The Heart of Hospice podcast is dedicated to helping personal and professional caregivers who are caring for someone with serious illness. We're here to provide information and education so people can make informed choices about end of life care.
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Seeing Death Clearly is a show that challenges you to think about your beliefs about death, dying, grief, and living life. I am your host, Jill McClennen, a death doula and end-of-life coach. As a death doula, I found through first-hand experience that the more I came to terms with my thoughts and feelings about death and dying, the more present I became in my everyday life and I hope to share that with you too, how you can live a better life by having a healthier relationship with death and ...
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What Women* Want is a comedy conversation podcast where comedians talk about, and find the funny in, the misadventures, misunderstandings and misogyny involved in being a woman. Hosted by Amy Annette and featuring different comedians and topics each time. (Contains little to no Mel Gibson) Upcoming guests in the series include; Rose Matafeo, Sara Pascoe, Lolly Adefope, Aisling Bea, Desiree Burch, Josie Long, Mae Martin, Bisha K Ali, Nish Kumar, James Acaster, Phil Wang and many more... Recor ...
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What You Need to Know About Integrative Palliative Care
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“What do I need to know about you as a person to take the best care of you?” This is how integrative palliative medicine physician Ddr. Delia Chiaramonte starts conversations with her patients. It’s a Dignity Question that lets her patients know she cares about them as a person. Delia works in integrative palliative medicine to care for the whole p…
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Life and Death in the ER with Dr. Jeffrey Sankoff
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Dr. Jeffrey Sankoff, originally from Montreal, Quebec, Canada moved to Denver over two decades ago, where he has been practicing as an emergency physician while raising their children. Outside of medicine, Dr. Sankoff is an avid triathlete and triathlon coach, hosting a podcast on the sport. He shares how early-career doctors often grapple with fee…
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End of Life Doula Provides Beautiful Family-Involved Home Funerals
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End of Life Doula Trina Wacasey works to ensure that clients and families have the kind of personalized death care they want. Using family-guided care customized to fit their beliefs, needs, and wants, Trina guides caregivers through deaths, post-mortem care, and rituals after death. After working in the corporate world, Trina was drawn to the work…
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Insights from Lisa Pahl the Creator of The Death Deck
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Lisa Pahl is a licensed clinical social worker in LA, she has extensive experience in community mental health, domestic violence, and supporting survivors of torture. Early in her career, she worked at the Florida Center for Survivors of Torture, and after moving to LA, she worked in community mental health for several years. She then switched to w…
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Revolutionary Advocacy for Military Veterans at End of Life
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Today’s guest Dr. Qwynn Galloway-Salazar is a Veteran, death doula, compassionate educator, and the founder of In Their Honor, a national initiative raising awareness and addressing Veterans' unique challenges as they approach the end of life. Qwynn is also the spouse of a combat veteran and understands the role of veteran caregivers. 1 in 4 Medica…
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In this episode of Seeing Death Clearly, I spoke with my friend Ashley Holmes, a Holistic Fertility Coach dedicated to supporting women struggling with infertility by bringing mind, body, and spirit into balance. Her journey began from personal experience, facing her own fertility challenges, which inspired her to help others. Ashley noticed the wi…
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Learning the Truth About Autism and Grief
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Dr. Kenneth Doka and Alex Lamorie of the Hospice Foundation of America’s Autism and Grief Project are advocates for people with autism. Dr. Doka is a prolific author, editor, and lecturer, past president of the Association for Death Education and Counseling, and a member and past chair of the International Work Group on Death, Dying, and Bereavemen…
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From Anger to Empathy: Rediscovering My Mother's Story with Stephanie Jones
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My guest in this episode is Stephanie Jones. One significant childhood memory involves the first time she remembers discussing death. This incident led to a brief conversation about death, spurred by her grandmother's passing soon after. Growing up as a Jehovah's Witness, death was framed within the context of resurrection and an afterlife, which p…
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The Remarkable Story of Humanist Chaplain D.S. Moss
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Devin (D.S.) Moss brings a sense of reverence for life and a curiosity about death to his work as a chaplain. During a conversation with a Zen Master about Buddhist beliefs about the afterlife, the suggestion was made to him that he would make a good chaplain. Devin didn’t think he could do the work of spiritual care because of his humanist beliefs…
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Boys, Emotions, and Cultural Expressions of Grief with Brendan Kwiatkowski
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In this episode, my guest is Dr. Brendan Kwiatkowski, an educator, researcher, and speaker focused on the social-emotional development and well-being of boys and men. Brendan, who earned his Ph.D. in Education from the University of Edinburgh in 2023, conducted an in-depth study on the emotions, masculinities, and schooling experiences of teenage b…
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How to Best Serve Military Veterans on Hospice
