Something to Think About

a blog on end of life

We love sharing helpful info on our blog.

About the BK Team
When people don’t die like they do in the movies, we think something bad is happening…

We used to have role models on what dying really looks like. People died at home, in their own bed. Family and friends gathered — held a vigil, so to speak. When...

 Acknowledging My Grief and Gratitude

Thanksgiving! A day of gratitude for a year of blessings. For many it is a challenge to find blessings in this chaotic world. For those living with a life-threatening illness, caring for...

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...

What I Would Look For In a End of Life Doula Training Course

There are many different approaches and offerings. These multiple choices give you the chance to match your personality with the instructors and teaching methodology...

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...

For all the creatures who take up residence in our hearts…

Grief is an emotional response to a loss. Loss of a person, yes, but there are many kinds of losses: loss of a job, of a relationship, a friendship and yes, loss of a...

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...

Rushing Your Hospice Nurses Benefits No One

Families are stressed and frightened and by the time they finally reach out for hospice services, they have already wanted and needed them for days if not weeks.

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...

I Believe Hospice is About Healing, Building Trust and Educating

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...

Caregivers Carry The Burden

My hope in writing this blog is to draw our attention to the “unsung heroes” caring for their special person as end of life approaches, as well as to those caring...

Don’t Let A Special Opportunity Get Lost

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...  

Enter The World of the Person With Dementia

I had someone ask me "Why do all people with dementia feel someone is out to get them?" My answer—not all people with dementia feel or react like someone is...

Dying Is Not Pretty

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...

Restoring Heart to Hospice: Crafting a Compassionate Orientation

Taking care of someone who is at the end of life is different from taking care of someone who is going to get better, BUT most people don’t know this—-including...

Grieving is Loneliness and Aloneness

I think a big part of grieving is loneliness. Loneliness for our person who has left us but also aloneness in our day to day activities...

How Are You Spending This Gift of Life?

The space between birth and death is the most important part of life YET we somehow go through the living part unaware. In a hurry, with a great deal of tension, and very little...

Denial of a Life Limiting Illness

Denial by the person with a life threatening illness, denial by the caregiver, and I’ll even add denial by some attending physicians. Denial is often the reaction to diseases that have...

Establishing a Bond- The Admission Visit

How do we get beyond the social conventions of strangers meeting and getting to know and trust each other in a very short time? From the time we ring the...

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