Volunteer Training Online

Do you want to be alone when you are sick?

Many times people have a temporary illness, like

a cold or infection, and find being alone is okay.

With a terminal illness, there is a fear that is

looming which no one can explain.  If death is

probably, we know the outcome is to no longer be

living. Who can tell you what happens at that

precise moment of death? Is that a time where

you would really want to be alone?

I consulted with an elderly woman who was

enrolling in hospice.  "I am not afraid of dying" she

said.  "I am afraid of the moment I quit being the

person I know myself to be".

How could I tell her what that moment would be

like?  What I do understand is that there is a

fear we all have about the unknown.  No matter

what our faith or belief we will all be confronted

with the moment we stop being who we know

our self to be.

In that moment, I do not want to be alone.  I

want people who love and care for me to hold

my hand, stroke my hair, and keep their love

for me firmly on the path with me until I separate

I am quite honored at the

WESLACO — Six South Texas College nursing students pondered how they would prepare for the possibility of their own imminent deaths, sitting just doors away from four patients facing that very situation.

It was no surprise the exercise drew tears in the quiet room, said Naila Rodriguez, one of the students in a new end-of-life care program at STC.

The nursing group spent their entire Tuesday at Aurora House, a Weslaco-based specialty care center for patients with a handful of months left to live.

"Imagine saying goodbye to your kids — your everything," Rodriguez said. "What goes through your head as death comes in a few months? What do you tell your family? This gives us patience when a patient is impossible and we don’t know why."

Many would be surprised at the competitive nature of the hospice industry.  Agencies want a high census of patients fitting into a neat package of 6 months or less of life and cost effective care that makes the patient comfortable and the families as well.

When I started marketing hospice 7 years ago, I remember learning everything I could and would still find myself lacking confidence talking to doctors and nurses about referring to hospice.  I found the same old tricks used by other marketers being used by hospice marketers.  For example,