School: Haverford

As many of the first prompts noted, death was never an aspect that I had considered when I decided to be a pre-med student freshman year of college. When the opportunity came to become a volunteer in a hospice, I was reluctant to apply: What if a patient brought up death during a visit? How … Continue reading “Centering the Patient: Making a Difference as a Hospice Volunteer”

When I first signed up to volunteer with this program, I didn’t know what to fully expect as the only experience I had had with death and end of life care were my own grandparents and great-grandma. Even though my grandfather had received palliative care, I didn’t know the full scope of what caring for … Continue reading “Realizing what’s truly important in life”

Over the course of my training and practical hospice volunteer experience, I connected and felt entrusted by my assigned patient and developed a deeper understanding of hospice care. My patient Alice is a 93-year-old lady with Alzheimer’s, although the reason she was sent to hospice was unknown to us due to privacy. Alice is small … Continue reading “importance of nonverbal communications with hospice patients”

Since first viewing Tom Jenning’s Being Mortal and reading Atul Gawande’s Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End, I was struck by the idea of the two “unfixables.” The discreteness of the two items yet their broad and encompassing nature, when identified, speaks to the inherent complexity behind what are seemingly simple words: … Continue reading “Understanding End of Life: A reflection about mortality and the patient experience”

I was paired with a patient for whom I will use the pseudonym Jane. When I first met her, she would not respond to my questions and even turned her head away from me in frustration when I spoke. So for our first meeting, I just watched an old Western movie with her before she … Continue reading “Emotional Comfort at the End of Life”

I have gotten the chance to visit with three different patients through the Pre-Med Hospice program since the end of last fall. One of my more meaningful hospice patient relationships is with the patient I am currently seeing. Jerry is a senior who loves to talk and make friends with people, however, he has both … Continue reading “Hospice Care and the Importance of Companionship”

I remember the monitor beeps as I first walked into the room. It looked stale, the walls were white along with the sheets and the floor. I turned to my patient, her eyes kind, but her voice shaky. Her blue eyes were the only form of communication we had at our first meeting. I could … Continue reading “Greeting card”

The first patient I saw passed away one week after I got to know him. I knew his name, his background on paper, and that he liked philosophy. That’s currently all I know, and probably all I ever will know about him. I wasn’t expecting much for my second patient. The first time I met … Continue reading “Take Two”

I use the pseudonyms for my patient (Yvette Thomas). My most meaningful hospice patient experience was my experience with Yvette Thomas. When I was given a preview about Yvette Thomas it was mentioned that she loved patient encounters. Every time I came in Yvette would smile and say, “oh yes”. I would color in cats … Continue reading “The Reality of Change”

We don’t often acknowledge this idea, but opposites give one another meaning. They serve as reference points for one another, and we can only perceive one in the context of a life where the other exists. For example, the happy moments we experience can only be valuable to us once we know of sadness (and … Continue reading “Life and Death: Necessary Opposites”