Caregiving and Hospice, September 25 - October 1, 2016

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

End-of-Life Care Needs an Overhaul, http://j.mp/2dgzpNo « TIME

Who’s In Your Care Crew? http://j.mp/2dfjjDV « The Unprepared Caregiver

Suicide: Only cause of Top 10 U.S. deaths that's rising, http://j.mp/2dCNRNX « Miami Herald

Caregiving and Hospice, June 12 - June 18, 2016

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

New: Chat for Those Caring for a Family Member Who Had a Stroke,  http://j.mp/1V1MNQm « CareGiving.com

It's Time to Train All Doctors on How to Talk to Patients About End-of-Life Care, http://j.mp/1YuwZLR « The Huffington Post

Leaving With Love: The Difference Palliative Care Makes, http://j.mp/1tyJomo « Media Planet Cancer Care

Caregiving and Hospice, November 8 - November 14, 2015

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

Need Help? It’s There for the Asking, http://j.mp/1MGQRFU « Caregiving Cafe Blog

This App Will Help You Sort Through Your Views On Dying, http://j.mp/1kPiL7P « HuffPost Religion

Care{giving} Myths, http://j.mp/1kO9CfL « The Unprepared Caregiver

Caregiving and Hospice, July 13 - July 19, 2014

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

Dear lawmakers: This is what it's like to be a doctor today, http://j.mp/1tYog78 « Kevin MD

Selfless Caregiving: Honoring the Hospice Patient’s Wishes, http://j.mp/1jUfV00 « Caring with Confidence

Suicide Thoughts and End of Life, http://j.mp/1oXkxBj « Barbara Karnes Books, Inc.

Caregiving and Hospice, June 8 - June 14, 2014

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

Life's Journey: A Better End: A Hospice Nurse's Frank Approach to End of Life, http://j.mp/1qLrgOI « Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

How Palliative Care Programs Drive Value, http://j.mp/1lqXhev « Health Leaders Media

Thanks for the compliment, but I'm not a nurse, http://j.mp/1sacHZv « Kevin MD

Caregiving and Hospice, December 22 - December 28, 2013

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

NHPCO Responds to Washington Post, http://j.mp/1dfy9Tl « National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization

Medicare rules create a booming business in hospice care, http://j.mp/1cEEk4U « Washington Post

Nonsensical rules are binding the hands of caregivers, http://j.mp/1cEOVga « Kevin MD

Caregiving and Hospice, December 1 - December 7, 2013

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

10 Top Pieces of Advice You Must Read Before a Long Hospital Stay, bit.ly/Y4gkyY « Brainstorm

10 Components of Quality Hospice Care, bit.ly/1aH4EVn « National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO)

The Dementia Caregiver: Improving their Mental Health and Quality of Life,  http://j.mp/1cqYEVo « GeriPal

Caregiving and Hospice, September 22 - September 28, 2013

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

Outstanding! Ambassadors for Hospice, http://j.mp/1dO8dxg « Caring with Confidence

Book Review: “The Best Care Possible” by Ira Byock, M.D., http://j.mp/193iFBE « SevenPonds Blog

Commonly held myths about end-of-life issues http://j.mp/17cwKdw « Harvard Health Publications

Caregiving and Hospice, December 16 - December 22, 2012

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

Lovely! Celebrating the Gifts of the Season http://t.co/KzqxWLxz « Leeza Gibbons Memory Foundation

When “Knowing” Changes Everything: The value of “mapping” end-of-life pathways, http://j.mp/WxiGEl

Touching! "Doctor makes house calls, brings understanding ways," http://ow.ly/giCwc via @KPNapaSolano

Beautiful! Hospice nurse uses hand portraiture to support families: Loving Hands, http://ow.ly/ghOko « ADVANCE for Nurses

Check out these helpful and informative podcasts on hospice, http://ow.ly/gih52  from @hfahospice and @irabyock

Caregiving and Hospice, August 12 - August 18, 2012

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• Question, answer session with director of hospice and palliative care, http://j.mp/MDLvgL from @DianeEMeier via @VNSNY_News @LisaDMorgan

• How Do You Want It to End? http://j.mp/NNL9jN by Paula Span via http://NYTimes.com

• 5 Ways to say "I'm sorry" in caregiving, http://j.mp/OnfLuF by @GlennerCenters

• New ad campaign portrays caregivers' call for help, http://apne.ws/Pp7oSc%0A News from @AP via @TheConnily

• Discussing Dying: ‘The Conversation’ About How My Dad Wants To Go, http://bit.ly/R6Ei9K via @hospicepharmacy

Caregiving and Hospice, January 8 - January 14, 2012

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• Saying no to your oncologist is sometimes the right thing to do, http://bit.ly/rEBuYY RT @AlithiaCarol
  
