Serving as a hospice caretaker has been a very fulfilling yet complex journey for me. I initially joined Ascend Hospice because I wanted to learn how to communicate with my grandfather, who is slowly succumbing to Alzheimer’s. Not only have I built a deeper relationship with grandfather because of the skills I have learned through … Continue reading “Hospice Care: The Beauty in End-of-Life Care”
Dementia: What Compassionate Care Can Achieve That Prescriptions Cannot.
I have spent the majority of my hospice volunteering experience with a woman in her late 90s with dementia, who I will refer to as Judy. Judy reminds me of my grandmother: They’re both sociable, talkative, strong-willed women who have been changed by dementia. While dementia may seem less harmful than other conditions, in that … Continue reading “Dementia: What Compassionate Care Can Achieve That Prescriptions Cannot.”
Nature’s Course
Through this volunteer experience, I had less experience with hospice patients and more with palliative care patients. As I began looking into this opportunity at the VA, there was no distinction between hospice and palliative care. I fell victim of the social stigma associated with these branches of medicine, seeing them as simply a place … Continue reading “Nature’s Course”
How Hospice Helped Me Cope With My Sick Mother
This year has completely changed my outlook on medicine and the role a doctor should play in healthcare. I had a unique experience in that I was on both sides of the medical world: both as a hospice volunteer and as a family member of a sick patient. Shortly after I had signed up for … Continue reading “How Hospice Helped Me Cope With My Sick Mother”
Unshackled by Fear
The car bumped up and down as its wheels rolled over cracks and holes in the asphalt below. Each bump was like a ticking clock counting down towards the inevitable meeting I would have with a person at the end of his life. I rehearsed in my head over and over how I would greet … Continue reading “Unshackled by Fear”
The Role of the Healer: Medicine’s Lost Art
My time working in hospice care has been filled with important experiences, but I feel as though the relationships I developed with the patients were the most valuable. While there are a number of relationships I could speak about, I feel as though the experiences I had with a particularly challenging patient were the most … Continue reading “The Role of the Healer: Medicine’s Lost Art”
Learning to Deal with Loss
My time volunteering with Ascend Hospice has given me an invaluable opportunity to work on a more personal side of medicine that is difficult for premedical students to obtain. As a hospice volunteer, I have been challenged to provide comfort to patients in extremely vulnerable positions, and to understand how much grief the patient and … Continue reading “Learning to Deal with Loss”
Remembering Lessons
It’s been almost a year since I received a message containing an opportunity to volunteer in hospice care, and I took a few months of thinking before I decided that it would be good for me. One night, I came home so late that my dad had already woken up for the day. I could … Continue reading “Remembering Lessons”
Connection Makes a Difference
I entered this hospice volunteer program with perhaps more exposure to medicine and serious illness than the average student. Over the past several years, I’ve done a lot of shadowing with a trauma and acute care surgery team. I’ve witnessed sickness and death. These experiences have been very informative and important to my growth as … Continue reading “Connection Makes a Difference”
One Act of Kindness
Over the past seven months, my hospice volunteering has been an invaluable experience that has opened my eyes to an area of healthcare that many people tend to avoid. The end-of-life experience is a deeply intimate one and is packed full of emotions, both for the patient and their family. There isn’t much that can prepare … Continue reading “One Act of Kindness”