{"id":138,"date":"2016-04-20T09:50:35","date_gmt":"2016-04-20T13:50:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/?p=138"},"modified":"2016-07-11T15:35:50","modified_gmt":"2016-07-11T19:35:50","slug":"hospice-reflection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/hospice-reflection\/","title":{"rendered":"Hospice Reflection"},"content":{"rendered":"

When given the opportunity to volunteer with hospice patients at the Wayne Center in Wayne, PA, I was eager to help but also a little apprehensive. My mind was fresh with the death of my grandfather, who had been diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy just years earlier, a degenerative neurological disease with no known cure. Watching my grandfather and my family grapple with his disease was extremely painful and exposed me to an uneasy reality: there isn\u2019t always a triumphant cure or a happy ending. I am typically fiercely goal-oriented, always wanting to find the solution to the next problem. For my grandfather, there was no solution, and he passed away my sophomore year of college. I decided to join the hospice program because I thought doing so would make my grandfather proud. I am pleased to say that I believe I accomplished this goal, while also learning other things about myself and about medicine along the way.
\nDuring my experience as a hospice volunteer, I have gained exposure to different patients navigating the complexities of dying. I was fortunate enough to make relationships with two women, Ester<\/em> and Patricia<\/em>. My experiences with these women were very different \u2013 Ester<\/em> was talkative and enthusiastic while Patricia<\/em> was often quiet and unresponsive. From my time with Patricia<\/em>, I learned to appreciate the beauty of silence: sometimes it doesn\u2019t matter that we aren\u2019t conversing. I learned that simply being a presence could mean so much to someone. With Ester<\/em>, I felt more at ease, and we were able to discuss many facets of her life. Just as our relationship was blossoming, I received an email that Ester<\/em> had passed away in her sleep. I had been planning on visiting her that afternoon. I was deeply saddened to receive this news and was reminded instantly of my grandfather\u2019s passing. Prior to this experience, I had suppressed a lot of those painful feelings, and I was now forced to confront them head on. I learned that I am often uncomfortable thinking and talking about death, and this experience has given me an opportunity to explore why I have those feelings.
\nMy experience volunteering with hospice patients has afforded me the opportunity to broaden my viewpoint of how the medical profession provides service to patients. I now have a better understanding that all treatment is not goal-oriented or outcome-driven. Problems cannot always be solved. At times, like in hospice, doctors must focus on service to others by providing comfort and compassion. When I become a doctor, I hope to draw on this experience by seeing patients as human first and foremost, and I hope to treat the person as a whole rather than define a person by their illness.
\nI would like to thank our volunteer supervisor, Marina McGough<\/em>, for helping to organize and facilitate this program. Marina\u2019s<\/em> enthusiasm for the program was very evident and motivated students to have a similar passion for this work. I also think the reflection meetings with Chaplain Joyce Tompkins<\/em> were very beneficial. I found it both helpful and enlightening to be able to discuss the process of death and dying with Joyce<\/em> and with other Swarthmore students.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When given the opportunity to volunteer with hospice patients at the Wayne Center in Wayne, PA, I was eager to help but also a little apprehensive. My mind was fresh with the death of my grandfather, who had been diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy just years earlier, a degenerative neurological disease with no known cure. … Continue reading “Hospice Reflection”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"school":[15],"program_year":[11],"class_list":["post-138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hospice","school-swarthmore","program_year-11"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":327,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions\/327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138"},{"taxonomy":"school","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/school?post=138"},{"taxonomy":"program_year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_year?post=138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}