Tag: hospice and grief

EOLPodcast

Ep. 438 How to Choose the Best Hospice for Your Loved One with Barbara Karnes RN

kwyattmd

Learn tips for choosing the best hospice and asking all the right questions.

This week I welcome back my recurring guest Barbara Karnes RN, hospice nurse, author, speaker, thought leader and expert on end-of-life care. She is the author of ‘the little blue hospice book, Gone from My Sight and the recently published By Your Side: A Guide for Caring for the Dying at Home. Today we discuss why we hope people will choose hospice for care at the end of life and how to choose the right hospice for their loved one. Learn more about Barbara’s work at her website:

www.bkbooks.com

Get the book here.

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • Why we need to do our own research on hospices that are available to us
  • How Medicare-certified hospices can differ from one another
  • The importance of having a primary nurse assigned to each hospice patient
  • Why you need to ask about the availability of inpatient care for private pay
  • Understand that families have to provide the 24/7 care at home
  • Ask how often visits will occur and how long each visit will last
  • Ask if staff members prioritize being there at the time of death
  • Find out how quickly first visit will occur
  • Don’t just go with the hospice recommended by the hospital discharge planner
  • Ask about the quality of bereavement support offered

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 donor Deborah Laukaitis.  Also thank you to Dana Tuttle for buying me a coffee and to everyone who has joined the $10 for 10 Years Campaign! Your contributions make all the difference and ensure this podcast stays ad-free.

EOLPodcast

Ep. 429 Debunking Myths About Hospice Care with Barbara Karnes RN

kwyattmd

Learn how to bust through several common myths about hospice care that persist in our society.

My recurring guest Barbara Karnes RN is back again in this episode to talk about the myths that still persist in our society around hospice care. She shares her own journey of grief after the recent death of her dear husband and how our emotions can change our ability to see what may be right in front of us. We cover the most common myths we’ve encountered from our years of talking about hospice with the general public and what we can do to overcome them. Barbara is the author of the “little blue hospice book” Gone from My Sight and By Your Side: A Guide for Caring for the Dying at Home. Learn more at her website:

www.bkbooks.com

Get the book here

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • How emotions can impact our experiences with hospice
  • Myths about hospice that involve medication management and fears of over-medicating pain
  • Myths that some doctors have about hospice including that it causes people to lose hope and that it’s only appropriate a few hours or days before death
  • Myths about what hospice is, where it is located and how care is provided and paid for
  • Why myths like these are harmful to patients
  • Why we need to get a clear message across about the benefits of hospice

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 those who’ve bought me a coffee! Also many thanks to all of you who joined the $10 for 10 Years Campaign! Your contributions make all the difference and ensure this podcast stays ad-free.

EOLPodcast

Ep. 402 Grief After a Suicide Death: My Personal Story with Karen Wyatt MD

kwyattmd

Learn the story of my journey with grief after my father’s death by suicide and how it may differ from other grief experiences.

In this solo episode I share the story of my own grief experience after my father died by suicide 34 years ago. This is an ongoing journey that has shifted and changed over the years, teaching me a great deal about life, death and grief. The week this episode airs is the anniversary of Dad’s death, so I’m currently processing it once again and thought I would share the story with you. Hopefully this will be helpful to others who are dealing with grief after suicide or trying to help someone who is grieving. I want to decrease the stigma and shame that surround suicide so that we can get better about asking for, receiving, and giving help to those who are suffering. (Note: There are slides that accompany this talk if you watch on YouTube.)

Get my book 7 Lessons for Living from the Dying

Watch on YouTube

Listen here:

This episode includes:

  • The shock and numbness of my first year of grief
  • What I needed from others during my early grieving process
  • Why I couldn’t talk about my father’s death for a long time
  • How hospice opened me to finally begin embracing my grief
  • Why allowing myself to feel anger was difficult but pivotal in my grief process
  • Why it didn’t really matter what other people said to me during my grief experience
  • Why I have compassion for people who couldn’t be there for me
  • How I used rituals and travel to help me with my grief
  • The devastating guilt that accompanies grief after suicide
  • How my grief has changed over the years

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 Mark and Cheri McClure for buying me 5 coffees! Your contributions make all the difference.