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1 in 4 Medicare hospice patients is a U.S. military veteran. End of life workers need to know how to take care of their special needs and enhance their quality of life. It’s important for EOL teams to know the signs of PTSD and how to listen when these patients (and their caregivers!) are communicating what they need. Many military veterans experie…
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Living Fully, Dying Gracefully: Insights from Ashley Oppon
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In this episode, my guest is Ashley Oppon, host of "Dine with the Divine." Ashley, a registered nurse from New Jersey, describes her nursing job as her "muggle job," revealing her love for theology and religion. Growing up Catholic, Ashley's curiosity led her to explore various faiths, finding something meaningful in each. This exploration shaped h…
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What It Really Takes to be a Hospice Caregiver
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Christina Keys can tell you the realities of being a caregiver for someone with a serious illness - the good, the bad, and the ugly. As the sole caregiver for her mother following a catastrophic stroke, Christina experienced financial, emotional, mental, physical, and relational impacts. The relationship between the two women was complicated, follo…
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Stories from End-of-Life Care with Helen Bauer Part 2
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In this week's episode, I talk with Helen Bauer, host of the Heart of Hospice podcast. This is part 2 of a two-part interview. Over the years, she's observed a profound inward shift in patients as they approach death, noticing changes in their communication and socialization long before their bodies begin to shut down. In describing the dying proce…
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This trio of End of Life Doulas is educating the public and other doulas about EOL doula work, and how they support people as they die. Diane Button, Gabby Jimenez, and Angela Shook are sharing their wisdom along with practical guidance for doula work. With heart, compassion, and respect for the intensity of death, the three EOL doulas discussed th…
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Stories from End-of-Life Care with Helen Bauer Part 1
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In this week's episode, I talk with Helen Bower, host of the Heart of Hospice podcast. This is part 1 of a two-part interview. The following is a link to my guest episode of The Heart of Hospice Podcast. https://www.theheartofhospice.com/podcast/episode/23f1c2af/death-doulas-are-expert-guides-at-end-of-life As a nurse with 34 years of practice, Hel…
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Shelley Henry is an Advocate for Quality Hospice Care
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Hospice nurse Shelley Henry is supporting nurses working in end of life care with advocacy, video tips, and support for their self care. Shelley uses the two words “divine intervention” to describe how she got ino working with patients at the end of their lives. After 20 years in the hospice industry, Shelley remains committed to preserving the art…
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My guest today is Sue Burns, author of the book A Common Life, A Voice from the Progressive Era where she published her great-great grandmother Mary's diary from the late 19th century Iowa farm life. We talk about the demographics of Iowa in the late 19th century., Her great great grandmother, Mary, managed to raise six children without losing any,…
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A Beautiful Conversation About Death with Sarah Cavanaugh
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Sarah Cavanaugh believes having conversations about death helps us clear the air and find peace, whether those discussions are in person or in our hearts and minds. Sarah is the founder of Peaceful Exit, a company that explores all aspects of grief and loss. She co-designed a curriculum to open the conversation around the physical, psychological, a…
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Compassionate Communication in Medicine with Amy Flanagan
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Amy Flanagan has had a diverse career journey that led her to a unique role in medical education. Initially pursuing acting from a young age her passion shifted, leading her to the Uniformed Services University, the U.S. military's medical school. There, she played patients with different illnesses, aiding medical students in honing their diagnosti…
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Elizabeth Miller Provides Practical Tips for Being a Remote Caregiver
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As a caregiver her entire adult life, Elizabeth Miller has learned how to find the joy in the caregiving life. As a Certified Caregiving Consultant, she helps other caregivers make the best of their own experience. Elizabeth joined forces with her siblings to provide support for their parents, and for her developmentally delayed brother. Each sibli…
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How to Make Hard Choices at the End of Life with Chaplain Hank Dunn
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My guest in this episode is Chaplain Hank Dunn. Hank is an ordained healthcare chaplain, bestselling author, and speaker who, for more than 30 years, has been helping patients and their families as they struggle with end-of-life decisions. In this episode emphasizes the importance of understanding these treatments as they may not always align with …
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What You Need to Know About Advance Care Planning with Gail Rubin
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Gail Rubin, The Doyenne of Death, has been talking about death and dying for years - and she’s still alive. As an award-winning death speaker, Gail uses humor and film clips to educate the public about advance care planning, funeral pre-planning, and estate planning. She’s a Certified Thanatologist and a featured speaker at TEDxABQ, where she spoke…
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The Ultimate Gift of Precious Time at End of Life
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Jennifer O’Brien is sharing details of her caregiving journey, telling the story of her husband’s life-limiting illness and how she’s learned to make the most of Precious Time. After working 35+ years as a practice management consultant to physicians, Jennifer supported her husband Bob up to and through the end of his life. As a hospice and palliat…
