Something to Think About

a blog on end of life

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About the BK Team
What I Would Look For In a End of Life Doula Training Course

There are many different approaches and offerings. These multiple choices give you the chance to match your personality with the instructors and teaching methodology...

Tomorrow I will Make my Wishes known but not Today.

If we don’t legally make our wishes known in writing and generally notarized, healthcare professionals will make those decisions for us...

Putting  Our House  In Order

In the days to weeks before gradual death occurs a person realizes, at last, that they are dying. They may not share that realization with anyone, but they know. If...

Advance Directives Are Not Written In Stone

Filling out an Advance Directive when you are healthy is different than filling one out when you are elderly or living with a serious illness...

Do I Want FULL CODE or a NO CODE?

Medicine and medical technology can prolong our life but not indefinitely and it is generally at the expense of our quality of living. Or we can reframe how we think...

Did the AIDS Epidemic Set Us Up To Handle COVID-19? by Barbara Karnes, RN

There are many of the same circumstances with today’s coronavirus as we faced with  HIV/AIDS in the early years— lack of medical knowledge, lack of guidance, and fear. I think...

We've Just Begun Social Distancing~ Here Are My Thoughts by Barbara Karnes, RN

Isolation from others is teaching me this about my self ——- I do a lot for others, for their thoughts of me, why else do I wear makeup? Get dressed?...

Developing End of Life Expertise by Barbara Karnes, RN

You have to walk the walk before you can talk the talk. Learn from your patient/family interactions. At the same time read everything you can get your hands on...

Purpose, Forgiveness and Meaning at End of Life

What is the aim of a life review? As a caregiver my aim is not to direct a life review but to be a presence, a listener, and a friend....

Calories Count by Barbara Karnes, RN

When living with a life threatening illness we are eating for two---our physical body and our disease. In most cases the disease eats before we do. If we don’t eat,...

DYING Young or Old, The Signs Are The Same by Barbara Karnes, RN

There are other signs of approaching death that indicate a person with a disease (at any age) has weeks to live...

This Is How People Die, A New Film By Barbara Karnes, RN : Award Winning End of Life Educator & Hospice Pioneer

My message throughout all this time has been to educate, educate, educate. Educate anyone who will listen about how people die. To help people understand how death comes, what it...

Nursing Home Blues, Part 2 by Barbara Karnes, RN

...Fortunately, I suppose, my mother is now bed-bound and we were able toget Hospice to help out, so she now fits the bill for a 'model patient'... but itstill seems...

How Do I Pick A Good Hospice? by Barbara Karnes, RN  www.bkbooks.com

There have been many changes in hospice care since it began. Some for the better, some not so much. What I am suggesting as representing a “good” hospice is becoming...

Telling A Loved One They're Dying by Barbara Karnes, RN www.bkbooks.com

...not telling a person they can’t be fixed is taking away their opportunity to do and say that which is important to them. It is taking away their ability to...

Do Not Resuscitate & Hospice by Barbara Karnes, RN www.bkbooks.com

I believe that everyone has the right to decide how they will live and how they will die. There are people that no matter the disease will want to have...

For Those With Heavy Feelings of Loss

How to let go and stop feeling guilty? At first you probably aren't even aware of your feelings. When someone close to us dies, even if we are told it...