School: Swarthmore

Watching my parents take care of my grandparents throughout the past years, I struggled when my parents would become frustrated and fed-up with the slowness and unresponsiveness of their own elderly parents. It was difficult to think that one day my own parents will need elderly assistance, and I will be the one to provide … Continue reading “Hospice Reflection Paper”

I started out sophomore year as the eager pre-med student ready to take on all the challenges that came with the workload. When given the opportunity to interact with real patients I was really excited. But I was also terrified. I did not know how I was going to deal with death. I have always … Continue reading “On Death and Dying: Thoughts of a 20-something-year-old on the life before the dying process”

For the past five months, I have been visiting a patient with mental retardation who has changed the way I think about aging and dementia. When I first met her, she greeted me with a huge smile and showed me her collection of coloring books. Her passion for coloring and her constant grin made her … Continue reading “Changing My Perspective on Death”

Becoming a hospice volunteer was one of the most impactful and important decisions I have ever made. The experience I had and the relationships I have been building in the past months have changed me and are continuing to influence my development as a student on the biomedical path and more importantly, as a person. … Continue reading “Lessons from being a Hospice volunteer”

When I first met Bob, I wondered how this was ever going to work. I had no way to communicate with him; any question I asked him would simply float around in his mind for a while, then leave just as quickly. In the first few weeks, much of the time we spent together was … Continue reading “Bob and Me”

One patient I visited was named Sarah, and she liked to talk with her hands. She was usually in the dining room, so I would kneel next to her while she sat at one of the tables. This was one of the few patients I visited who could still speak and make eye contact, and … Continue reading “Lessons from Hospice Care”

I was matched with a patient suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. She was not very verbal since our first meeting. I spent most of the time just sitting with her and holding her hand. I did not talk to her a lot since I found it to be very awkward to hold a one-way conversation—I am … Continue reading “Power of Voice”

My only client was Ms. Jeanette Cunniff, a 102 year old widowed mother of 2 (youngest being 77 years old), therefore I will describe what made my relationship meaningful with her. Based on the training that I had with Ascend Hospice, it doesn’t seem like Ms. Cunniff is a typical hospice patient, and that she … Continue reading “The Sound of Music and Connection”

Before coming into this program, my only experience with Hospice care had been through my grandmother’s late years. As a grade school student at the time, I didn’t have a grasp of what was truly going on around me. All I knew was that my grandma was sick, and these people were making her comfortable. … Continue reading “Ascend Hospice Reflection”

I am fortunate enough to have never experienced the death or dying of a loved one. In our society, it seems as though death has been neatly removed to a comfortable distance, pushed out of our thoughts and hidden from view under a cloak of feigned invisibility. When death does come, as it inevitably must, … Continue reading “Changing Perspectives on Death and Dying”