Something to Think About

a blog on end of life

We love sharing helpful info on our blog.

About the BK Team
The Hospice Story: How a Small Idea Changed How We Die

Dame Cicely Saunders — an important and influential physician, nurse, social worker, and writer in end of life care — established a specific facility to care for those people that...

When Treatment Stops Working: What Hospice Really Offers

What do you say to someone to get them to accept hospice? Well, one thing to say after explaining the services hospice offers is to ask what they think will...

Not Every Patient Is a Battle to Win

Everyone dies. Death will not be conquered. It can be forestalled and that is where the medical model comes in. We learn through trying. The medical rounds physician is correct...

Think It Might Be Time for Hospice?  You're Probably Right

Death from disease and old age doesn’t just happen. There are signs and changes that begin occurring months before death arrives. You can use those signs as a reference indicating...

4 Myths  About Hospice— and the Truth That Brings Comfort

Hospice isn’t about giving up—it’s about support, comfort, and quality of life. Here is the truth behind 4 common hospice myths families often believe.

How do you get a terminally-ill patient to accept hospice care?

How do you get a terminally-ill patient to accept hospice care?

Are You Called to Comfort? The Quiet Power of Hospice Volunteering

Someone recently asked me, “What do Hospice volunteers do?” She was interested in becoming one. She was most interested in helping in an area most people are afraid to even...

Hospice nurse providing end of life care and support to family

End of life care is about bonding and developing trust — not just with the patient, but with the family and the caregiver, as well...

How Long Should It Take for Hospice Services To Begin After a Referral?

By the time the family has mustered the courage to call, they are usually at their wit's end. They probably have needed services weeks...

Should we look for a hospice house?

Today most hospices have some sort of a hospice house arrangement. It may be in a designated portion of a nursing facility or in a free standing building of its...

What if everyday was  “I Love You Day?”

Working with end of life all these years has shown me how special each day is. It has also shown me the value and the gift of living, doing, and...

“That weekend was the birth of Gone From My Sight”

That weekend I sat  on my sofa with a yellow legal pad (before computers) and wrote what I wanted families and caregivers to know about the natural dying process. I...

Did Morphine Exacerbate Her Condition?

 90% of end of life care is education. People don’t die like they do in the movies, yet movies are our current role models. This leads to unrealistic expectations...

Do Families Want Hospice Present During The Death?

We need to explain the way most people die — especially the not so pretty parts. This includes the sounds, movements, pees, poops, frowns, grimaces, and the struggles that accompany...

This is how we leave our body, how we leave this world…

When we see our special person struggling, we, the watchers, think something pathological is happening or we think the professionals are not doing enough to provide proper care...

Hospice Is No Longer the Outsider

Hospice began as an ideal, a step outside of the medical model. It was generally operated by volunteers and it was financed and maintained by community fundraising and donations...

Humanity In Caring For The Alzheimer's Patient

Of course each situation needs to be individually addressed but in the case of a lot of people with dementia, tell them about a death of someone close ONCE...

Slipping Into the Shoes of a  Hospice Patient

How does a person feel as a hospice patient?  Everyone is waiting on them, they are unable to do things for themselves. They have to wear diapers and probably don't want...

When Families Resist Calling In Hospice

Part of "selling" hospice is to create trust and a bond during that first meeting. It takes people skills in addition to knowledge of hospice benefits...

Family Guidance In The Final Hours and After…

In the hours to minutes before death, gather family and significant others. Encourage each person to spend some time alone with the person dying. This is the time to talk...

Supporting a Hospice Patient During Their Life Review

As end of life approaches, people start looking at their life; what they’ve accomplished, not done, who they have touched, interacted with, and the relationships they have or have not built...

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