How Do You Want Your Life To Be Celebrated?
Coming together with the purpose of planning a funeral service channeled our grief in a productive way. It gave us not just something to do, together, but gave us a...
Something to Think About: a blog on end of life
Healthcare Workers, Hospices, Deathcare Workers~ 7 Recommendations for Taking Care of Yourself
I keep shouting from the roof top to hospitals, hospices, home health care agencies, and nursing facilities, “TAKE CARE OF YOUR PEOPLE!!!!!” How can we expect healthcare workers to continue...
To Those Who Work In End Of Life
The greatest gift you have to give is time. It won’t be the words you say, even the guidance you give, although that is all very important. It will be...
It's National Hospice Month
During these two years hospice has had to work through Zoom meetings, masked face to face, and lots and lots of phone calls. There has been very little face to face,...
A Hospice Halloween
In the early days of hospice no one told us how long we could stay with the patient and families. We simply made it up as we went along. Our goal...
How Are You Doing With The Collective Grief We Are All Feeling?
I’ll say again we are a planet grieving. What does grief look like? Grief is an emotional expression. It comes out in the way we have learned to express our...
Comfort Care is Palliative Care, Hospice, and End of Life Doulas
Comfort Care describes a focus on the quality of life being lived, as opposed to concentrating on the lengthening of that life no matter the quality. Comfort Care is good...
The "Labor" to Enter This World, and the "Labor" To Leave
End of Life Expert Barbara Karnes, RN explains the similarities in the "labor" to enter this world and the "labor" to leave it. Read on...
By Taking Care of Ourselves We Can Be a Light
With all the loss that we are experiencing during this pandemic, it isn't just physical death that we are mourning. End of Life Expert Barbara Karnes, RN has some grief...
Why Don't I Cry?
The showing and expressing of emotions is so individual, expressing our grief is individual also. Some cry, some show anger, some depression, some “tough it up" and move forward, some...
"If We Don't Take Care Of Our Hospice Staff..." From an Old Time Hospice Nurse
A hospice that does not take care of its staff cannot take care of it’s patients and their families in a manner consistent with the original hospice philosophy...
Ritual Bathing After the Death
I don't think it is about the cleanliness of the body but of the hands-on ritual of saying goodbye. Bathing is an intimate ritual. It can be a way of...