Grief and Grieving

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Top Veterinary School Pet Loss Hotlines

Monday, January 25th, 2010

A boy and his dog.

Don’t feel embarrassed if you can’t seem to get over the death of a beloved pet. Pets mean many things to people, and it doesn’t matter your age — the loss of a pet engenders the same feelings of grief that any loss would generate. Fortunately, grief counseling and pet loss support hotlines are available, and

The value behind helping people through the loss of their pets enables these students to become the best veterinarians. No matter if you’ve lost a long-lived goldfish or a prize-winning horse, the grief is the same, and these groups are here to help you.

The following list of top pet loss hotlines are located in universities throughout the U.S. Remember that these hotlines are not for mental health…they are for pet loss and pet grieving only.

College of Veterinary Medicine: This college is located at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Their Companion Animal Related Emotions (C.A.R.E.) Pet Loss Helpline is a confidential service, and they maintain a toll-free number. The C.A.R.E. Helpline was developed to provide a supportive outlet for people experiencing the actual or anticipated loss of their cherished companion animal.
Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine Hotline: Literature relating to pet loss and grief is maintained by the hotline and available for mailing to callers who request information. Articles about the human-animal bond and grief are provided for the education of student volunteers and, together with the experience from the hotline, help to prepare the students for the emotional side of veterinary practice.
Michigan State University College of Veterinary Medicine: This group offers both a pet loss support hotline and a pet loss support group. The Pet Loss Support Group, run by Veterinary Social Work Services at MSU’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital, offers a safe place for individuals and families to express their feelings and talk about their experiences. The hotline is offered on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and if you leave a message, they will return your call.
Washington State University Pet Loss Support: The College of Veterinary Medicine at Washington State University offers pet loss information through a group of students who have been trained in grief counseling by a licensed therapist. Many of those volunteers have experienced the loss of a pet and are there to help you through this difficult time. By helping others through their loss they hope to become better, more compassionate veterinarians.
Tufts University Pet Loss Support Hotline: Modeled after the pet loss hotline at the University of California, Davis (which has been eliminated because of budget concerns), the Tufts University Pet Loss Support hotline began as the initiative of former veterinary student Tammy Pierce V’97. Since its inception in January 1996, over 100 veterinary students have served on the hotline. Every staff member participates in extensive training sessions with a licensed psychologist, learning about the process of grieving and how people react to the loss of pets.
University of Florida Veterinary Medical Center: University of Florida Veterinary Medical Center (UFVMC) recognizes, respects, and supports the human-animal bond. They hope that after reading the material in their website you will understand that it is natural to grieve the loss of a beloved animal friend and that you are not alone in your grief. Their hotline is available on weekdays.

Tags: grief counseling, Pet Loss
Posted in Death & Dying, Grief and Grieving, Pet Loss | No Comments »

Coping with Death over the Holidays

Monday, December 21st, 2009

snowtombstone Researching family history forces me to review ancestral deaths and reasons behind those deaths. I never ceased to be amazed at the number of individuals who die over the holidays. While some die from accidents, other deaths are caused by weather, old age and — yes — stress.

It seems that I am not alone in worrying about relatives who travel or other relations who have health problems and their fates over the holidays. Articles about how to cope with death during the holidays abound. In an effort to bring some great advice and news about how to deal with holiday deaths, we chose ten of the best articles to share here. The articles are listed in alphabetical order:

Anniversary of Mom’s death is during the holidays: One year after her mother’s death, Gayle Peterson talks about her feelings.
Coping With Death During The Holidays: Carolyn Zellander talks about her relatives who died during the holidays and how she coped with the losses.
Father’s death brings pain during the holiday season: A reader asks how to deal with a father’s expected death, one that occured during Thanksgiving weekend.
Getting Through the Holidays: Angela Morrow offers some advice on how to get through the holidays after losing a loved one.
Grief: Coping with reminders after a loss: The Mayo Clinic staff provides an insightful article on grief and grieving, and how to cope with the feelings triggered by holiday reminders.
Helping Children of Different Ages Cope with a Death: A different perspective from a Jewish Web site that pertains to anyone who wants to help children cope with death and loss.
Holidays After the Death of a Loved One: Learn how to cope with upcoming holidays after you lose a loved one during the holiday season.
Important and Helpful Tips For Managing the Holidays For the Bereaved: Gloria Lintermans provides a list of helpful hints for those who are grieving during the holidays.
Prof: Tips to help those grieving during holidays about death, money: Purdue University provides an article that talks about loss in general, including information for those who have lost a job.
You Can Make It Through the Holidays: A short introduction to a link that offers a variety of ways to cope with grief during the holidays.

