Something to Think About

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...

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?...

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...

It sounds like she was given morphine to ease her transition from this world to the next. Not knowing your grandmother's medical history I cannot say if the morphine was...

In our culture the holidays, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Christmas, emphasize family and friend togetherness. The absence of a friend or family member becomes more evident. Our sense of loss...

The guilt, frustration, uncertainty, and helplessness of family caregivers is as much a problem to our healthcare system as the patient with dementia...

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...

From the moment of a diagnosis of a life threatening illness we begin grieving. We grieve not just the eventual losses that come with serious illness but the approaching...

Often after a person dies we forget that there is no perfect relationship, that there are easy times and difficult times. Somehow once a person dies we elevate them to...

I suggest writing a letter to the person that died and saying from your heart what you need to say that you didn't say before. I recommend that you write...

We can be as much at a loss when our pet is dying as we are when a person is dying but there doesn’t seem to be the support and...

Hospice can not take the experience and sadness of a loved one dying away. Our goal is to help the family create a sacred experience, to help their loved one...

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...

From the moment of a diagnosis of a life threatening illness we begin grieving. We grieve not just the eventual losses that come with serious illness but the approaching death...

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...

When we die we work to leave our body. That work begins months before death from disease actually occurs but we only really see the work happening when death is...

...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...

What do I mean by being "gentle" with yourself? I mean forgive yourself forall the things you feel guilty about. Remember we always do the best wecan with the information...

We need to look at the promises made, evaluate them as to: can it be done, should it be done, and am I willing to do it? 

Dear Barbara, Please talk about unexpected youth death. In our minds we understand, that as sad as it is when an older adult dies,they have lived their life and death...

...There is no perfect relationship. There are good times and difficult times. Sometimes the difficulty we have with the person that is dying keeps us from being at the bedside....