VOLUNTEER SUPPORT GROUP - JANUARY 5, 2026 

Please mark your calendars for the first Volunteer Support Group of the New Year: Monday, January 5, 2026 at 5:00 PM. Location: Kauai Hospice Conference Room. RSVPs are appreciated.

To all of our volunteers who feel called to engage in this courageous work, we celebrate your gifts of service! As a small year-end mahalo, attendees will receive a token of our appreciation. With deep gratitude, we wish you a very Happy New Year!

ARTICLE: 9 POWERFUL LESSONS ON LIFE YOU CAN LEARN FROM EXPERTS ON DEATH

BY: ROBERT PEARL, M.D.,Contributor (Forbes, August 12, 2024)

Dr. Robert Pearl, former leader of The Permanente Medical Group (Kaiser Permanente), dedicated the 9th season of the Fixing Healthcare podcast to exploring life’s final chapter and addressing the shortcomings in end-of-life care. Motivated by his encounters with grieving families, he spoke with eight experts who profoundly and optimistically reshaped how he views life and death. This compelling article highlights nine powerful life lessons offering guidance and comfort for navigating life’s culmination. Click to read.

YOUTUBE SHORT: HOW TO MEET THE HOLIDAYS AFTER A DEATH

BY: SARAH KERR, PhD (1:32 minute)

If you’re moving into a season marked by both celebration and grief, or if you’re supporting someone who is, Dr. Sarah Kerr shares a perspective on how you can enjoy the holidays and honor your grief too. The holidays can bring up a complex mix of emotions when someone you love has died. For some, it may be the first holiday without them; for others, it may be one of many. Either way, their absence has a way of reshaping the festivities. Pretending things are “normal” often deepens the ache rather than softening it. And, this teaching from the founder of the Centre for Sacred Deathcare, offers us something grounding and useful.  Watch this short video.

HOSPICE HUMOR:

He died last fry day.

Thank God he wasn't beaten.

Don't worry, he went over easy.

He's now on the sunny side.

He's definitely in a better plate.

ARTICLE: EASING THE GRIEVING PROCESS: FRANKLIN COUNTY RESIDENTS CREATE 'WIND PHONE' AT NH CEMETARY

BY: ADA DENENFELD KELLY (Greenfield Recorder, Nov. 14, 2025)

Our newsletter has featured "Wind Phones" before, but this article is a particularly worthwhile read which also provides some history about its origin in Japan over a decade ago. The article begins: "The first time Dina Staander picked up the receiver to the so-called “wind phone,” she expected to imagine speaking with her father. Instead, after pressing the disconnected phone to her ear, she heard the voice of her late friend. “It felt like she had just been waiting for me to pick up the phone,” Stander said. “And it was so beautiful, and I was so astounded that something I thought was an exercise of imagination had so much substance and could be so surprising to me.” Continue reading...

GOOD QUOTES

EXCERPT from "Hospice May Offer Patients with Cancer Some Peace, Comfort and Control"

(CURE Winter 2025, Volume 24, Issue 4)

"Hospice is a service — not a diagnosis. People don't die of hospice; it's not a condition that you fix, it's a service… that can help people who have needs, especially in advanced stages of their disease. In hospice care, the best outcome will be someone has excellent terminal care. They're comfortable, they're not in pain, and they get to leave this Earth on their terms. For all of us, that's the best that we can hope for, because we don't decide how we come into this world, and very few of us will decide how we leave this world. And this is an opportunity to really put that together in a way that's meaningful to you and the people you leave behind."

~ Michael K. Wong is the physician-in-chief at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, NY and a member of CURE’s advisory board.

ARTICLE: LIVING AND LEAVING WELL: Author Jerry Pinto's latest book dives into the realm of palliative care

BY: ANJALI RAM (The New Indian Express, Nov. 18, 2025)

Author Jerry Pinto’s recent book, A Good Life, weaves together stories of patients, caregivers and doctors, with a desire to understand palliative care in India, and reshaped his understanding of illness and mortality. “At some point, we will be caregivers or we will need care. We are never going to be just bystanders,” he says.

The article begins: "Death is a topic many approach with denial. But writer and journalist Jerry Pinto (who won the Best Book on Cinema Award at the 54th National Film Awards) has spent nearly two years doing something most people avoid: listening to stories about illness, pain, caregiving and the inevitable death. His new book, A Good Life is the result of this long, emotionally demanding journey into the world of palliative care in India." Click to read this 3-minute article.

FILM TRAILER: THE CHAPLAIN & THE DOCTOR (2025)

BY: REEL MEDICINE MEDIA (2:25 minutes) 

This documentary film tells the story of the transformative relationship between two colleagues, working together to challenge the status quo and model compassionate care. Dr. Jessica Zitter, trained to believe in medical interventions and science, was not seeking a relationship with a chaplain. And, Chaplain Betty Clark never expected the doctor to take interest in her work. The film models a new kind of care, one that honors both spirit and body, the diverse backgrounds of patients, and the most human needs we all share. This compelling story underscores the hidden dangers of implicit bias and fosters more genuine and empathetic care. Watch the trailer here. 

LANTERNS OF LOVE

OUR 5TH ANNUAL HOLIDAY SEASON EVENT

Lanterns will be illuminated through January 15, 2026 --

glowing symbols of remembrance and affection

for loved ones who have died.

WALKING HOURS DAILY FROM 6:00 - 9:00 PM

LOCATION: KAUA'I HOSPICE, 4457 Pahe'e Stree, Lihu'e

For more information, call 808-245-7277

PHOTO CREDIT:  Alexander Verbeek. From his story in MEDIUM (March 13, 2024)

"Finding Beauty in Nature and in Kindness: A Reflection on Compassion"