VOLUNTEER SUPPORT GROUP - MONDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 2024 - KAUAI HOSPICE - 5:00-6:30PM

For active volunteers (those who are COVID-trained or are Graduates of the 2022 & 2023 Trainings) please attend our FEBRUARY Support Group. These meetings provide in-service education to enhance skills, knowledge and competencies. Join our evening of sharing and insights as we explore our patient-family experiences. Light refreshments provided. (Kauai Hospice Conference Room).

NOTE TO FORMER VOLUNTEERS:

Were you a Kauai Hospice volunteer PRIOR to the COVID pandemic? 

Would you like to return to volunteering?

 If so, I would love to hear from you, as we organize an in-service training to bring you back on-board.

ARTICLE: DEATH OVER DIM SUM – LET'S BEGIN TO TALK ABOUT THE END

By Randi Mazzella (NextAvenue; January 2, 2024)

"Death and dying are not topics normalized to openly talk about, especially among Asian families," says Chrislyn Choo, 29, of My China Roots, a genealogy startup. "There's often denial about getting older and end of life or flippant comments attached to shame with comments like, 'You'll wish you listened to me when once I'm gone.'" For these reasons, Holly Chan and Elizabeth Wong, RN founded Death Over Dim Sum, a workshop series geared toward opening up intergenerational dialogues about life, death and beyond. Click to read the article. Next Avenue is a nonprofit, national digital journalism publication for older adults produced by PBS. https://www.nextavenue.org/death-over-dim-sum/

STORY: RIDING AND HIDING IN MY GRIEFMOBILE

BY SARAH KRAVITS (MODERN LOSS BLOG)

Any vehicle can become a haven for dealing with loss if you just put your mind to it, believes Sarah Lyman Kravits who blogs about coping with grief, cancer, and crisis, and leads grief management workshops. Her story begins: "For years, I’ve noticed that modern Americans rarely display grief in public. Funerals I have attended mostly feature quiet sobbing, muffled sniffling, and the furtive sound of hands fumbling through purses in search of partially-used but viable tissues. I’ve often wondered how and when people let out their grief, and where they do it. Now I have at least one answer to that question." Continue reading…

ARTICLE: THE THUKDAM PROJECT

By Daniel Burke (Tricycle, July 28, 2021) 

Thukdam is meditative practice in which Tibetan Buddhist monks and spiritual masters die in a consciously controlled manner and have been shown to remain conscious for days after the breath ceases and the heart stops beating. Thukdam is a Tibetan word with “thuk" meaning mind and “dam" standing for samadhi or the meditative state. Though they are declared clinically dead, their bodies remain fresh for days or weeks without any signs of decomposition, putrefaction or skin discoloration. His Holiness The Dalai Lama enlisted neuroscientists and other researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Center for Healthy Minds to study this mysterious state. Read this thought-provoking Tricycle Magazine article.

ARTICLE: FEW COUNTRIES OFFER A GOOD PLACE TO DIE, RESEARCHERS SAY

BY: DUKE UNIVERSITY (Jan. 18, 2022)

A Duke University study published in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management looked at how the health systems of 81 countries care for the physical and mental health of patients at the end of life. Researchers asked 181 palliative care experts around the globe to grade their country’s health system based on 13 factors of importance to patients and caregivers at the end of life. They found that only six countries earned an A rating while 36 earned Ds or Fs. The United Kingdom earned the highest ranking, while the United States was ranked 43rd earned a C. Dr. Eric Finkelstein, a palliative care expert and professor with Duke says “we spend so much money trying to get people to live longer, but we don't spend enough money in helping people die better." Read more about this research on the Medical Xpress website.

BLOG POST: THEY ARE ALL HERE

BY: GABRIELLE ELISE JIMENEZ

Oct 20, 2023 (3 min read)

“This is a story about one of my doula clients who invited me to be there every step of the way of his end-of-life journey until he died a few days ago. He shared what he was feeling and experiencing, from his terminal diagnosis to moments before he died. He had been ill for many years, but things took a turn for the worse and he was told he only had a few months left to live. He asked me to help plan his last few months, which was an honor and a journey for me too…” Click to read more. Gabrielle Jimenez is a hospice nurse and a conscious dying educator who hosts the Hospice Heart website which aims to help normalize conversations around death, grief, and hospice care.

ARTICLE: HOW GREEN WILL YOU BE AFTER YOU DIE?

BY: BIRGITTA KASTENBAUM (3-minute read)

(Whole Life Times, Oct. 20, 2023)

"If you are like me, you recycle, compost, buy local and organic, and worry about your carbon footprint and global warming. Many of us are committed to green living, but what about green dying? As an End of Life Guide, Death Doula, and Home Funeral Guide, I accompany people in their last chapters of life; it is the place where Conscious Living and Conscious Dying meet. The question “have you thought about what you want (us) to do with your body after you die” is a question I ask, and the answer “who cares I’ll be dead” is a familiar response. But our “not caring” often translates into our dying having a larger negative environmental impact than we realize." Learn more.

ARTICLE: YES, DEMENTIA IS FATAL. A NEUROLOGIST EXPLAINS

By Christie Diez (11ALIVE, December 19, 2023)

Dementia is a description of symptoms that are currently incurable and can advance to the point that the ability to eat or breathe is affected, says Dr. James Lah, Vice Chair of Neurology Department, Emory Brain Health Center in Atlanta. But dementia is usually not fatal due to the brain disease itself but because it makes people more vulnerable to infection and other secondary complications, Lah says. It’s the deterioration of the brain and brain function that causes the individual to not be able to care for themselves physically the way that we normally would and puts them at greater risk of these secondary complications, which ultimately wind up being the cause of death. Read more.