VOLUNTEER SUPPORT GROUP

DATE CHANGE to Monday, JUNE 29, 5:00-6:30 pm

Please note the date change and mark your calendars for a JUNE 29th meeting (the 5th Monday of the month). Join us to enhance your skills and competencies, and gain insights from our shared experiences about this deeply rewarding work. Active volunteers are encouraged to attend whether or not you currently have a family/patient assignment. Light refreshments will be provided. RSVPs are appreciated.

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO BUY TICKETS, CLICK HERE. 

BLOG ARTICLE: WHEN YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT THE DOCTOR IS SAYING…

BY: BARBARA KARNES (June 10, 2026)

"I watched my mother nod as her doctor explained her lung cancer. She looked like she understood, but neither of us did. Medical language can be confusing, especially when the information affects your future. So, other than going to medical school, what can we do to better understand what our doctors are telling us?" 

First: say, "I don't understand what you are saying." This physician is telling you how your disease may affect your life and how it could possibly, even probably, end. We deserve—and are entitled—to understand what our future may hold and how it is likely to unfold.

Second: ask questions. Don't be intimidated by unfamiliar words. No question is wrong, and no question is unimportant. This is your life being discussed. Understanding what is happening is how we maintain some control over our lives. We won't have that control if we become a deer in the headlights—silent, accepting, and afraid to ask for clarification. (Source)

ARTICLE: WHAT A CMS FRAUD CHIEF LEARNED BY CARING FOR HER PARENTS IN HOSPICE

BY:  WES KILGORE (Forbes, June 11, 2026)

"Dara Corrigan was not a typical stressed relative, navigating end-of-life care. She’d worked for decades in senior federal service, serving as the Acting Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and directing the Center for Program Integrity at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Her career was built on protecting Medicare from fraud. Yet, sitting by the bedside as a daughter, the benefit looked entirely different from how it appeared on a regulatory spreadsheet." Continue reading this informative Forbes article.

READ ALOUD BOOK: THE FLAT RABBIT

BY: BARDUR OSKARSSON

Read by Rachel Mattcock and described by the NY Times as "quietly profound", The Flat Rabbit treats the concept of death with a sense of compassion and gentle humor and a note of practicality. The author is a Faroese children’s writer, illustrator, and artist. He has won several literary awards, and his works have been translated into Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, French, German, and English. Click to watch.

Enjoy the book, then read Maria Popova's insightful blog post "The Flat Rabbit: A Minimalist Scandinavian Children’s Book about Making Sense of Death and the Mysteries of Life".

POEM: THE SWAN - By Rainer Maria Rilke

This laboring of ours with all that remains undone,

as if still bound to it,

is like the lumbering gait of the swan.

And then our dying — releasing ourselves

from the very ground on which we stood —

is like the way he hesitantly lowers himself

into the water. It gently receives him,

and, gladly yielding, flows back beneath him,

as wave follows wave,

while he, now wholly serene and sure,

with regal composure,

allows himself to glide.

LISTEN AT: https://soundcloud.com/onbeing/the-swan-by-rainer-maria-rilke

"The Swan" by Rainer Maria Rilke (read by Joanna Macy) - On Being Studios - Public Radio

YOUTUBE: HOW TO CREATE A RITUAL

BY: SARAH KERR, PhD (The Center for Sacred Deathcare, March 2026)

(1:23 minutes)

Dr. Sarah Kerr co-founder of The Centre for Sacred Deathcare – a movement to do death better, writes: "As humans, we are ritual-makers. Marking meaningful moments helps us navigate the challenges of life. In this video, I share how you can begin shaping your own practices for death, grief, and loss rituals that honor what matters most to you. It doesn’t have to be complicated. What matters is making space to acknowledge the moments that carry weight for your soul. Rituals remind us that we have the power to honor our thresholds, and that doing so can bring peace and meaning to the journey." Click to watch this YouTube short.

BLOG: I WAS 17 AND TOLD TO SIT WITH A DYING PATIENT — ALONE

BY: BARBARA KARNES, RN (January 7, 2026)

When I was 17, I was told to sit with a dying patient — alone. I didn’t know then how profoundly that moment would shape my life’s work... Her story begins: "When I was 17, a junior in high school, I worked on weekends as a nurse's aide in a small midwestern hospital. One day the head nurse told me to go sit with a patient and tell her when she was dead. Talk about being scared! The only previous experience I had with death was seeing my grandfather in a dark, scary funeral home. I was 14 and had been told I wasn't old enough to go to the funeral. BUT they said it was okay to see him in the dark Victorian mansion of a funeral home in a room lit only by a candle. Big mistake! I can still see, all these years later, that dark room and his head slightly raised above the rim of the casket. Need I say, as a result of that experience, death became very frightening to me." Continue reading…

ARTICLE: FAMOUS LAST WORDS OF U.S. PRESIDENTS - Their Dying Words and the Events Leading to Them

BY: CHRIS RAYMOND (Verywell Health, March 11, 2026)

Whether uttered unintentionally or with the full expectation of death, a person's last words are those that people will often remember and quote as if they somehow represent the core of who that person was. This is especially true of historical figures for which final words both humanize them and add to their mythology. Sometimes profound, sometimes mundane, click here to read the famous last words spoken by 15 of our U.S. presidents.