School: Swarthmore

In my culture, discussing death is taboo. These conversations are typically reserved for older individuals. Young people like me are obliged to avoid this topic due to its perceived scariness. However, my perspective on this difficult subject has changed drastically after volunteering in the Athena hospice program. For instance, through the program’s training, group discussions, … Continue reading “Shifting Perspective on Death: Good Death”

Going into this Hospice experience I lacked confidence and felt uncertainty over my ability to provide patients comfort and then deal with their looming death on my own. Every visit I have with my patient – “Rebecca” – has allowed me to realize that my shortcomings were only a reflection of preconceived notions. Going in … Continue reading “End-of-life Care Does Not Look the Same for Everyone”

I have had three patients during my time under Compassus. During the fall semester, I spent many hours getting to know “Beth” and “Rachel”. Rachel had the most beautiful laugh and although communicating was difficult, I was able to learn so many fascinating things about her life before she graduated from hospice. I became close … Continue reading “Growth of a New Passion”

My first visit to a hospice facility was at a well-funded center filled with attentive staff, decorations on the wall, and patients in common rooms laughing and talking. The air was filled with joy and could have been mistaken for a hotel at first glance. Every patient had their own room filled with personal belongings … Continue reading “Finding Color”

Unfortunately, I was not assigned a patient throughout my time as a volunteer at Athena Institute Hospice. Consequently, I can not write about any Hospice related patient interactions. Nonetheless, I am able to reflect on some meaningful information that I learned over the course of the program. For instance, learning about hospice care through the … Continue reading “My Experience Volunteering for Hospice”

The hospice experience through the Athena Institute is one that will forever change my perspective. As introduced by Dr. Atul Gawande, the first fear that a doctor will experience is the fear that they will not be able to most effectively treat a patient or solve their problem. Although this worry did cross my mind … Continue reading “The Importance of Being Ready”

The Hospice experience in itself was unexpected but enlightening. Although I was not able to form a meaningful relationship with a Hospice patient due to scheduling circumstances, the prompts and meetings provided the framework to comprehend the faults within the indoctrinated mentality to use medicine as a means to prevent death. Doctors are trained to … Continue reading “The Good Physician’s Battle with Death”

During my time with hospice, I was able to learn a lot about what it truly means to die a happy death. I enjoyed the enlightenment on this topic and its importance in applying it to my own life. Along the way I have gained a variety of lessons that I wish to implement in … Continue reading “The Value of Life and Death”

The notion that death and old age are beyond our control, and that sometimes we need to let go sounds archaic– Of course, it does. We live in a world that is highly technocentric, and the thought that “we are all going to age and die one day” has lost its value. This value loss … Continue reading “A new understanding of biomedicine”

When I first learned about Hospice and what it entailed, I experienced a range of emotions. At first, it was something I very much was interested in doing, until others started to refer to the emotional burden it would entail. That was when my interest turned into apprehension, especially as those around me casted doubt … Continue reading “A new side of medicine”