Tag: death and the medical system

EOLPodcast

Ep. 505 How Death Doulas Fill the Gaps in End-of-Life Care with Kacie Gikonyo RN

kwyattmd

Learn how death doulas are improving end-of-life care in our medical system by tending to things that often get ignored.

Portrait of Kacie Gikonyo, RN and Death Doula, guest on End-of-Life University podcast episode discussing how death doulas support better dying experiences.

In this episode, I’m joined by Kacie Gikonyo, founder of The Death Doula Collective and Death Doula School. Drawing on more than a decade of nursing experience, Kacie shares how death doulas are helping to transform end-of-life care by addressing the emotional, spiritual, and relational needs that often go unmet by the medical system. We discuss the gaps in Western medical care, the shifts needed in how we approach dying, and how death doulas are bridging the divide with presence, advocacy, and compassion. Learn more at her website:

deathdoulakacie.com

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • The limitations of Western medical care at the end of life
  • What death doulas provide that hospitals and hospice often cannot
  • How cultural mindset shifts could improve death care for everyone
  • Why presence and non-medical support are essential for a good death
  • Training and certification insights from the Death Doula School
  • Stories of transformation from Kacie’s doula practice

Links mentioned in this episode:

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu, and to everyone who bought me a coffee or donated on Paypal! Your contributions make all the difference and ensure this podcast stays ad-free.

EOLPodcast

Ep. 391 Dying in America: A Journalist’s Exploration with Ann Neumann

kwyattmd

Learn about this journalist’s research into “the good death” and what she learned through seven years of study and travel across the U.S.

My guest Ann Neumann is a journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Harper’s magazine, The Baffler, Guernica magazine, and elsewhere. After caring for her father at his end of life she became a hospice volunteer and began to research the meaning of a “good death” in this country, which led to her book The Good Death: An Exploration of Dying in America. She shares some of the things she learned about death as she traveled the country and listened to opinions, beliefs, and stories about what constitutes a good death. Learn more at her website:

www.annneumann.wordpress.com

Get the book here

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • How Ann’s experience caring for her father at the end of his life inspired her research for the book
  • How Ann and her family felt unprepared for the actual dying process even though they were receiving care from hospice
  • How the “gentle” marketing of hospice and death care services can obscure the reality of the challenges of dying
  • The tragedy of “false hope” being offered to patients rather than factual information
  • Where Ann found inspiration for each of the topics she covered in the book (e.g. medical aid in dying, pro-life movement, religious influence on dying, disability issues, prison hospice)
  • Why “dignity” can mean something different to people who live with disabilities
  • The extensive work needed to overcome racial disparities in end-of-life care and restore trust

Links mentioned in this episode:

If you enjoy this content please share it with others and consider leaving a review on iTunes. Thanks again to all supporters on my page at Patreon.com/eolu, especially my newest patron Jason P. and thank you also the anonymous person who bought me 5 coffees! Your contributions make all the difference.