  
• On what is really important in life, http://awe.sm/5dR2O by@LiaLondon1RT via @ShelleyWebbRN
  
  
• Helping employees with caregiving, http://bit.ly/AysrIm
  
  
• Some companies are doing it right! via @ShelleyWebbRN
  
  
• Preparing Your Home For Alzheimers Caregiving, http://bit.ly/AFaiVD via @ClickForFitness

Caregiving and Hospice, June 5 - June 11, 2011

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• How pets benefit us, including how his dog Rosie helps keep him healthy, http://t.co/SQLk2EX by @DrOz via @DrMartyBecker

• Broken promises in caregiving: Embrace Your Limits, free Webinar offers help, http://t.co/yS3MVAG by @caregiving 

• Great Article! Hospice: An Underutilized Resource Obscured by Myths, http://bit.ly/kvdxRl by @Seniors4Living via @SilveradoSenior

• Not All Attention is Created Equal | The Unprepared Caregiver, http://bit.ly/kNKF61

• Opiophobia in the United States: history and video, http://bit.ly/iHs3vS via @asra_husain

Caregiving and Hospice, May 1 - May 7

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• No One Dies Alone: Interview with Program Coordinator Carleen McCornack, http://bit.ly/iItnTI by @SevenPonds

• Supporting a friend or relative who is dying, http://bit.ly/lTx26m via @myOH_AgingWell 

• Mission of hospice and palliative care is to ease suffering, http://bit.ly/lV66oM by @KathyKastner @kevinmd

• Importance of mental health at end of life, http://nyti.ms/jUoion via @ScottIrwinMD @palliativecare

• Better Way to Find Home Home Care Aides, http://ow.ly/4NNAR via @nytimes @LittmanKrooks

Caregiving and Hospice, April 17 - April 23

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• Take 15 minutes to watch this inspiring video, as Mary Labyak receives NHPCO's Healthcare Architect Award, http://bit.ly/i4COHP

• Great video clips on how to have the talk and discuss goals of care at end of life, http://j.mp/efsSHr via RT @phylili

• Poignant article about the ongoing struggle to manage pain, http://tinyurl.com/446l8fg via @palliativecare 

• Help your patients stay connected: Recommend CaringBridge, http://bit.ly/eXwwWu

• Early palliative care to avoid unnecessary suffering, http://wapo.st/igyStX via @PracticalWisdom @DeathwDignity

Caregiving and Hospice, January 23 - January 29

Best selections from Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• More People Choosing Hospice, http://bit.ly/ehY0HX in @USNews

• Help! My Hospice Nurse Can't Get Here! http://bit.ly/dSBzbA by @angelamorrow

• New Yorker essay on vital strategy to control health care costs, http://nyr.kr/eZmhHS by @Atul_Gawande

• Who Can You (and Your Patients) Trust for Online Health Information? http://bit.ly/fT18Za via @ShellyWebbRN

• Care recipient doesn't want to part with stuff? May be time to part with yours, http://bit.ly/e44lsp by @caregiverblog

• Caregiving cabin fever? Respite care not possible? Consider virtual escape, http://bit.ly/ibAZL9 by @caregiverblog

• What people living with disability can teach us, http://pewrsr.ch/gHkQQ6 by @SusannahFox via @stressresources @pamressler

• Never too early to talk about tough end-of-life decisions, http://bit.ly/hm2cYi via @hospicepharmacy

• Wonderful! Importance of Pets for Older Adults, http://tinyurl.com/yd6ldrs via @ShelleyWebbRN @ElderOptionsTX

• Extensive list of helpful Care Giving resources, http://bit.ly/2khU0v

• Physician-author launches site to promote hospice care with video support for caregiving, http://bit.ly/fALYYl

• PetsforPatriots launches in AZ with new shelter partner @azhumane, http://ht.ly/3Kx5D  via @PetsforPatriots

• Importance of discussions between physicians and patients emphasized in ASCO's new policy statement, http://bit.ly/gMjUiL via @NHPCO_news

• On Navajo Reservation, Poem Helps Broach Topic of End-of-Life Care, http://nyti.ms/fsS8Nn via @brimcmike

• Information to Help Make Sound Medical Decisions, http://bit.ly/eY1sbI @FIMDM via @Pallimed

• Caregiving for an ill spouse, http://bit.ly/ew7W1z by @myOH_AgingWell

• What?? Man prohibited from using his "go anywhere" wheelchair, http://goo.gl/GGleA via @EmpowerAbility

Other News of Interest, August 8 - August 14

From Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• Laugh break! Twitter the Movie Trailer via @TweetSmarter, http://j.mp/9if0k7 

• Good question: Can a health insurer provide affordable care when its CEO makes millions? http://bit.ly/c1syCw via @kevinmd

Book Review - Sooner or Later: Restoring Sanity to Your End-of-Life Care

Given the interest sparked by physician Atul Gawande in his remarkable article in the August issue of The New Yorker ( Letting Go: What Should Medicine Do If It Cannot Save Your Life? ) information to help patients and their families address that very question couldn't be more timely. 