Tags: grieving, holiday deaths
Posted in Grief and Grieving, Talking with Children | No Comments »

The Art of Dying, or Ars Moriendi

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009

Pride of the spirit is one of the five temptations of the dying man, according to Ars moriendi.

In the book, This Republic of Suffering, by Drew Gilpin Faust, the topic of the Good Death begins on page six. This topic, not unknown to American Civil War soldiers in the mid-nineteenth century, had its foundation in the ars moriendi, or “The Art of Dying,” two Latin texts that reached back to fifteenth-century Catholicism. In fact, this art of dying the ‘good death’ had become the core for modern Christian practice by the mid-nineteenth century.

Civil War soldiers were, in fact, better prepared to die than to kill, for they lived in a culture that offered many lessons in how life should end. But these lessons had to be adapted to the dramatically changed circumstances of the Civil War…Dying was an art, and the tradition of ars moriendi had provided rules of conduct for the moribund and their attendants since at least the fifteenth century: how to give up one’s soul “gladlye and wilfully”‘ how to meet the devil’s temptations of unbelief, despair, impatience, and worldly attachment; how to pattern one’s dying on that of Christ; how to pray. Texts on the art of dying proliferated with the spread of vernacular printing, culminating in 1651 in London with Jeremy Taylor’s The Rule and Exercise of Holy Dying. His revision of the originally Catholic ars moriendi proved not just a literary achievement but an intellectual triumph that firmly established the genre within Protestantism.

Taylor’s rendition of the ars moriendi as well as the original documents had, by the time of the Civil War, become so commonplace that preachers used them in sermons, popular health books combined the expanding insights of medical science with older religious conventions about dying well, and popular literature carried out the theme in scenes such as the death of Dickens’s Little Nell, Thackerey’s Colonel Newcome and Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Eva.

By the time of the Civil War, the theme of the Good Death inspired songs, stories and poetry for and about the Civil War. As the war raged on throughout this country, the concept of the good death had burst its religious boundaries and had become part of respectable middle-class behavior throughout both the North and the South.

This long-held and widely-spread belief system about death is why, according to Faust, a soldier who died anonymously and suddenly in the heat of battle confounded all ability to understand why this death might be a “Good Death.” The Good Death was to take place at home, among loved ones who could witness the faith of that dying soul. To compensate for this denial of closeness between soldier and family at the time of death, other soldiers, chaplains, military nurses and doctors conspired to provide dying men and their families with as many of the elements of the “conventional Good Death” as possible. This meant that other individuals on the battlefield became surrogates for the family when a soldier died.

This unusual and heartrending change in familiar patterns of family care and death care in the 1860s led to the composition of several songs and poems. One, titled “Be My Mother Till I Die,” included the lines sung by a nurse:

Let me kiss him for his mother,
Or perchance a sister dear;
Farewell, dear stranger brother,
Our requiem, our tears.

This song was so widely popular that it called for a response, titled “Answer to: Let Me Kiss Him for His Mother,” which expressed gratitude for the women who cared for a family’s loved one far from home.

Bless the lips that kissed our darling,
As he lay on his death-bed,
Far from home and ‘mid cold strangers
Blessings rest upon your head.

Songs such as this and their responses did not belong to one side or another in that war. They were national responses to the disruption of war, which — for all intents and purposes — was a disruption of the Good Death. Songs such as this and actions of others who helped soldiers die on the battlefield helped to maintain that traditional connection between the dying and their kin that defined the ars moriendi.

