Something to Think About

a blog on end of life

We love sharing helpful info on our blog.

About the BK Team
All The Ways We Have For Saying Our Final Goodbyes

We used to have grandma’s body “laid out” in the parlor and family and friends came to our home with support and food. Grandma died in the home and we...

What Does a Funeral Do?

Funerals are for the living. They are to bring comfort. Recognizing the life lived by the person that died is comfort to the living...

The True Value of End of Life Support

A hospice referral is a win-win. You win if they say it is too soon and youare not appropriate for hospice care, or you win by coming onto the hospiceprogram...

Planning a Loved One's Celebration of Life

Part of the specialness of doing your own service/celebration of his life is the planning. The gathering of those who loved him gathered together deciding how to celebrate his love and life...

Have You Heard of Nurse Honor Guard?

A group of nurses who volunteer to perform an honor presentation at funerals or memorial services for licensed practical and registered nurses. It reminds me of a veteran's honor guard and...

Hospice Innovator Barbara Karnes, RN explains the 3 Signs of Approaching Death from Disease or Old Age

 Know that all of these signs of approaching death, whether indicating months or weeks, are just guideposts. Some people will show all of them...

NHPCO Hospice Innovator, Barbara Karnes, RN speaks to those who have had a loved one die in a violent way in her new blog, How To Grieve a Violent Death. www.bkbooks.com

Sudden death by accident, suicide and certainly by violence intensifies those normal grief responses. Everything we feel with normal grief is as if we are being held under a magnifying...

NHPCO Hospice Innovator, Barbara Karnes, RN speaks to those who are unable to be with their loved one at the time of death. www.bkbooks.com

Our job as an end of life specialist is to address the elephant in the room, to be direct and honest in the gentlest way possible. We are not doing...

Award winning End of Life Educator, Barbara Karnes, RN writes about how necessary grief support is right now in her article, Bereavement Support Is Important At ANy Time, Now, It is Vital

Hospice Bereavement support, as well as any bereavement support program (church, Community Support, Senior Activity Program) is important during the best of times. Now it is vital.  Here are my recommendations;...

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?...

HOSPICE DEATH CALL~ How To Comfort A Family You've Never Met by Barbara Karnes RN

We do this all the time. We enter tense situations where people are frightened and unsure, with people who have never seen us before. This is what we do: We create...