For Dannell Shu, life and death have cohabitated since her son Levi was born without a heartbeat or breath. Emergency measures led to the Neonatal ICU as a long list of diagnoses began to emerge. What was expected to be a healthy birth quickly transformed into a life of sustained uncertainty along with Levi's medical complexities. Shattered dreams, grief, hope, and beauty commingled as she and her family cared for Levi for seven years. His fragile life and early death have brought Dannell into the most tender spaces of the soul.

 

In 2014, at the invitation of Levi’s palliative care nurse, Jody Chrastek, Dannell began sharing her experiences and advocating for families in need of palliative care. Levi was just 4 years old at the time.

 

Over the past decade, Dannell has developed into a respected Family Advocate and Clinician Educator in pediatric palliative, hospice, and bereavement care. She is known as a thought leader, trusted consultant, and purposeful community builder who brings forward the embodied wisdom of family perspectives with charisma and warmth. 

As a Family Advocate, Dannell serves alongside clinicians with the National Coalition for Hospice and Palliative Care, Pediatric Division to collaboratively advance the field of pediatric palliative care and the Minnesota Palliative Care Advisory Council to advise the Minnesota Department of Health Commissioner and the state legislature. She has published numerous articles since 2015 in a variety of settings including multiple articles for the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s Pediatric eJournal bringing forth family perspectives on communication, integrative therapies, home care, bereavement care, spiritual care, sustained uncertainty, and innovations in educating parents as clinician educators.

 

As a Clinician Educator and thought leader, Dannell is known for developing innovative curriculum that embodies both her lived experience as Levi’s mom and integrates the perspectives of many families and children with medical complexities. She skillfully orients her curriculum to the clinician’s professional development goals and learning context. Physicians, nurses, social workers, chaplains, researchers, ethicists, music therapists, and community interveners, from trainees to seasoned providers, have been among the many learners Dannell has impacted. 

 

As a Bereaved Parent Faculty for the University of Minnesota’s Pediatric End of Life Care Skills Workgroup, she collaborates with an interdisciplinary team of pediatric clinicians and SIM professionals to improve trainee’s competence, resiliency, and interprofessional skills to provide quality end of life care. Dannell’s engagement in these half day workshops spans from inception to dissemination, including curriculum development, Standardized Patient training, and workshop faculty. Recently, she has co-authored an innovative bereaved parent onboarding training integrating principles of trauma informed care.

 

As a Keynote speaker and presenter, Dannell is known for her warm honestly and dynamically engaging presentations. Annual conference events include: American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Hospice and Palliative Medicine, Pediatric Chaplains Network, Crescent Cove’s Pediatric Palliative Care Symposium, Minnesota Network of Hospice and Palliative Care, and McGill’s International Palliative Care Congress. 

 

Among parents of children with medical complexities and bereaved parents, Dannell is known as a trusted ally, resourceful connector, and compassionate confidant. Parents share her articles with their child’s providers to strengthen communication. They utilize RedBird’s bereavement resources on missed milestones to receive care. Parents trust her leadership and value the insights and encouragement she brings through personal conversations and small groups.

 

As the Founder and lead innovator for RedBird Time, Dannell brings forth her decade of experience in these many roles to provide consultation, resource innovation, facilitate Brave Spaces, and build resilient care communities of bereaved parents and clinicians.