Tags: Ars moriendi, Civil War, Good Death
Posted in Death & Dying, Death Practices, Grief and Grieving, Traditions | No Comments »

Thinking About Death May Change Your Life

Friday, November 6th, 2009

Facing the reality of death may bring serenity to your life.

Have you faced the reality that, one day, you will die? If you haven’t faced this fact, don’t feel alone. Denial of death is a popular pastime in developed countries, as people don’t want to die any more than they want to pay taxes.

But, if you take the time to realize that you will die one day, your outlook on life may change and you may experience serenity. People who believe they will live forever (including many teens), often take more risks and make decisions that may take longer to resolve. The resulting chaos can be used as a means to avoid deep introspection, a skill that takes time to develop in many people.

One way to build that skill is to take life slowly and deal with situations as they arise. The person who tries to deal with situations or events that have not yet arisen and that may never arise can feel overwhelmed. This type of thinking also wears on a person’s health. Worrying about “what if” situations can become an addictive behavior, especially when an individual begins to think about his or her death.

Before you work yourself into a depression while thinking about life ending in death, think about a person who has been diagnosed with a terminal illness. Unfortunately, in many cases, a terminally ill person feels isolated and rightly so – the fact that many people do not want to face death in this society tends to spill over into real life as people avoid terminally ill loved ones.

But, dying is not a contagious disease. It is a fact of life. Still, many people treat death and dying with a hands-off attitude, mainly from fear. Many people equate death with pain, but physical pain can be endured or treated. Emotional pain often is the issue here. Fear of separation, fear of abandonment and fear of the unknown are real fears. These fears can be diminished by talking about them with a counselor or with your family and friends.

Alcoholics Anonymous deals with these fears in a twelve-step program [PDF] that addresses emotional issues and day-to-day activities that can prevent serenity. Since alcoholism is seen as a terminal illness among many recovering alcoholics, the individuals who seek treatment for their alcoholism (or drug abuse) can walk away with skills that can help many other people learn how to deal with life and death.*

Outside the twelve-step program, life plans also can be simplified further into four basic categories (not listed in any particular order):

Relationships with family members and friends
Job or career goals
Health issues
Spiritual questions

Taking each one of the four issues listed above, you can list obstacles that exist for you in any area within that category. Ask yourself questions such as:

Do any of my past relationships remain unresolved?
Do I have financial problems to address?
Do I exercise enough or can I eliminate foods that are not good for me?
What do I believe, and can I find support for my beliefs or do I need to change that perspective to find peace?

Although you deal with these four issues continuously throughout life, the answers to your questions may change as you age. The analogy would be like a movie you watched ten years ago or a book you read when you were younger. If you watched that movie or read that book again, you might see the content differently than you did ten years prior. AA calls this practice “taking inventory.” The average person might call it, “taking stock.” No matter what you call this personal interrogation, a constant desire to seek answers to life’s current dilemmas can help you to understand yourself and your loved ones better.

This willingness to take stock and to understand shifts in your perspective may show that you have grown emotionally, spiritually and in knowledge.

To realistically plan for your life to end one day is a practical exercise, and one that many hospices employ in their care-giving. But, if you think about the end of life now, rather than waiting for a time when you face death head-on, your willingness can present new opportunities rather than close doors. Facing the reality that life ends in death, always, may help you avoid chaos and worry and live a more peaceful life filled with satisfying relationships and goals.

*Note: Many addiction programs allow recovering addicts to replace “God” with “higher power” to help avoid resistance to recovery.

Tags: Alcoholics Anonymous, Hospice, twelve-step program
Posted in Caregivers, Death & Dying, Grief and Grieving, Hospice | No Comments »

Coming to Terms with Fatal Disease: Talking with your Doctor

Friday, October 30th, 2009

The Doctor by Luke Fildes

If you do not die suddenly from an accident, heart attack or stroke, chances are you will die a slow death from disease or simply from aging. Unfortunately, in the latter case, doctors are well trained in every possible aspect of saving a life, but little on how to treat death and dying. So, if you are diagnosed with a fatal or chronic condition, how do you talk with your doctor effectively?