If family nurse practitioner and Clinical Nurse Specialist Damiano De Sano Iocovozzi has his way, we human beings would accept the fact that life itself is a terminal condition. As he points out in his immensely readable book, Sooner or Later: Restoring Sanity to Your End-of-Life Care, we're all going to die eventually (whether by accident, illness or old age)-and we'd best accept that reality now.

Once we've been told that we are terminally ill with little chance of remission or cure, the author contends, we need to know how to use wisely the precious time we have left: that space between diagnosis and choosing an appropriate level of care. Sooner or Later: Restoring Sanity to Your End-of-Life Care serves as a useful guide, reminding all of us that terminal illness and death are natural and inevitable parts of life, and dying is a process that can be successfully understood, worked with and managed.

Using a workbook-like format, the author lists questions for readers to ask themselves and their healthcare providers as they make their way among the various options offered to them, depending on the forms of disease, the goals of medicine, and their own personal goals, which may change as the disease process advances.

This book provides all the information needed to help newly-diagnosed, terminally ill patients and family members identify their concerns, so they can discuss them openly with one another and with their healthcare providers. It helps them make informed, rational decisions that best fit their needs and goals, helping them to live fully and without fear in the time they have left together. It reassures all of us that, once we accept our own mortality, steps can be taken to make the dying process a rich experience for all concerned.

I've included this book as one I've read and personally recommend to my hospice clients, colleagues, and website visitors. Students in all the healthcare disciplines (medicine, nursing, respiratory care, social work, chaplaincy, music, occupational and recreational therapies) would be wise to read it as well.

Your feedback is welcome! Please feel free to leave a comment or a question, or share a tip, a related article or a resource of your own in the Comments section below.If you’d like Grief Healing Blog updates delivered right to your inbox, you’re cordially invited to subscribe to our weekly Grief Healing Newsletter. Sign up here.

© by Marty Tousley, RN, MS, FT, BC-TMH

Caregiving and Hospice, July 25 - July 31

From Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• Excellent article @ChicagoSunTimes: Start planning to help your elderly parents, http://ow.ly/2jc8y via @AgeWiseLiving

• @NHPCO_news: "Embracing our dying," an article by Rev. Richard Benson, CM, http://bit.ly/am2NPm 

• @Kathy_Brandt: If you missed Atul Gawande's interview on NPR's Fresh Air, you can listen to his take on end-of-life care here, http://tiny.cc/oa1rx

• @hospice_news: The Paradox of Hospice http://nyti.ms/cyqIYB

• Stunning post by pediatrician remembering his care for infant at end-of-life: "Long, rambling, somewhat cathartic - all Atul Gawande's fault," http://bit.ly/9oSIzz , via @doclake

• Brad Stuart, MD: Talking with patients about their impending death | KevinMD.com, http://bit.ly/9LGw60 

• Excellent commentary! @doclake: @GeriPalBlog: REALLY Letting Go: Beyonde Gawande http://bit.ly/9jmqas 

• Wendy Harpham, MD: Hospice and hope aren't mutually exclusive: The "H" Word: Oncology Times, http://bit.ly/9JrydU

• @GeriPalBlog: Atul Gawande New Yorker Article "Letting Go," http://bit.ly/d6gARm

• @NHPCO_news: Powerful article, "Letting Go: What should medicine do when it can't save your life?" http://bit.ly/aamQKy

• @ctsinclair: "Letting go" - Great article from 'Best medical writer in US' via @doclake in @newyorkerdotccom , http://tiny.cc/5chve 

• @OneLifeTherapy: Life Before Death Campaign working to break down silence around death, http://bit.ly/aEPxkU 

• Very helpful! @caregiving: One Way to Judge a Nursing Home (NY Times), http://nyti.ms/cPEILT 

• @doclake: @kevinmd: End of life blogging benefits and questions raised http://ow.ly/2h4O9 - by our own @ctsinclair

• @JohnReaves: Avoiding "learned helplessness" in caregiving, http://wp.me/pNT5q-8g via @EmpowerAbility 

• @peternity: Healing power and benefits of having an animal companion in your life, http://tinyurl.com/ydhnj6q 

• Phillip Toledano's stunning photographic essay on last days with his father, via @ctsinclair , http://bit.ly/bHC5L

• @mission_hospice: Hospice Patient Savors Chance To Cook Four-Course Meal (Chicago Tribune), http://bit.ly/9hiMwH

• @DianaSebzda: @ctsinclair @brigid22 @hospicepharmacy Great article! Destigmatizing Dying through Social Media by Jeanne Dennis, http://huff.to/dBNi0h

