Something to Think About

My husband Jack  has been dead eight months. In processing the five months from his diagnosis to his death, what stands out most for me is the tension that surrounded food....

Because of knowledge we’ve lost when people began dying in places other than home, we judge approaching death by the treatments and procedures used in getting people better...

Unfortunately, as death approaches none of us will be able to take care of ourselves. There will come a point when we will need assistance. We probably won’t even be aware we...

It has been almost six months since my husband of 62 years died. As an end of life educator I have taught about loss and grief, and even wrote a booklet about it. BUT...

Working with end of life in the medical field often leaves us feeling like outliers. The medical model is to fix people. Working with dying generally isn’t addressed in training. (It’s...

I knew all the signs of approaching death, of labor beginning. What I didn’t know was how much we don’t want to see those signs, and by not wanting to see them,...

All the work we do leads up to the moment of death. Our goal is to guide and support those present through the moment the last breath occurs.

In our medical society today, it seems to be very difficult for physicians to tell patients and/or families that death is approaching; That this special person will die, and probably...

There is a huge void in our medical system that so many families living with dementia fall into. These families have a loved one too sick and require too much...

As end of life professionals we have to carefully walk a line.  We are in the tenuous position of caring intimately for adult strangers who often do act as children. ...

In those last five months I tried for us to live in the present, to build good memories, to love, give and live in the moment...

Life puts us in challenging situations. Often times it is not where we want to be. Sometimes it seems we don’t have a choice...

We support others in their belief system no matter what we believe. It is not about us...

By Your Side offers guidance in the area of making choices: cure, life sustaining, comfort care, making advanced directives, and funeral planning. It details signs of approaching death (what to look...

Getting the word to caregivers that there is such a thing as a support group may be challenging. You might talk with church groups, case managers, hospital discharge planners, and...

There is nothing medical about brushing your teeth, rinsing your mouth or moistening the inside of your mouth. We do it all the time. Why would it be suddenly considered a...

Deciding not to “tell mom she can’t be fixed" takes away that gift. Who are we (yes, even family) to determine what a person needs to or does not need...

What is normal is the person may be talking BUT they won’t be making sense. They may be talking to people you don’t see or hear. Yes, I believe our...

Often the patient shares more with the CNA than with their own family members. We are so open and vulnerable when someone is giving us a bath, changing our bed,...

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...

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...