Something to Think About

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...

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?

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...

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

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...

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...

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 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...

 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...

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...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

All the hours of talking, drinking coffee, and eating homemade pies was time spent healing, building trust, and educating. It wasn’t about blood pressures. It was about people, feelings, and...

I believe everyone has the right to be told once that they can’t be fixed. It is the physician’s job to compassionately and honestly give that information...  

People don’t die like they do in the movies. Mom is not going not going to say some profound words, close her eyes and be dead...