When you are diagnosed with a fatal illness or chronic condition, try to discover as much as possible about the medical facts about your condition. Most doctors are overworked, and many lack the skills to offer counseling for the emotional aspects of dealing with your illness. But, most doctors can provide facts about your condition. Additionally, you can use other resources, as noted below, to learn more about how to deal with your condition emotionally.

The following questions were gathered from Dr. Daniel R. Tobin’s book, Peaceful Dying, a step-by-step guide to preserving dignity, your choices and your inner peace in death and dying. These questions were designed to get as much information from your doctor about your condition as possible:

What are my treatment options?
What is my prognosis?
How long do you think I have to live? (while there is no surefire way for a doctor to predicit how long you’ll live, you can get a general idea of the life span of most people at your stage of disease)
What are the side effects of the treatments you are suggesting?
How much time do I have to make up my mind about which treatments to use? How will that time affect my treatment?
What treatments exist outside those offered by traditional Western medicine and where can I research such alternatives? (most doctors do not know much about alternatives, so you may have to search a little further to find answers to this questions)

Some tools you can use to find more answers include:

Get a second opinion and answers to your questions above.
Read more about your disease in books (written within the past five to ten years for the most updated information).
Join support groups for patients with your disease, and encourage your family members to do the same.
Surf the Internet for more information about your disease and treatments for that disease.
Seek counseling if needed with a specialist who understands grief, death and dying. This counseling can be invaluable for both you and your family.

When you are diagnosed with a fatal or chronic disease initially, the information you gather may be far different than information available to you as your disease progresses. Be sure to stay on top of new developments in your disease, as you never know when something might occur that either could ease your suffering or prolong your life.

In other words, while your doctor may be the best expert in his field, he may not know all the answers to your particular situation. You are responsible for your life and your death in many cases. So, take charge and live your life with dignity.

On a final note, sometimes diseases come on quickly and can incapacitate you without warning. Therefore, it might be wise to share this information with your family so that sharing in the responsibility becomes a family affair. When family members understand how to recognize and help treat H1N1, for instance, that knowledge may help to save a family member’s life.

Tags: disease, doctors, dying
Posted in Causes of Death, Death & Dying, Grief and Grieving | No Comments »

Baxter’s Death Brings Attention to Therapy Dogs

Friday, October 23rd, 2009

Have you heard about dogs who provide comfort to patients in a hospice or hospital? Baxter, a dog who joined a hospice program with his owners about four years ago, died this past week. His death brings attention to how dogs can provide comfort to those who are engaged with the transition from life to death.

The story begins when Baxter’s owners decided to volunteer at the local hospice. They brought Baxter along for the orientation, and that’s when the owners learned about dog training and certification through Therapy Dogs International. Baxter was game, and – according to his owners - it was as though Baxter made the decision on his own to pass the training and certification at TDI well before he attended the course.

Therapy dogs offer unconditional love, non-judgment and accepting attention to humans. Dogs with a special talent for entertaining, comforting, or teaching show affinity for therapy work. In general, a therapy dog needs to be even-tempered and good natured, friendly and curious, well socialized and able to work with a variety of people. But there are two sides to this story.

The ideal therapy dog handler is a warm, caring, responsible person who is disability-aware and enjoys social interaction. If you are a friendly, giving person who loves your dog and would like to share him, as well as your time and talents, with others, therapy dog work may be for you. There are significant benefits to joining an existing, organized, recognized therapy dog organization. A quick search of the Internet may help you locate one in your area.

Unfortunately, Baxter was a geriatric dog, or an ‘elder’ when he became certified. Therefore, he had only four years to provide comfort to many patients, young and old at the San Diego Hospice and The Institute for Palliative Medicine and Palomar Pomerado Hospital in San Diego, California, before he died. But, his lessons live on to help educate people who own and love their dogs…he provides inspiration to those who might wonder if their pets are appropriate helpers for those who need their comfort.

If you are interested in becoming involved with Therapy Dogs International, visit their Web site to learn more about their processes. TDI was founded in 1976 in new Jersey and it is a non-profit organization. If you do not own a dog, perhaps you can donate to their cause if their mission moves you to do so.

