Hospice Journey

If someone you love has died, you may be familiar with hospice. If you aren’t, a good and compassionate introduction is a new book by Larry Patten, A Companion for the Hospice Journey. Patten carefully lays out what hospice is, what the different people on the hospice team do (doctor, nurse, social worker, home health aide, chaplain), and answers the common questions people have.

Hospice and Parents

It was hard watching dad in his chair, tucked under a blanket, eyes closed, mumbling, “Help me,” and not know what kind of help he wanted. He hadn’t talked much in the last week. Was he thirsty? Hungry? Uncomfortable? Perhaps he was afraid of dying?

I’m often moved by the stories that Elaine, Kerry and Larry, who work in hospice, tell of the grace they encounter as people ready themselves to die, the regrets they express, the things they wish they had done, and the quiet presence that inhabits many of their last days. My friends are dying midwives, death doulas, who are like birth doulas because they help people make the transition from this life to the next.

Compassion is a River

How do we kindle compassion for others? And how do we as ordinary people (as well as hospice workers, home caregivers, grief counselors, and palliative care people) prevent compassion burnout? 

A few of my thoughts published in Mindful Matter:  https://www.holstee.com/blogs/mindful-matter/54387205-compassion-is-a-river