Comfort, touch, togetherness: these are among the key elements of hospice care — the kind of care offered at the end of one’s life. These same principles are also in direct opposition to the distance and separation asked of us during a pandemic. Yet ho… Continue reading
(This is a personal essay by retired pastor Larry Patten, who now works in a Fresno, Calif., hospice facility.) Answering the innocent question of what I do for a living can kill a conversation. I work in hospice services, and have visited people in th… Continue reading
In a pivotal scene of the documentary End Game, we listen in as team of palliative care professionals discuss Mitra, a 45-year-old woman who is dying of cancer. Should they approach her about hospice? The hospital chaplain urges the group not to bring … Continue reading
After spending 15 years researching the best ways to support people whose lives end in hospice, professor Elizabeth Bergman has advice for friends, neighbors, family members and co-workers who want to send them a final, poignant message: Mail cards, bu… Continue reading
(Editor’s note: This story is part of a special report for The John A. Hartford Foundation.) People with terminal conditions who receive Medicare are currently required to forgo curative treatment in order to receive hospice (care for people whose medi… Continue reading
(Editor’s note: This content is provided by The John A. Hartford Foundation, a Next Avenue sponsor.) If you are facing serious illness today or want to prepare for your own, or a loved one’s, illness in the future, you can tell your nurse, doctor and f… Continue reading
(Editor’s note: This story is part of a special report for The John A. Hartford Foundation.) On Jan. 29, 2014, David C. Skipworth died in Garland, Texas at age 67 after a long illness, holding his wife Sandra’s hand and listening to the National Anthem… Continue reading
(Editor’s note: This story is part of a special report for The John A. Hartford Foundation.) Making the decision to transition your loved one to hospice care (for people whose medical conditions mean they are expected to die within six months) is a tim… Continue reading
(Editor’s note: This story is part of a special report for The John A. Hartford Foundation.) More than once in my life, I wish I knew more about hospice care, which is a sustained focus on quality-of-life near the end of a journey. A deeper working kno… Continue reading
(Excerpted with permission of the publisher, Wiley, from Navigating Your Later Years For Dummies by Carol Levine and AARP. Copyright © 2018 by AARP. All rights reserved. Available wherever books and eBooks are sold.) There are eight myths about aging a… Continue reading