​Caution Dead Ahead: After-Death Care and the End-of-Life Doula 
by Lee Webster
 
It’s exciting to see the exponential growth of end of life practice, something we in the home funeral movement tried to imagine years ago when we took up this work. Now, just as we envisioned, families are increasingly seeking to change the way they meet the challenges inherent in planning for and managing the death of a family member, and they are looking for guidance and support in fresh ways that span both the dying and funeral periods. 
 
But what we learned then that holds true even more today is that death is the great divide, at least as far as systems go. Some end-of-life care practitioners train for both pre-death and post-death, with an intention of meeting families’ needs with a seamless home-based continuum of care, a philosophy we have cultivated and supported wholeheartedly. But there is a problem that needs to be addressed, and quickly, and it falls to end-of-life doulas and their trainers to fully understand. Read more...

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The End-Of-Life Doula Movement
by Barbara Karnes, RN
 
I started as a hospice nurse in 1981 after spending several years trying to learn how to care for people who were dying. There just wasn't any material about end of life. People generally died in the hospital, in a private room at the end of the hall, alone.  No one was there, no one saw how death came.  If and when a person was in their home, dying with family present, the family brought their own fears and misconceptions about death and generally just had "horror" stories to tell about what happened when Dad died. Hospice was the "new kid" on the block saying, "We can support, comfort, and guide people and their families as the end of life approaches.  No one needs to be alone anymore during this life moment."
 
It was from my experience being a hospice nurse, whose goal was to be with the patient and family during the months, weeks, days, hours, and then at the moment of death, that I began to actually learn about how people die.
Read more...

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Courtesy of Amanda Carr

At The Ready: How End-of-Life Doulas Can Support Hospices
​by Lee Webster with Merilynne Rush, Suzanne O'Brien, Patty Burgess, and Deanna Cochran

Anyone who has experienced care of a dying loved one can probably recall a moment when the prospect seemed overwhelming. Sometimes this is small things—wondering when to squeeze in a quick trip to the store, or to simply take a shower. Other times it is much bigger. Am I doing the right thing? Are we tending to what’s important or just getting by? How can I balance all my roles as caregiver, mate, parent, worker, partner?
 
Imagine being the patient who may be grappling with fears of all sorts—fear of being in pain, being a burden, being unable or afraid to express needs that go beyond those being met by medical personnel. Or the patient who wishes for a conscious, intentional experience, who seeks companionship and guidance on the journey. To them, and to all of us, it becomes not just about the fact that we die, but how that matters. Read more...

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