At the end of the fall semester last year a patient who we\u2019ve been with for over a year passed away. At first it was hard because we were close to her and her family. After she passed we were given another patient who ended up passing around one to two weeks after we met them. This same situation happened to our next three patients. So we lost four patients in over a month.<\/p>\n
Again we were given another patient who had cancer and lived with his wife. These two were inseparable and you could feel their love when you walked through the door. His wife showed us her scrap books and how they remodeled their houses, went on trips all around the world, their golf trips, and so much more. Her husband, our patient, ended up passing away a few weeks later. His wife wanted us to still visit and do bereavement with her and keep her company.<\/p>\n
At this time she would show us her other scrapbook collections, coloring books of flowers which she loved to do, and her collection of lighthouses. My partner and I would share stories with her about places we\u2019ve traveled, what we like to do for fun, and what we plan to do in the future. There was never a dull moment when the three of us were together. I\u2019m glad we were able not only to be there for our patient but also to help his wife through the grieving process. It gave me a sense of fulfillment. They liked hearing our stories just as much as we liked hearing theirs.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve definitely grown more this year than ever. I\u2019ve become more comfortable with death since I\u2019ve lost so many patients this year. I\u2019m not saying it\u2019s easy losing them but I\u2019ve learned how to process it better. This process allows me to focus on others and to take a step back from my own issues. I\u2019m more compassionate and understanding of people\u2019s needs. When I\u2019m there I listen and put them first. I try to ease the burden and pain that they may be feeling. While I\u2019m there and at the moment my job is to help them forget their worries and let them find peace. That to me is the more spiritual part of hospice. When I leave I also find a certain peace within myself.<\/p>\n
Every patient has a different story, different illness but they all seek the same thing at the end, dignity, comfort and emotional support and I\u2019m so glad to be able to help them. Giving them some meaningful moments and seeing them smile lets me know I made a difference. This experience each year makes me grow as a person and makes me definitely want to apply to medical school and explore my options in different fields. Learning how to listen and pay attention to details is a great trait for medical school. My hospice journey has been such a gratifying experience and I\u2019ll take away not only many lessons in life but also memorable memories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At the end of the fall semester last year a patient who we\u2019ve been with for over a year passed away. At first it was hard because we were close to her and her family. After she passed we were given another patient who ended up passing around one to two weeks after we met … Continue reading “My Hospice Experience”<\/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":[32],"program_year":[56],"class_list":["post-2614","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hospice","school-bucknell","program_year-56"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2614","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=2614"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2614\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2735,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2614\/revisions\/2735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2614"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2614"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2614"},{"taxonomy":"school","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/school?post=2614"},{"taxonomy":"program_year","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.athenainstitute.com\/ahp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/program_year?post=2614"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}