End of Life, EOLPodcast

Ep. 147 Green Burial: A Will for the Woods with Amy Browne and Brian Wilson

Learn about a beautiful documentary film that you can include in a community workshop on home funerals and green burial.

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WillWoodsTeamIn this episode I share a “legacy interview” with two of the directors of the documentary film “A Will for the Woods” – Amy Browne and Brian Wilson. This is one of my favorite films and I encourage you to consider bringing it to your community for a screening and discussion about home funerals and green burial.

Learn more about the film here. 

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Sign up for A Year of Reading Dangerously online reading group for 2018 here.

Patreonbecome2xThis episode is sponsored by my supporters on Patreon.com/eolu. Thank you today to Holly Randall for increasing your monthly pledge! I appreciate all of the donors who have been chipping in over the past year-and-a-half to keep this podcast on the air! You can join the team for as little as $1 per month at Patreon.com/eolu.

FEATURE PRESENTATION:

Filmmakers Amy Browne and Brian Wilson  discuss their award-winning film, A Will for the Woods, the story of a man near the end of his life who prepares for his own green burial. This film has been named “One of the 9 documentaries you must see this year” by the TED blog and has won numerous awards at film festivals around the country. In this interview you will learn:

  • what inspired 4 young filmmakers to spend 4 years filming this end-of-life journey
  • what the movie teaches us about death and burial customs
  • how this film can change the funeral industry
  • how to plan your own green burial and create a “green will”

Co-Director/Producer, Amy Browne, grew up in Australia and moved to New York City to study theater at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and film at The New School University. Her film credits include Associate Producer for Crazy & Thief (LA Film Festival 2012) and I Used to be Darker (Sundance 2013), as well as work on The Ballad of Genesis and Lady Jaye (Berlinale & Tribeca 2011). She also recently commenced work as the Producer on upcoming documentary As Worlds Divide. When her sister Sophie introduced her to the concept of green burial, which connects the profundity and beauty of nature with the cycle of death and life, Amy was inspired to further explore the idea through film.

Co-director/Editor, Brian Wilson, graduated from Brown University with a degree in Comparative Literature and History, and works as an editor in New York. Passionate about the natural world and its protection and restoration, he is pleased to be exploring and raising awareness about green burial with A Will for the Woods. He became interested in developing deeper insight into death after his mother died in 2008, and has been grateful to find it through working on this project, which he hopes will offer similar comfort and understanding to many viewers.

Website: www.awillforthewoods.com 

Remember there’s a new episode every Monday! If you enjoy this content please consider leaving a review on iTunes. Until next week –

Face Your Fear          BE Ready          Love Your Life

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End of Life, EOLPodcast, Hospice

Ep. 119 The Dying in America Project with Carolyn Jones

Learn about this documentary film project that examines the dying process through the eyes of nurses, directed by award-winning filmmaker Carolyn Jones.

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Carolyn_JonesIn this episode I share an interview with Carolyn Jones, an amazing filmmaker who has turned her attention to the death and dying process here in the U.S. Through interviews with nurses all around the country and by following 4 patients on their end of life journeys Carolyn hopes to demystify the dying process and spur conversation about how to do it better.

Learn more at www.dyinginamerica.org

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

downloads_wordmark_white_on_coralMany thanks as usual to all of the supporters who have made donations at Patreon.com/eolu! I am forever grateful for your generosity. You can become a patron for just $1 or $2 per month by signing up at Patreon.com/eolu.

I’d also like to thank all the listeners who have written in over the past few months to express their gratitude for this podcast and for the EOL University Interview Series! I couldn’t do this without you showing up to listen in and join the conversation. Thank you to Susan O’Brien, Terry Lindsley, Don Dahlheimer, Karen Britton, Marzette Ellis, and Louise Kelly for your messages of support! 

FEATURE PRESENTATION:

Today I welcome Carolyn Jones an award-winning filmmaker who has created the Dying in America Project. Her project consists of interviews with 50 hospice and palliative care nurses, and will follow the journeys of four hospice patients when it has been completed. Carolyn will share her inspiration for the project and the goals she has for the future.

In this interview you will learn:

  • How Carolyn’s past experiences led to this project
  • How Carolyn created the Dying in America videos
  • What can be learned from the Dying in America website
  • How Carolyn hopes this project will help change the way we die in this country

Carolyn Jones is an award-winning photographer and filmmaker who specializes in telling stories that shed light on issues of global concern. Her first book, Living Proof: Courage in the Face of AIDS, was published by Abbeville Press and accompanied by shows in Tokyo, Berlin, the USA, and at the United Nations World AIDS Conference. She directed a television series for Oxygen Media called Womenshands as well as Women… on Family, a program for PBS. Carolyn founded the non-profit 100 People Foundation which creates educational films and curricula for school children worldwide. She has spent the last two years interviewing nurses from all over the country for the book and documentary film: The American Nurse. For more information about Carolyn and Dying in America, visit the websites below. The Dying in America website, supported by a grant from the Jonas Center for Nursing and Veterans Healthcare, is the first phase of the project, which will culminate in a feature length documentary that will seek to change the way Americans confront death.

Websites: www.carolynjones.com

                www.dyinginamerica.org 

Remember to tune in every Monday for a new episode, subscribe on iTunes and leave a review if you enjoy this content!

Until next time …

Face Your Fear           BE Ready          Love Your Life

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End of Life, EOLPodcast

SPECIAL EPISODE: Extreme Measures in the ICU with Dr. Jessica Zitter

Learn how ICU and Palliative Care Physician Dr. Jessica Zitter is changing the culture of critical care medicine in America.

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jessicazitterMy guest Dr. Jessica Zitter, MD, MPH, is committed to changing the current paradigm of end-of-life medical decision-making. In today’s medical culture, the dying are often put on what she calls the “End-of-Life Conveyor Belt.” They are intubated, catheterized, and die attached to machines, frequently without even knowing they are dying.

 

In her work, Zitter builds bridges between patients and the healthcare team, striving to offer care aligned with each patient’s values and preferences. She has come to see that patients empowered with knowledge can die well, even beautifully.

Dr. Zitter practices the unusual combination of Critical and Palliative Care medicine at Highland Hospital, a public hospital in Oakland, California. She attended Stanford University and Case Western Reserve University Medical School and earned her Masters in Public Health from University of California, Berkeley. Her medical training includes an Internal Medicine residency at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and a fellowship in Pulmonary/Critical Care at the University of California, San Francisco. She is also co-founder of Vital Decisions, a telephone-based counseling service for patients with life-limiting illness.

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Dr. Zitter is the author of the new book, Extreme Measures – Finding a Better Path to the End of Life, published by Penguin Random House in February 2017. She is a regular contributor to The New York Times on these issues, and her writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The Huffington Post, Pacific Standard, and JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association. She is featured in the short documentary Extremis, which won top honors at the Tribeca and San Francisco International Film Festivals, has been nominated for an Academy Award, and is now streaming on Netflix.

Purchase Extreme Measures here.

This interview will cover:

  • How Dr. Zitter became aware of the need for a culture shift in critical care medicine
  • How our life-saving technology has become a nightmare for some patients
  • The changes needed in medical education to help physicians provide better end-of-life care to patients
  • How patients and their loved ones can prepare for end-of-life decision-making
  • Advice for choosing the best healthcare proxy

Learn more about Dr. Zitter’s work:

Website: www.jessicazitter.com

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/jessicazitter

Twitter: www.twitter.com/JessicaZitter

Be sure to tune in every Monday for the regular weekly episodes of the EOLU Podcast and until then remember:

Face Your Fears.                       BE Ready.                    Love Your Life.