VOLUNTEER SUPPORT GROUP

MONDAY, MAY 5, 2025 (5:00-6:30PM)

Aloha Patient Volunteers! Please MARK YOUR CALENDARS to attend our meeting on May 5th. Come and increase your knowledge and skills, and share your experiences and insights! These meetings are for all active patient volunteers whether or not you are currently serving a patient/family. We look forward to seeing you! Light refreshments provided; Kauai Hospice Conference Room. (RSVPs are appreciated.)

 “Caring for others is an expression of what it means to be fully human.” — Oprah Winfrey

YOUTUBE: JAPAN’S ‘RESTAURANT OF MISTAKEN ORDERS’ HIRES PEOPLE WITH DEMENTIA

(1:19 minutes)

A Japanese television director, Shiro Oguni, created an innovative social experiment that has caught the attention of Japan and the world. It’s called the “Restaurant of Mistaken Orders” - a restaurant where the waiters and waitresses all have some degree of cognitive impairment. The goal is to create a welcoming community for those with dementia and create a more caring, easy-going society. Japan is said to have the largest population of older people and dementia is predicted to affect one in five people by 2025. The restaurant cultivates a warm, comfortable environment that is relaxed, tolerant and fun. During one of the first pop-ups, 37 percent of the orders were mistaken, but afterward, 99 percent of the customers said they were happy with their meal.  Thanks to Chaplain Walt Weiss for sharing this video -- Click to watch on YouTube.  Read the excellent 2023 Forbes article or, visit the website.

ARTICLE: CAREGIVING CAN TEST YOU, BODY AND SOUL - It can also unlock a new sense of self

BY: KAT McGOWAN (NPR, April 1, 2025)

Caregiving can alter one's identity -- the process often involves stress and a shift in personal roles. The author writes that as a caregiver, you're immersed in a daily routine of essential human needs, dealing with ground truths about life. It can excavate and reorganize the soul, what one caregiver calls “mind and body fracking”. In 2009, two researchers proposed an explanation for why caregiving can be so profound. According to "caregiver identity theory" which is now widely accepted, a caregiver can better understand their experiences and find support if they fully recognize and embrace their role. “Understanding caregiving as an identity transition can help people make sense of this phase of life.” Read this article from National Public Radio. Mahalo to Dr. Downs for sharing it.

YOUTUBE: EPISODE 18: LIFE AFTER DEATH

BY: RECESS THERAPY (8:00 minutes) 

Do you think about death? Where do you go when you die? Recess Therapy is a web series with short video clips in which host/creator Julian Shapiro-Barnum interviews 2 to 9 year-old children playing outdoors in New York City. Interview topics vary and have included climate change, the economy, and "peeing your pants." In an interview with The New York Times, Shapiro-Barnum said, “The reason it’s called Recess Therapy is that the original idea was that I was going to bring things that I was struggling with to children and, like, get advice from them.” Interviews have been uploaded since 2021 when he was inspired how “kids in the playground remained joyous despite the pandemic’s perturbations.” Click to watch these fun interviews.

YOUTUBE: HOW TO TALK ABOUT SUICIDE

BY: Sarah Kerr, PhD - Centre for Sacred Deathcare

(2:38 minutes)

There are unique challenges that bereaved families face with trauma-related losses such as suicide, overdose and homicide. These types of mortalities are different from those who have died from illness, and compassionate conversations around these difficult losses will be different as well. Suicide still carries a strong social taboo, so the way we talk about it matters. In Sarah Kerr’s recent video, she offers two important tips to help you talk with someone whose life has been touched by suicide. She hopes they give you the confidence to open up these difficult conversations in a heart-centered way.  Watch this short, valuable clip.

ARTICLE: “Mr. Smith Has No Mealtimes”: Minimal Comfort Feeding for Patients with Advanced Dementia

Journal of Pain and Symptom Management

(Vol. 69, Issue 2, P216-222, Feb. 2025)

Abstract: While Comfort Feeding Only is appropriate for patients with advanced dementia, its emphasis on assiduous hand-feeding that may prolong life for years fails to accommodate the preferences of those who do not want to continue living with this illness. Some have proposed advance directives to completely halt the provision of oral nutrition and hydration once a person has reached an advanced stage of dementia. However, these directives may fail to address patients’ discomfort, caregivers’ obligations, or current care and regulatory standards when patients reside in facilities. In response to these dilemmas, we introduce Minimal Comfort Feeding (MCF). Rather than offering food and liquids proactively as with Comfort Feeding Only, caregivers provide nutrition and hydration only in response to signs of hunger and thirst. While further study is required to define and negotiate challenges in operationalizing this approach, MCF provides a framework that resolves competing ethical and clinical considerations in caring for those with advanced dementia. Click to read.

WEBSITE: RECOMPOSE (HUMAN COMPOSTING)

https://recompose.life/

Recompose is a green funeral home in the Pacific Northwest specializing in human composting that gently transforms one’s body into soil. The soil can be used to nourish gardens and plants, or be scattered in favorite places. For the avid gardeners, below is a list of the typical characteristics of the compost produced by Recompose. Because every body is different, the compost produced varies slightly.

• NPKS of 2.2-2.9-1.9-11.2 A balanced nutrient content with a good supply of macronutrients.
• Very stable respiration test Indicates nutrients are stabilized.
• Nitrate content of 383 Indicates aerobic status and advanced decomposition.
• Bioassay - relative immaturity Use at lower concentration around roots of young plants.
• Passes all tests for levels of pathogens and heavy metals.
• C/N ratio of 19 Indicates slow nutrient release. May cause slight nitrogen “tie up” but no “burn”.
• ph of 6.6 Ideal for most plants.
• Moderate electrical conductivity Presence of soluble ions but not salty.

Human composting is a sustainable alternative to cremation.  Visit their website to learn more.

ARTICLE: HOW FUTURE DOCTORS LEARN TO HAVE END-OF-LIFE CONVERSATIONS

Tufts University (May 30, 2023)

Death isn’t an easy subject, but Tufts University School of Medicine has developed effective exercises for teaching empathy to medical students. No one likes to talk about dying—not even doctors, even though confronting death is a non-negotiable requirement of the job. “Doctors in general are not very good at talking about end-of-life issues with patients,” says Amy Lee, associate professor of family medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine. “Part of that is just our general cultural discomfort with talking about dying, but part of it is lack of education and training about how to do it well.” Read about teaching empathy to students.