Recently Published!!
by Maryclaire Torinus
Surviving Hospice: A Chaplain's Journey into the Big Business of Dying Plus: How To Find a Trustworthy Hospice
This narrative is an insider’s look into the hijacking of hospice by private equity and professional investors and the subsequent harm to patients, their families, and to the interdisciplinary clinical teams. It was released by a NYC publisher on October 31, 2023. For sale on Amazon.
The author, a hospice chaplain, tells end-of-life stories of her patients who were harmed by financially-motivated policies. This is a book for anyone who is embarking on making a choice about a hospice for their loved one, working chaplains, those in training, and those interested in what dying is like with a hospice who places patients as their primary stakeholders.
Maryclaire's experience working for an owner who sold to a private equity firm helped her to realize that the reputation and viability of hospice is in jeopardy. Her goal is to alert all who love hospice to rid it of professional investors.
— Stacy Juba, author, editor, and award-winning health journalist
"Powerful, beautifully written, and eye-opening, this book spotlights the inner workings of a multi-billion-dollar industry and the effect on patients, families, and hospice staff. The author shares poignant accounts of hospice at its best and worst and the hard-hitting truths she learned on her journey. A must-read for family members exploring hospice care."
— Laura Kukowski, CEO, editor, For-Profit Badger Hospice, LLC
"Maryclaire Torinus speaks with authority, providing this essential handbook for choosing a hospice care team and why that selection really matters."
— Greg Schneider President, HVA, co-author of The Changing Face of Hospice Volunteering in Hospice and Palliative Care
"When I first found out that Maryclaire Torinus was writing this book, I immediately contacted her because in my 25+ years supporting hospice volunteers, I have seen a gradual decline in the quality of care volunteers are permitted to provide the dying and their families. There are a variety of reasons for this that I describe in the Foreward of this book. Maryclaire provides invaluable insights that everyone should know, along with solutions to help others make the right choice in choosing a hospice."
Buy Now
Comments
Thank you for allowing me to join this group.
Johnny is a resident in one of the nursing homes here in Memphis and a Crossroads Hospice patient. I'm his social worker. I first met Johnny one day last fall, when I found him in his bed, head tilted back, hollering. He scared me! How in the world am I going to connect with this man? I asked myself. Jessie has what's called a hypoxic brain injury, and he is bedbound, blind, sometimes confused and agitated.
Well, I sat through my allotted time that day, eyes as big as saucers, and left as soon as my watch told me I could. Several more months' worth of visits passed the same way.
Then one weekend I was reading some of Mary Oliver's poetry--out loud--the way I always enjoy her poetry the most--and an idea came to me. I tucked that book--Why I Wake Early--into my brief case.
On Monday I made a beeline to the nursing home and Johnny's room. When I knocked and entered, He was lying in his bed facing the wall, with his back to me. "Hello, Johnny," I said. I could see by peaking over his shoulder that he was awake, but he didn't acknowledge my greeting. I sat down in a chair beside his bed and invited Mary Oliver out of my brief case.
"Johnny, I want to share something with you this morning," I said. And then I began reading, at first, somewhat tentatively. Then, as I became more comfortable, I could feel my heart engage in the process.
After about 4 poems, I began to hear Johnny saying something, softly, between each poem, and I moved my chair closer to him so I could hear. I finished a poem, then leaned over close to his shoulder: "Beautiful! Beautiful!" I kept reading, and he kept saying it, again and again, after each poem. "Beautiful! Beautiful!"
In the popular vernacular, Johnny and I "bonded" that day. This past month, when I made my visit, Johnny told me that he had missed me, but I know who he really missed. Once again Mary Oliver and I took Johnny, who can no longer see in the ordinary way, for a walk in the woods, through fields of sunflowers, along the seashore. A look at the world through new eyes. As one visit has followed the other, I am convinced that Mary Oliver has served as a means of connecting Johnny's soul to God.
"I'm so glad you're here," one of the aide's said when I arrived last month. "He's so calm after you visit."
I believe it's more than calm. I believe that it's God's peace that Johnny finds in Mary Oliver's poems. Peace and the joy of living fully into the depth of each moment. I feel the same way, and my experience is certainly enriched by the sharing.