Something to Think About

Grief is like an open wound. When we healthcare workers experience a personal loss, every patient scrapes open our own wound of personal grief.  

The role of any end of life worker is to begin teaching  immediately, on the first visit -- teaching about approaching death, what to look for, and what to do. That’s...

Our role models from movies and TV show us that dying is gentle, often poetic, certainly not scary or messy. Movies make dying look comfortable.

As caregivers, we want so much to do the “right thing” for our special person. We know death is coming but still try to do all we can to stop...

I knew all the signs of approaching death, of labor beginning. What I didn’t know was how much we don’t want to see those signs, and by not wanting to see them,...

Addressing the timelines of approaching death also neutralizes the false hope that our person will get better, that there is more time.

Tell her honestly what you are feeling and ask for help. Just FYI: she can sign on for hospice and if she felt she needed to go to the emergency...

When we begin the gradual dying process our personality tends to intensify. If we are an angry person we will get angrier. If we have a gentle personality we will...

Not everyone who is dying has pain. Disease causes pain. If pain is not present, a narcotic is not appropriate (except a tiny bit can ease labored breathing is present...

When doctors and healthcare professionals place a number on how long someone has to live they are doing that person a disservice.

We start off alone, then we have Mom and Dad, then family, friends, then the world of school, activities,and involvement in the bigger world around us. When we are leaving, we...

Anger in caregiving generally comes from a place of frustration, of fear, of sadness, of tiredness. All sorts of feelings with no outlet so they come bursting out.

Dying patterns are centered around food, sleep and socialization. Assess those three areas and you can track the dying process.

The heart is still beating even when our less sophisticated machines don’t register them. The breathing will get slower and slower and the time between breaths will get longer and...

In the months and weeks before death, medical intervention and medical tools are an active part of care. Pain management, skin care, mouth care,and bowel and urine care are all...

Most of the time this restlessness, this agitation is not destructive. It is not severe. If the movements become thrashing about or hurtful and become a danger to the person...

I'm going to start by being blunt: hospice, end of life workers, hospitals, and nursing facilities make their money only as long as the people they serve are alive.. They...

In the days to weeks before gradual death occurs a person realizes, at last, that they are dying. They may not share that realization with anyone, but they know. If...

As for the “signs of what is to come” for someone who is young and dying, those signs are also the same for everyone, young and old. People dying from...

I know that dementia doesn’t play by the rules of approaching death. The guidelines relating to food, sleep and sociability don’t fit with dementia. I know that  I am seeing...

Hospice provides care and services for people in the last six months of their life. A doctor must specify, in his/her best opinion, that this person has less than  six...