• @DianaSebzda: @myOH_AgingWell Tips for downsizing - you can't take it with you, http://bit.ly/2VtFrZ 

• Providing emotional, physical support to veterans: America's VetDogs http://bit.ly/dhGrgk

Caregiving and Hospice, July 18 - 24

From Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• @hfahospice: Marketplace Series on End-of-Life Care, Part 2 on Palliative Care, San Diego Hospice, http://tinyurl.com/39gs6yj 

• Hospice nurses, palliative care specialists help demystify the process of dying, http://bit.ly/d1cHck 

• @ALZHEIMERSread: Keeping The Love Alive: Redefining Family And Grieving Loss, http://bit.ly/9gbPzA 

• @thaddeuspope: Competing streams of revenue keep patients away from facing their dying, http://bit.ly/92WQmO

• @BoomerLivingNow: Six Tips to Aging Gracefully, http://ow.ly/2dQoa

• @myOH_AgingWell: Let the arguments begin: When siblings care for an aging parent, http://bit.ly/96Vl5U

• @AgeWiseLiving: Fantastic post on Compassion Fatigue via @Agingabundantly (I agree!), http://bit.ly/9rNgcQ

• @SanDiegoHospice: Emergency checklist for caregiving, http://bit.ly/9nR6KL 

• @JohnReaves: Alzheimer's experts advise: Don't hesitate to get paid help, http://ow.ly/2cGHm

• @hospicepharmacy: Demystifying the process of dying, http://bit.ly/9MjWTg 

• @SanDiegoHospice via @GeriCareFinder: Wondering how to pay for home healthcare services? http://bit.ly/aE7rT4 

• Stan Goldberg: The Hard Work of Dying | Open to Hope Foundation, http://bit.ly/b5d9qd 

• How doctors can discuss advance directives with patients | KevinMD.com, http://bit.ly/dyX1X7 

• @hvto Misperceptions in Hospice Spiritual Care, http://post.ly/ne9L

• @hvto Nancy Cronk: My Father's Final Journey in Hospice http://post.ly/nD0H

Caregiving and Hospice, July 11 - July 17

From Grief Healing's Twitter stream this week:

• How doctors can discuss advance directives with patients | KevinMD.com, http://bit.ly/dyX1X7

• @hvto Misperceptions in Hospice Spiritual Care, http://post.ly/ne9L 

• @hvto Nancy Cronk: My Father's Final Journey in Hospice, http://post.ly/nD0H 

• @doclake: NYT take on the recent POLST data, http://nyti.ms/doYZ8W

• @PetsforPatriots: What we're sayin'! Mayo man: how pets help us heal, http://ht.ly/2bOpl 

• @Pallimed: Life Before Death: Best. Website. Ever. http://bit.ly/ckUhvI 

• @kevinmd: Questions patients should be asking their doctors, http://ow.ly/2bdH5 

• 'Basics of Hospice' video series on YouTube (NHPCO), http://bit.ly/bZdWx

• @pamelalyn: Dr. Amy "Caregiver Wellness: From Surviving to Thriving," http://bit.ly/9gc1nU

• @hospicepharmacy: Ethical wills ease passing of loved ones, http://bit.ly/biavBF 

• @hfahospice HFA's Hospice Information Center is featured, http://bit.ly/aLPlXT 

• Poignant! @NHPCO_news: @huffingtonpost: My Father's Final Journey in Hospice http://huff.to/bEsPVg 

• @hfahospice: On teaching end-of-life ethics in medical school + case studies, http://tinyurl.com/35ow68k 

• @PetsforPatriots: How pets help our patriots, body and soul, http://ht.ly/29Wpe 

• @Not_Alone: Department of Veterans Affairs ends unfair treatment for vets with PTSD, http://tinyurl.com/2e49osh 

• @ctsinclair: Palliative Care Isn't Just for the Dying (Free pdf) from @AmJNurs, http://bit.ly/aHLRIf 

• @AgeWiseLiving: Veterans’ Administration Improved Pension Benefit, http://ow.ly/2aPBL

• @GeriCareFinder: @hospicepharmacy: Listening for a loved one's last words, http://bit.ly/daULt5 

• @hospice_news: Standardized Form Improves End of Life Care, http://bit.ly/9CGLhZ 

• Physicians Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) Paradigm explained, http://bit.ly/aeQ8Ip

• @palliativecare @DrJennifer: Some meditation tips to start your weekend off right, http://bit.ly/aIzP3

• @kevinmd: Why patients should be careful of celebrity medical advice, http://ow.ly/28zkJ

• @LegacyConnect: New online support group for caregivers, http://bit.ly/a45e3v 

• @kevinmd: Primary care doctors should discuss organ donation with patients, http://ow.ly/28zkj