Caring Community - Death & Dying

How Hospitals Shape End of Life

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 08:18:25 -0800

How Hospitals Shape End of Life Care
Summary of Sharon. Kaufman, PhD Presentation to
California Coalition for Compassionate Care
Steering Committee Meeting June 3, 2005
Excerpted from Minutes of Meeting

Sharon Kaufman, Ph.D. Professor of Medical Anthropology at UC San Francisco recently published a book entitled, And a Time to Die: How American Hospitals Shape the End of Life. (2005, NY: Scribner). Dr. Kaufman said in her role as a medical anthropologist she “makes the strange, familiar; and makes the familiar, strange.” She described her recent research about the culture of hospitals and how they influence the “problem of death,” which she defined as people dying with too much technology and not enough humanity.

Caring Connections - It's About How You LIVE

Sat, 3 Jan 2009 11:23:23 -0800

Caring Connections, a program of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), is a national consumer engagement initiative to improve care at the end of life, supported by a grant from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Caring Connections
-Provides free resources, information and motivation for actively learning about end-of-life resources.
-Promotes awareness of and engagement in efforts to increase access to quality end-of-life care.
-Helps people connect with the resources they need, when they need them.
-Brings together community, state and national partners working to improve end-of-life care.

Consumer Help Site - National Association of Social Workers

Sat, 3 Jan 2009 11:25:34 -0800

In thousands of ways, social workers help people help themselves. People of every age. From every background. In every corner of the country - wherever we’re needed - starting here and now. Welcome to your source for professional advice, inspiring stories - even a social worker directory. Social workers. Help starts here. This website is provided by the National Association of Social Workers and includes sections on Seniors and Aging, Issues and Answers, Mind and Spirit. The Senior section includes in-depth look issues of import, real life stories shared, resources of value, current trends, helpful tip, options and other information helpful for finding one’s way through the senior years. The Health and Well Being section includes information related to death and dying, living with illness, pain management, etc. The Mind and Spirit section includes orientation to various mental illnesses, grief & loss and other helpful information.

Ethics in Medicine - End of Life Issues

Tue, 1 Nov 2005 20:20:39 -0800

Ethics in Medicine University of Washington School of Medicine
"End-of-Life Issues" published by Tony Back, MD, Faculty, Department of Medicine VA Puget Sound Health Care System, Faculty Associate, Department of Medical History and Ethics

A comprehensive essay written for doctors with links to in depth information of other related topics.

Topics covered in this lead in essay include:
What is a good death? A medical perspective.
What goals should I have in mind when working towards a decent death for my patient:
How do you know when someone is dying?
What should I know about the hospice approach?

Final Crossing: Learning to Die in Order to Live

Wed, 18 Apr 2007 16:21:05 -0700

The Final Crossing: Learning to Die in Order to Live is a new book by Dr. Scott Eberle, Medical Director, Hospice of Petaluma. “This book is itself a rite of passage. Extraordinary insights shared by two remarkable people, one dying, the other the inner life and decisions of the physician and friend attending this fine fellow preparing to head into death. This is the best work of its sort I have come across. There are so many levels, so many books in this book that it might well become a teaching text in many classrooms.” Stephen Levine, author of Who Dies?, Healing into Life and Death, and A Year to Live

Finding Our Way: Living with Dying in America

Fri, 10 Sep 2004 12:11:18 -0700

"Finding Our Way: Living with Dying in America" is a 15-part series distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune. Written by national leaders in the medical, sociological, religious and cultural fields, the series explores the complex issues that face seriously ill Americans, their caregivers, families and communities.

Hospice By The Bay

Tue, 9 Jan 2007 20:51:54 -0800

Hospice By The Bay, formerly known as Hospice of Marin, is an independent, Medicare and Medi-Cal certified not-for-profit healthcare provider diligently attending to essential physical, spiritual and psychological needs of adults and children who are coping with various stages of progressive and incurable illness in Marin and Sonoma counties.

For nearly three decades, Hospice By The Bay’s goal has been to help terminally ill patients and their loved ones make the most of every remaining moment of life, and to provide education and advocacy for the communities we serve. To that end, we have established the Hospice of Marin Foundation to ensure the availability of hospice and palliative care programs and services for all those in need.

Hospice Net: Preparing for Approaching Death

Fri, 10 Sep 2004 17:42:48 -0700

Good overview of the process of dying and what to expect in terms of approaching death.

Hospice of Petaluma

Sat, 3 Jan 2009 11:26:12 -0800

Rooted in community, Hospice of Petaluma has been providing quality, compassionate hospice care and grief services to individuals and families facing life-threatening illness or the death of a loved one since 1977. Hospice of Petaluma and our sister program, Memorial Hospice, are a service of the St. Joseph Health System, a Ministry of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange. Patients and families receive interdisciplinary patient care with individualized attention to nursing, psychosocial, spiritual and practical needs that may arise at the end of life. Hospice services are provided by professional staff and specially trained caregiver and grief support volunteers. Volunteer trainings are held in the spring and fall with both daytime and evening classes.

Living Old: Frontline November 21, 2006

Sat, 24 Feb 2007 11:43:28 -0800

Living Old is one hour Frontline program filmed November 21, 2006 presenting a powerful and intimate journey into the uncharted territory of Americans living longer than ever — and what it means for them, their loved ones and our society. On this site you can view the whole program or individual chapters including:
The Stories-Living lives that neither the elderly nor their families ever prepared for.
Interviews-Doctors, one family’s story, and a conversation with a remarkable 94 year-old.
The Big Issues-What Needs to Change; Nursing Homes; Parents and Children; When Enough is Enough.

Memorial Hospice

Sat, 3 Jan 2009 11:26:33 -0800

Rooted in community, Memorial Hospice has been providing quality, compassionate hospice care and grief services to individuals and families facing life-threatening illness or the death of a loved one since 1997. Memorial Hospice and our sister program, Hospice of Petaluma, are a service of the St. Joseph Health System, a Ministry of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange.

Patients and families receive interdisciplinary patient care with individualized attention to nursing, psychosocial, spiritual and practical needs that may arise at the end of life. Memorial Hospice is proud of serving the Spanish-speaking community with our Latino Grief Services program and bi-lingual patient care staff. Hospice services are provided by professional staff and specially trained caregiver and grief support volunteers. Volunteer trainings are held in the spring and fall with both daytime and evening classes.

Taking Care: Ethical Caregiving in our Aging Society

Sat, 3 Jan 2009 11:27:46 -0800

TAKING CARE: ETHICAL CAREGIVINGIn OUR AGING SOCIETY published by The President’s Council on Bioethics
Washington, D.C., September 2005
Preface
The President’s Council on Bioethics was created by President George W. Bush on November 28, 2001 to advise the President on bioethical issues related to advances in biomedical science and technology. Taking Care addresses the ethical challenges of caregiving in our rapidly aging society, with special attention to the care of people with dementia. The report purpose is to provide a humanly rich account of the caregiving dilemmas social, familial, and personal, and to offer some important ethical guidelines for the care of persons who can no longer care for themselves.