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Lessons Learned from a Personal Loss Part 2
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Following the decision, I prioritized my aunt's comfort as we prepared to remove her oxygen support. The nurse and I made her as comfortable as possible, opting for comfort care with a touch of morphine to ease her pain. Reflecting on the day, I found solace in the serenity of the room. With all distractions muted, I held her hand, conveying love a…
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How to Provide LGBTQ Inclusive Care From Kimberly Acquaviva
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The story of the terminal illness and death of Kimberly Acquaviva’s wife Kathy is powerful, intense, real… and human. As a hospice social worker and LGBTQ+ community advocate, Kim knows what good end of life care looks like. During their experience with Kathy’s end stage cervical cancer, the women discovered that none of the hospice agencies where …
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Lessons Learned from a Personal Loss Part 1
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In the latest episode, I share a personal experience of losing my aunt after her two-week stay in the ICU. Despite being familiar with medical procedures from my volunteer work, seeing a loved one in that setting was different. I remember walking into the ICU and hardly recognizing her. During her last days, the hospital ensured her comfort, althou…
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How a State Senator Improved Hospice Care in Her Home State
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Senator Meg Cappel turned her experience as a caregiver for her terminally ill mother into advocacy and now works to promote hospice care in her home state. Meg believes a true legacy - one that lasts - is a legacy of kindness. Years of working as a special education teacher taught her the importance of seeing people and meeting them where they are…
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Navigating Loss and Embracing Life Again with Marie Scott
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Marie Scott, the Creator and Founder of Happy and Healthy After Widowhood boasts an impressive resume as a best-selling author of three published books, with two more in the pipeline. She's also recognized internationally as a speaker and holds certifications as a Health and Grief Coach. Following the loss of Dave, her husband of three decades, and…
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Help Texts Offers Expert Grief Support With Text Messages
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Supporting people who are grieving is fulfilling, joyful work. Just ask Help Texts founder Emma Payne. After having a personal loss, Emma realized how much we could improve how we support grievers. She’d spent years working in the tech space. That knowledge helped launch Help Texts. Their service provides grief support for events like pregnancy los…
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Grief, Culture, and Mental Health with Meloney Hendricks
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Meloney, a first-generation BVI islander from Tortola in the Caribbean, shares her unique cultural background, heavily influenced by her Jamaican roots. She highlights the diverse religious and cultural landscape of Jamaica, including the presence of various ethnicities and religions. Despite being predominantly Christian, Jamaican culture is a fus…
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How to Improve Patient Care With Pastoral Thanatologist Joelle Johns
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Joelle Johns believes telling people they’re dying gives them an opportunity to say the goodbyes, do the final things they want to do, apologize, and forgive. Joelle is a death midwife and grief counselor, as well as a pastoral thanatologist and clinical chaplain, having just completed her designation as a Board Certified Clinical Chaplain (BCC). S…
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Embracing Life Through Grief with Dr. Kim Harms
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Dr. Kim Harms has encountered numerous challenges throughout her 67 years. She endured the tragic losses of her mother, son, and husband, all to different circumstances. These losses prompted her to delve into the topic of death, exploring how individuals manage it and the impact it has on their lives. In her reflections, Kim highlights the unexpec…
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Life Experiences Offer Opportunities for Death Doula Jo-Anne Haun
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Death Doula Jo-Anne Haun has found growth and meaning in working with the dying. As co-founder of Death Doula Network International, Jo-Anne works to support and educate about the work of death doulas. Jo-Anne uses her personal gift of gentle humor in her volunteer work as a therapy clown (Code Name: Buttons). Jo-Anne’s habit of incorporating a lit…
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Reimagining Death Care with Isabel Knight
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Isabel Knight, also known as The Death Designer, operates a unique business focused on end-of-life planning. She employs principles of human-centered design to assist individuals in navigating the complexities of death care. This approach involves co-creating systems and products with users to ensure they meet their needs effectively. Isabel emphas…
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Francesca Arnoldy Is A Guide For End Of Life Planning
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Death literacy advocate and Community Doula Francesca Arnoldy is sharing the role of a death doula and how to support someone through a time of intensity. She’s the author of The Death Doula's Guide to Living Fully and Dying Prepared, a workbook that offers the opportunity to explore mortality and end-of-life care planning. In her work as an end …
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From Addiction to Empowerment: Jen Henry's Journey of Lifestyle Recovery
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Jen Henry was born and raised in Riverside, California, where she still resides. Her mission, which she refers to as lifestyle recovery, stems from her upbringing as an only child, where everything was handed to her without understanding the value of need or want. Despite having both parents, she felt disconnected and misunderstood, with her emotio…
