- How are you different from Hospice?
My services have a broader scope and are more personalized for everyone involved.
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- When would I begin to use your services?
It varies depending on what is needed. Usually my services are requested when a person has been diagnosed with terminal illness. People who have no family or family not in the immediate area often employ my services earlier as I can help with the personal as well as paperwork and other logistics.
- What does a typical visit look like?
As everyone is unique and has different circumstances my services are tailored to what is needed and where I can provide the most support. A visit can be a couple of hours several days a week for someone who has a year or more to live and wants to be as active and engaged as possible to several hours daily or even eight to twelve hour shifts for someone who is nearer to death. Where there is family who want to be involved 2-3 hours several times a week can be very helpful for them to process.
- What are the benefits of having an RN navigate the medical/hospice system?
My education, licensing and experience of the medical and hospice systems enables me to explain patient diagnosis, plan of treatment, type of medications, etc and so provide helpful support and information for the dying one as well as family which can affect decisions made for the best of all concerned.
- Is there any kind of licensing to be an End of Life Consultant?
There is no official licensing board or exam as of yet for either End of Life Consultant or Death Doula’s. My nursing degree and my 30 years experience as a nurse, the many courses I have taken as well as my more interpersonal work and experience has given me an intuitive sense and a level of presence and listening to tailor how I can best support my clients and family and provide what is most helpful and needed.
- What if a person has no spiritual belief around death?
My experience has been that people may not believe in a religious definition of death but can relate to the natural order of things as in nature and so fully participate and see death as a cycle of life which can be meaningful and engaging.
Also with the many deaths I have experienced I have seen things which have helped me to see death is a continuum into something else, what that is, remains the mystery.
- How do you see death as a journey?
Because I view death as part of the natural life cycle.
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