Addressing barriers to providing optimal end-of-life care
Physicians providing care in the community and long term care (LTC) facilities in Alberta, Canada, were interviewed to determine what they perceived as barriers and facilitators to providing optimal end-of-life care.1 Among their concerns, they reported motivational barriers related to families, citing the family’s lack of knowledge about frailty, unrealistic care expectations and expressions of […]
Comfort Basket For The Caregiver
In the palliative care books, Integrating a Palliative Approach: Essentials for Personal Support Workers, and Essentials in Hospice and Palliative Care: A Practical Resource for Every Nurse, I use the image of a comfort basket to refer to non-pharmacological (non-medicinal) items that can help promote comfort and provide support when caring for a person who […]
COVID-19 resource: Recognizing difficult breathing and strategies for supporting comfort
Preparing for COVID-19 because it IS personal
The COVID-19 virus is coming to a home nearby. How near? And how serious? Even if the curve is flattened, the reality is that people will get sick, and people will die. The deaths could include me or Ted. That is a reality. This morning my dear colleague Elizabeth Dougherty shared an EXCELLENT article, This […]
COVID-19 – living with and facing death
The COVID-19 virus is coming to a home nearby. How near? And how serious? Even if the curve is flattened, the reality is that people will get sick, and people will die. The deaths could include me. That is a reality. This morning my dear colleague Elizabeth Dougherty shared an EXCELLENT article, This Pandemic is […]
Is this the perfect time for you to read, review and reflect on dying and the “what-if” questions?
Daily we learn more about the COVID-19 virus. We hear about outbreaks, number of cases and number of deaths on a global and local level. The topic of death is on the table in a very real way. Death due to COVID19 is a reality for those who are very frail and vulnerable. People living […]
Reflections on “social hibernation”
As the world responds to the COVID-19 virus, as travel and group gatherings are discouraged and conferences are cancelled, Ted and I are hibernating. There could not be a better time for us to be called “closer to home”. We are so grateful that we were able to hold Geordie’s funeral at a time when […]