You also can visit Baxter’s Web site or his blog to learn more about this special dog. Baxter lived to be nineteen years and six months old, and he provided a much-needed and welcome comfort to many people in his old age and an inspiration to anyone to help others who need comfort.

Tags: hospice training, therapy dogs
Posted in Caregivers, Death & Dying, Grief and Grieving, Hospice, Patients | No Comments »

What is a Eulogy?

Thursday, August 27th, 2009

Leading the mourning.

Did you know that eulogies often were written in high praise or commendation of a person? Today, eulogies most often are associated with funerals, but the word derives from the Greek eu, meaning a combination of “good” or “well” and “true” or “genuine” and logy, or a termination of nouns referring to writing. The eulogia in the Greek Orthodx Church was a blessing. Today, the eulogy is known as a speech or writing in honor of a deceased person.

Before the death connotation, the elegiac was made popular in Greece. The elgiac refers to a composition with a Classical meter of two lines, making it a couplet. The first line is dactylic hexameter, followed by a line of dactylic pentameter. This type of poetic form dates back nearly as far as the epic, and one of the greatest first elegiac poets was Philitas of Cos. Often, the elegiac poetic form praised a person who was alive at the time of the writing.

This Hellenistic poetic form spread throughout ancient Europe, and Sextus Aurelius Propertius, an Italian who died about 15 BC wrote four books of elegies in Latin, totaling 92 poems. One example:

Cynthia prima suis miserum me cepit ocellis,
contactum nullis ante cupidinibus.

“Cynthia first captivated wretched me with her eyes,
I who had never before been touched by Cupid.” (I.1.1-2)

Over time, the elegy became a poem written in mourning. The eulogy, however, was transformed from a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing to a tribute to a deceased individual, and it never became a poem. Eulogies still can be delivered at births and at weddings, so the term can be very confusing. This is a list of things that are not eulogies:

Eulogies are not elegies, as eulogies are speeches, whereas elegies are poems.
Eulogies also are not obituaries, which are published biographies that recount the life of the dead.
Eulogies also are not obsequies, the latter referring generally to rituals that surround funerals.
Eulogies are not dirges, which are mournful songs that express grief.
Eulogies are not encouraged by every religion. Catholic priests are not permitted to present a eulogy in place of a homily for the deceased during a funeral Mass.

This is what a eulogy is about:

Eulogies can praise a living person (during celebrations such as birthdays, weddings, retirements, etc.), but many people today do not associate the term “eulogy” with the living.
Eulogies often are spoken to the living who are severely ill or close to death in order to express words of love and gratitude before that person dies.
Eulogies most often are delivered by family members or close friends during a funeral.
Eulogies also can be called a “panegyric,” or a formal public speech, or “(in later use) written verse, delivered in high praise of a person or thing, a generally highly studied and discriminating eulogy, not expected to be critical. It is derived from Greek meaning a speech ‘fit for a general assembly.’”

Do you need to write a eulogy for a deceased loved one? Don’t panic – you don’t need to be a poet to write a eulogy. In the next post, you’ll learn how a eulogy is constructed and the content you might use for that speech.

Posted in Death & Dying, Funeral Arrangements, Funeral Eulogies, Grief and Grieving, History of Funerals, Traditions | 1 Comment »

25 Top Hospice, Death Care and Eldercare Blogs

Friday, August 21st, 2009

Portrait of old woman sitting by a window by Chalmers Butterfield.

Are you seeking expert advice on how to work with an elderly parent? Do you want to find information about your own aging? Many experts, including lawyers, hospice nurses and nursing home advocates, have taken to the Web to offer their advice and knowledge through the following up-to-date blogs. Their information may be what you need to answer your questions about aging, deathcare and eldercare.

