This is a piece I wrote, appearing in this week's pulse -- voices from the heart of medicine.
http://pulsevoices.org/index.php/archive/stories/465-go-ask-alice
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CAREGIVERS STORE
Those who companion suffering daily, such as hospice nurses and volunteers, will surely appreciate this beautiful work. With 62 original art collages by Rashani Réa, five beautiful chapters by Kathy Douglas, and a foreword by Jean Watson, this exquisite book is a peaceful refuge for contemplation, inquiry, reflection and inspiration for those who traverse the joys and sorrows of nursing.
Kathy Douglas, RN, MPH-HA is a nationally recognized nurse leader, filmmaker and entrepreneur.
Rashani Réa is a prolific artist and musician, a creatrice of sanctuaries and a respected spiritual mentor.
“This is a beloved book and beyond a book. It is an evocative, poetic, ecstatic, and inspirited sacred, experiential calling. A calling to you--YES, YOU.”
— Jean Watson, PhD, RN, AHN-BC, FAAN, Living Legend (AAN)
“Those who companion suffering daily need to turn inward to metabolize what they have witnessed. This exquisite book, filled with beautiful images and poetic wise words, is the inspiration and support needed to grow a wise heart.”
— Frank Ostaseski, founder and director of the Metta Institute and author of The Five Invitations: Discovering What Death Can Teach Us About Living Fully
“In this unique time of the COVID-19 pandemic, this book should be considered a tribute to the tremendous courage being displayed by nurses around the world. There is much wisdom conveyed throughout by those who have been there serving others with such grace.”
— Greg Schneider President, HVA, co-author of The Changing Face of Hospice Volunteering in Hospice and Palliative Care
Comments
Unfortunately Ellen Medicare has cracked down on who they qualify for continued hospice care. Unless we see the "signs of decline" for the disease that they are enrolled under, then they often do become "discharged alive". However, on the other hand, hospice is for those with less than 6 months to live and many do become stabilized, and after discharge can live for years before declining again and meet the hospice qualifications again. We need more volunteers in all care facilities. I don't think many of them have Volunteer Programs. If more retired seniors who have the gift of caring and compassion would volunteer just 2 hours a week, just think of all the people who would receive that lovingkindness.
Thanks for your kind words, Janice. Here's some irony: not long after this, Alice became a live discharge, because she had stabilized, though she was still in the nursing home. Was she any less in need of the kind of extra attention and care that hospice provided? I don't think so.
Thank you Ellen, volunteers forget the greatest gift they have IS their presence, their presence of caring and love. In your story you provided that calming, reassuring presence of another who cared! You validated her concerns whether they were reality or not, which is valuable in consoling an individual who lives on a different plane. You left Alice in a better place, a place where someone who cared about another human being connected with her. You made a difference if only for that time you were there.