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Barbara Karnes on How to Care for a Person With Dementia
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Award-winning End of Life Educator Barbara Karnes takes a deep dive into the unique challenges of caring for someone with dementia at end of life. Caregivers often find their responsibilities accumulating over time as the disease trajectory continues. They’re forced to live in the present, to see their loved one as who they are today. The goal is t…
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From ER Physician to Life Coach with Dr. Iris Van Nespen
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Meet Iris Van Nespen, a Belgian emergency room physician turned life coach. She's on a mission to help women, and people in general, reclaim their joy and self-acceptance. Iris emphasizes the importance of recognizing one's own beauty, believing that it leads to a more fulfilling life and, ultimately, contributes to world peace. Iris delves into th…
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Valuable Lessons Learned From a Mom Who Lost a Child
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*Trigger warning - this episode contains a description of an intense death event and the death of a child. Please make space for your self care if you find the topic overwhelming. Juli Henderson has turned the loss of her son into meaningful advocacy, sharing her wisdom with other caregivers. Juli and her husband Chris were the parents of a son, Ro…
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Soul Injury at the End of Life with Deborah Grassman
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My guest this week is Deborah Grassman and for 30 years, she served as a hospice nurse practitioner within the Department of Veterans Affairs. While trained as a psychiatric nurse practitioner, her focus shifted towards hospice care, where she unearthed a unique revelation about trauma's transformation at life's end, an aspect not formally identifi…
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Dr. Karen Wyatt Shares a Physician's Perspective on Hospice and Healthcare
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Hospice physician Dr. Karen Wyatt wants people to get comfortable thinking about death, and have time to plan for the end of their lives. Karen is the host of the End of Life University podcast and author of 7 Lessons for Living from the Dying. She’s considered a thought leader in end of life care. We talked about lots of topics related to hospice …
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Menopause Awareness and Coping with Loss with Brenda Pollack
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Meet Brenda, a Londoner who, at 59, has dedicated most of her career to the charity sector, specifically working with Friends of the Earth, an environmental lobbying organization. Around four or five years ago, Brenda faced a challenging period at work, compounded by issues with her eye health and the onset of menopause. This stress took a toll on …
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Doula Karen Hendrickson Shares Her Powerful Story of Grief as a Teen
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*Trigger warning - this episode contains a description of an intense death event. Please make space for your self care if you find the topic overwhelming. Death doula Karen Hendrickson’s brother died suddenly when she was sixteen years old. That event became a lifelong lesson in death and dying, grief, and how to support teens during a loss. As co-…
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The Evolution of End-of-Life Care with Barbara Karnes
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In the 1970s, Elizabeth Kubler Ross and Dame Cicely Saunders revolutionized our approach to death. While Kubler Ross emphasized the neglect of the dying in America, Saunders proposed a novel philosophy with her Hospice program. The focus shifted from mere medical treatment to a holistic approach of embracing life during the dying process. Our guest…
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Gabby Jimenez Offers Guidance on Medical Aid in Dying in Her New Book
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Hospice nurse and end of life doula Gabby Jimenez of the Hospice Heart shared her thoughts in our great conversation about supporting MAID caregivers, and her new book Dignity Day. Hospice and end of life workers should know what Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) is, regardless of their personal opinion about MAID. If patients and caregivers ask question…
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End-of-Life Conversations with Elder Care Coordinators Kathleen MaGee and Chelsea Duckers
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My guests today are Kathleen McGee, Elder Care Coordinator and Director of Care Coordination at Rothkoff Law Group and Chelsea Duckers, one of the care coordinators at Rothkoff Law Group. In an ideal world, we'd all proactively plan for future challenges, especially as our needs change with age. Reality often sees us facing issues reactively. Rothk…
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Dr. Lucy Kalanithi Tells Her Remarkable Story of Life After Loss
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Caregiver, physician, wife, and griever - Dr. Lucy Kalanithi shares her remarkable journey with her husband Dr. Paul Kalanithi, author of When Breath Becomes Air. Lucy’s experience with her terminally-ill husband and his death has shaped how she approaches patient care and thinks about human suffering. Dr. Kalanithi is a Fellow of the American Coll…
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In this episode, my guest is Narinder Bazen, founder of the Nine Keys Death Midwifery Apprenticeship. In her twenties as a Kundalini yoga and meditation teacher, Narinder found herself officiating weddings, blessing babies, and attending deaths within her community. Embracing her mystic roots, she began offering death care, grief care, and trauma c…
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Chaplains Complete a Sacred Space Between Machine and Medicine
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Chaplain J.S. Park has a powerful voice - raw, transparent, and real. He’s using it to influence how people care for people at the end of life. J.S. will tell you he’s heard all the regrets in his work with the dying. As a hospital chaplain in a Trauma 1 center, J.S. provides grief counseling, attends every death, helps with end-of-life decision-ma…
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