The following list of hospice and eldercare blogs are listed in alphabetical order to show readers that we do not favor one blog over another:

AARP: Can’t live with out AARP if you are age 50 or older. This site provides advocacy, information, resources and even a game section. It’s more of a portal than a blog, but it’s a raging good resource.
About.com Palliative Care: This site is designed for patients, families, and caregivers who are faced with life-threatening illness and are seeking information about palliative care or hospice.
Caregiver List: This blog focuses on resources for caregivers for the elderly.
Death Care Law Blog: William Stalter focuses his law practice on preneed and death care compliance, serving banks, funeral homes, crematories, and cemeteries. He has written multiple published articles on the subject of preneed and is a member of The International Cemetery, Cremation Funeral Association.
Dethmama Chronicles: This hospice nurse is off the charts – funny, intense, philosophical and nurturing, she provides an insider’s perspective into death care.
Eldercare ABC Blog:If it requires a village to raise a child, then what does it take to care for an aging parent? This blog tries to answer that question with a myriad of resources.
Eldercare Diary: This site is more of a portal than a blog, but it does contain a blog as well as a forum, articles and resource directory.
ElderCare Expert Blog: “Dr. Cheryl” is an owner of a Geriatric Care Management business in Southern California, and she offers information on eldercare advocacy and information for caregivers and for eldercare professionals.
GeriPal – A Geriatrics and Palliative Care Blog: This blog is a forum for discourse, recent news and research, and freethinking commentary. They welcome the perspectives of generalists, specialists, gerontologists, palliative care clinicians, and anyone else interested in care of the elderly or palliative care.
Hospice Blog: This blog is dedicated to all of the hard working hospice professionals across the nation.
Hospice and Caregiving Blog: Sponsored by the Hospice Foundation of America, this blog offers stories and articles about the end-of-life experience.
Hospice and Nursing Homes Blog: Frances Parker is a consultant, hospice volunteer and former school principle, and her blog focuses on Parker’s experiences and knowledge about hospice care.
Hospice Physician’s Blog: This fellowship-trained and board-certified hospice and palliative medicine physician shares insights into patient experiences from a hospice and palliative care point of view.
How We Die: Ok, so this is not a blog – but, it’s a “can’t miss” site that may hold you spellbound. The founders explore how our most personal experiences have shaped what we believe about death and dying, and about the decisions we make for ourselves, for loved ones, or for patients at the end of life. The site welcomes stories from patients, their families, loved ones and friends, and doctors and healthcare professionals.
Inside Eldercare: One man’s mission – to educate and inspire readers to make their elder care experience a positive. Ryan is the creator of the “by families, for families” approach to elder care which teaches families how to make elder care a positive experience.
Lasting Tribute: This blog celebrates the lives of family, friends and people in the public eye who are no longer with us. It also allows members of the public to leave their own personal messages and upload photos.
Medical Futility Blog: Thaddeus Pope tracks judicial, legislative, policy, and academic developments concerning medical futility and the limits on individual autonomy at the end of life.
My Better Nursing Home: Dr. Eleanor Barbera frequently lectures on subjects related to psychology, aging, and nursing homes. Read her blog to gain insight into those topics.
My Elder Advocate: Jack Halpern has held several key leadership roles during his 30 years in the nursing home industry, and he shares his current perspectives on eldercare with readers.
Palliative Care Success: Tim Cousonis is a certified health care executive who has worked for the past 20 years to improve end-of-life care in the U.S.
Pallimed: This blog is a hospice and palliative medicine blog that focuses on education about the hospice movement and industry.
Risa’s pieces: This blogger is a palliative care provider who writes about his experiences with death and dying individuals.
The Good Death: Jessica Knapp is a PhD student and freelance writer who wants to help people better handle all facets of death and dying. Her posts are filled with facts, questions and many links to other resources.
The New Old Age: This New York Times’ blog focuses on Baby Boomers who face the challenge of parents who are living longer.
The Nursing Home Administrator: Learn more about nursing home matters from Matthew Maupin, who writes about topics ranging from diseases to tech tools.

Tags: deathcare, Hospice, nursing homes, Palliative care
Posted in Caregivers, Death & Dying, Grief and Grieving, Hospice, Hospice Basics, Patients, Traditions | 2 Comments »

The Best Place for Hospice Training

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

: Volunteer at a Hospice.

