School: Haverford

Participation in the hospice program has completely changed my perspective on life. A life fully lived is one to celebrate, but the ending of a life is often painful. I will forever cherish being a part of my hospice patient’s life at such a critical point. Around two years ago, my own mother was in … Continue reading “Hospice: A Program With An Impact for All”

Whenever I walk into Mary’s room, a blue notebook sits behind the armchair on the wall heater by the window. At the end of each visit, I pick up that notebook and describe the moments that I had with Mary for the past hour. I describe how Mary was feeling that day, whether she was … Continue reading “Intentionality and Awareness”

The first time I walked into Carol’s room, I had no idea what to expect, I was filled with nervous fear, not only of meeting someone new, but also of knowing that this person was close to the end of their life. How would I be able to build a connection with someone, knowing that … Continue reading “Training in the Beauty of Death”

With all that has been going on in the world with coronavirus, I have had a lot of time to think about what makes life so meaningful. I have come to the conclusion that one of the most important things in my life is human interaction. The past few weeks, despite feeling like I am … Continue reading “Minimizing Loneliness”

Serving as a hospice volunteer this academic year has been a valuable experience in my development as a future healthcare provider. My experience in the program was atypical in many respects, but it raised my awareness of palliative care in ways that I could not have imagined. My experience was partly atypical because I began … Continue reading “Seeing the Other Side of Palliative Care”

Throughout my volunteer experience, the relationship that I have created with my patient, who I will call Richard, has given me a new perspective on what it means to have a life and live one. Throughout this year, our relationship has grown. I’ve seen his guard come down, met his family members, laughed with him, … Continue reading “Hard work: Building a Relationship with a Patient and a Relationship with Death”

For the past six months, I have been visiting Helen. I’ve gotten to know a few things about her life, but the woman herself has changed drastically in the time I have known her. Helen has late-stage dementia and doesn’t remember most of the things I know about her. For our first few visits, we … Continue reading “Ever-Changing Visits with Helen”

Greg and I had been laughing and swapping college stories for the better part of an hour when the window’s shifting sunlight caught his eye. He then looked over to that side of the room, where just a few weeks earlier, his wife used to lay in her cot. He was silent for a moment, … Continue reading “A Hundred More Questions about Living”

I was really nervous when I walked into the dementia unit for the very first time. Even though we had an extensive orientation, I still didn’t know what to expect. But my nervousness disappeared the moment I saw my patient Anne in the dining room. The first word that come to my mind to describe … Continue reading “Hospice Volunteer Reflection”

I was lucky to have had the same patient, Sally, for the entirety of my participation in the hospice program. Creating a meaningful relationship with Sally was easy; she is talkative and loves having company. We spent most of our time together talking about her family. She has 5 children and a number of grandchildren, … Continue reading “What More Can We Do?”