Something to Think About

Caregivers are often alone when caring for someone who is dying. Written guidance can provide reassurance and support when it is needed most.

Physicians are often asked how long someone has to live, but the truth is no one can predict an exact timeline. Dying follows a natural process with recognizable signs that...

Years ago, a 3 a.m. hospice call changed the way I thought about caring for families at the bedside.It led me to write down what I wanted families to know...

Just as there are short labors and long labors in birth, there are short and long transitions at the end of life. Recognizing these parallels can help families worry less...

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...

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...

What many, maybe even most, people do is trade that moment for a gamble on the future. We do this gambling with a lot of life occurrences. But we place...

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...

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

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...

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...

...That caregivers put so much energy, time, love, and concern into taking care of their person that they can become blind to or just plain don’t want to see the...

When working with families who ask me not to tell mom, I say that I won’t bring the subject up, but if she asks, I will talk about it.

Someone has to have the courage to say “We’ve done the best we can. We can’t fix you. Let us help you have some quality time”.

Our body is programmed to die. We are born. We experience, and then we die...

Once we get up the courage to call hospice, we want to see you immediately.  Actually, we needed to see you, hear your guidance and advice, and receive your services yesterday. Families...

The physician is frontline, the top of the pyramid in healthcare. All care follows from there. The physician can set the tone for the entire patient experience. 

Why is the patient being discharged, you ask? Is it because the patient just didn’t decline as rapidly as expected? Yes, that can be the situation...

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...