Here’s how one of our new patients described how pleased she is with her decision to choose hospice care: “Because we never know if it’s three more months, six more months, maybe a little longer. Of course, the feeling that God and I have is that I probably won’t make it through Christmas.”
When asked how she felt about that, she said, “I’m OK. I get to see my mother and my dad again, and my grandson and my three little puppies. No, I’m not afraid of stepping over.”
Last week a young doctor told me how delighted she was when she discovered hospice and palliative care. Her medical training had caused her to feel like death was the enemy and her job was to stand between death and her patients and fight death, like an action hero, keeping it away and protecting them from it. She now knows that hospice and palliative care helps people to face death calmly and accept death as a natural part of life. Our work in hospice care helps people to live the best they can during the time they have left. It is rewarding work.
We each needed help when we were born, and our life began. We will need help when it comes to its end. Someday we can give to others the same joy in serving others that our patients give to us, by letting them help us.
Written by:
Gary Williams MTh, BCC
Chaplain