Do you care about people, especially those individuals who are terminally ill? This type of care requires a special affinity for understanding and some psychological training. While many social workers and psychologists may be called to caring for hospice patients, others may not have the college degree that seems necessary for this job. You may be surprised to learn that many hospice workers are volunteers who may not have a college degree, and the only requirement is registration for local classes or training at a local hospice program.

For instance, Santa Fe Springs hospice volunteers need to be at least 18 years old and have their own transportation. They should be able to donate at least two hours a week as they provide relief for family members, run errands, help with meals or transportation, read to the patient or write letters, play cards, games or listen to music, and provide companionship. “Some visits are very short, perhaps only 15 to 30 minutes, and others up to the maximum four hours (which is enough to go to the hairdresser, bank, post office and grocery store for the regular caregiver).”

If you want to take this service further with more intensive training, you might seek classes held by hospices or hospitals. In one case, the Marion General Hospital Hospice program in Ohio offers Hospice 101, a one-hour introduction to the rewards of being an active volunteer. Fingerprinting and background checks for interested individuals will begin that evening and classes begin in mid-September.

Concord Regional Visiting Nurse Association in New Hampshire is offering a nine-week Hospice Volunteer Training Session that starts on Wednesday, Sept. 9 from 6-8 p.m. This is an ideal time for those who work to make the classes to learn more about how to offer companionship and support to terminally ill patients and their families.

If you don’t have time now for a long class, shorter classes are available from many hospice centers. In some cases, fingerprinting is necessary to meet regulations and other facilities may have rules for volunteers, such as no heavy lifting. In most all cases, hospices are pleased to obtain new volunteers, especially individuals who care about what they do and can show compassion rather than fear and hope rather than despair for their patients.

If you plan to make nursing a career, some work as a hospice volunteer may help you decide if you’re cut out for a career as a nurse or nurse’s assistant. Although, in most cases, you must be over age 18 to serve as a volunteer, you may be working with individuals who are as young as five or as old as 95. This range of terminally ill patients may wear on you, as each case is different and each one can affect you in different ways. This is another reason why training is important, as classes or work sessions can provide you with the support and knowledge you need to volunteer effectively.

Tags: Hospice, terminally ill patients, volunteers
Posted in Caregivers, Death & Dying, Grief and Grieving, Hospice, Hospice Basics | No Comments »

Grieving? Get Online Advice from a Hospice

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

Grief

What better place to find information on grief and grieving than through a hospice site? A hospice is geared to helping people transition from life to death and to helping families ease the pain of loss. The following list is comprised of ten great sites that contain information about how to handle the grieving process for yourself or for others. They are listed in alphabetical order:

A Guide to Grief: Although this Web site is not connected to any organization, their information on grief and grieving is extensive.
Are you grieving? The Hospice Yukon offers some advice on grieving and loss.
Grief: The Price We Pay For Love: Twin Lakes Hospice offers information on the stages of grief as well as tips on how to handle your grieving process.
Helpful Advice for the Grieving Person: Hospice of Morongo Basin provides some very helpful hints on how to deal with the grieving process.
HFA Grief Resource Page: These resources are offered by the Hospice Foundation of America. Take some time to read their December E-newsletter look at grief during the holidays linked at that page.
I Know Someone Who is Grieving: Hospice of Santa Barbara answers all types of questions about grief and offers advice on how to help friends and relatives who are grieving.
Myths and Realities: Hospice of Michigan offers some advice from their online grief counseling pages. If you live in the area, you also can take advantage of group activities that can help you through the grieving process.
The Grieving Persons Bill of Rights: According to Lion Hospice, ” You are the one who is grieving, and as such, you have certain “rights” no one should try to take away from you.
The Grieving Process: Hospice Family Care also covers the signs of grief, things to do for yourself and thing you can do for others to help them through the grieving process.
The Grieving Teen: Teens grieve deeply but often work very hard to hide their feelings. Learn more from the American Hospice Foundation about how to handle this special grief. This is just one part of their larger Grief Center online.

Tags: Grief Loss and Bereavement
Posted in Death & Dying, Grief and Grieving, Hospice | No Comments »

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