Something to Think About

A waiting list seems incongruous with end of life. Particularly since most people wait until a person is literally on death’s door before reaching out to hospice...

What happens if you are a hospice nurse or CNA or social worker and the patient or family begins a conversation about spirituality? Listen, facilitate the conversation but...

During these two years hospice has had to work through Zoom meetings, masked face to face, and lots and lots of phone calls. There has been very little face to face,...

Immediately following the death I clean the body (offer family, if they want, to help or not), tidy the room, turn off overhead lights and have a small lamp on....

Trying to "calm" a person who is choking or panicking doesn't actually work whether death is close or not. The question we have to ask is how close to death...

If you are not satisfied with the conversation with your hospice nurse, if you are not completely comfortable with the nurse’s explanations, then call her supervisor and explain what you...

Hospice works at home for you. It provides support, guidance, and education but even more it provides understanding, concern, and heart felt caring for you, the family, and your support...

Hospice was perfect for them. Charles had a life threatening illness, had refused further treatment, and they were alone. We were there to give them support and guidance. Charles and...

Their body is trying to keep going even while it is shutting down. The body's defenses are doing whatever they can to keep the body functioning THAT is why there...

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

First, what is meant by “dying person”? In the months before death most people really don’t believe they are dying. “Other people die, not me. There will be a cure,...

There is a labor to dying. It is hard work for us to get out of our body (some harder than others). Think of the little chick that works, struggles...

Our children are not supposed to die before we do. I cannot think of any grief more intense than watching our child deteriorate before our eyes. We grieve their dying...

Hospices seem to be struggling with how to provide services now that being in homes and facilities is not an option. When we cannot rely on routines, when there is...

I see families devastated by not being able to be with their loved one as they are dying. I am writing this for any person who is faced with a...

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...

Touch in with the families, “What’s happening? Do you need anything?” Use the same volunteer for each family to develop confidence and bonding. You are saving your staff while providing a sense...

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?...

I'm sorry to say when a family member is dying it can bring us together and be our finest hour as a family or it can bring out the worse...

...If an adult knows at some point in their disease progression that they aregoing to die (and they do know whether they share that knowledge withothers or not) why should...

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...