by the regional Coalition for Quality at the End of Life, which is co-hosting it with the University of Pittsburgh's Institute to Enhance Palliative Care.

Dr. Susan Hunt, an internist and Pitt professor who studied and treated many of Pittsburgh's HIV-AIDS cases over the years, said the closeness of African-American families in wanting to take care of their frail members stood out to her.

"I think African Americans very much want to care for patients at home and be very involved" in helping comfort them at end of life, Dr. Hunt said. "Our job is to figure out how they can do that."