Volunteer Newsletter - September 2022 |
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WELCOME DR. MONTY DOWNS TO KAUAI HOSPICE!
ARTICLE: "Tackling New Challenges: Dr. Monty Downs Takes on New Career as Hospice Medical Director"
By Monique Kemper, The Garden Island Newspaper
August 3, 2022
"After retiring from the Wilcox Emergency Department after 50 years, Dr. Monty Downs wasn’t satisfied simply closing one door, he was looking to open to another. When the opportunity to continue to help patients in the community came available, he gladly took it. Downs has now taken on the role as Medical Director at Kauai Hospice in Lihue, providing much needed end-of-life care for some of the island’s neediest residents." Continue reading...
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CALLING THE DEPARTED - JAPAN's WIND PHONE
The wind phone is a telephone booth in Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, Japan, where visitors can hold one-way conversations with deceased loved ones. Initially created by garden designer Itaru Sasaki in 2010 to help him cope with his cousin's death from cancer, it was opened to the public in 2011 following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami (which also caused the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster).
In an interview, Sasaki stated: "Because my thoughts couldn't be relayed over a regular phone line, I wanted them to be carried on the wind." The glass-paned telephone booth contains a black, disconnected rotary dial telephone on a metal shelf and a notebook placed alongside for messages of remembrance. The wind phone has since received over 30,000 visitors and a number of replicas have been constructed around the world. Watch this brief YOUTUBE VIDEO (1:45 min).
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DEFINITION OF AN ELDER
The Live Oak Regenerative Community
An Elder is a person who is still growing, still a learner, still filled
with potential, and whose life continues to have within it
promise for and connection to the future.
An Elder is still in pursuit of happiness, joy and pleasure,
and their birthright to these remain intact.
Moreover, an Elder is a person who deserves respect and
honor and whose work it is to synthesize wisdom from long-life
experience and formulate this into a
legacy for future generations.
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YOUTUBE: LAST LAUGH
(3:15 minutes)
In India, where death is an especially taboo subject, the Indian Association of Palliative Care (IAPC) is using comedy as a way for terminally ill patients to cope with their illness. Featured are several patients who, with training from India’s best stand-up comedians, can laugh at death in their comedy routines as they perform for their doctors, families, and others. The public awareness campaign #LaughAtDeath is helping not just the patients but also their families and friends. Watch excerpts of this comedy jam.
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BLOG POST: INTRODUCTION TO IMPERMANENCE - GOODBYES
by Seth David Branitz
February 3, 2022
Gifted storyteller and songwriter Seth David Branitz shares his poignant narrative, posted by Circle of Friends for the Dying. His story begins: "My eldest son was with us for the difficult duty of ending our geriatric cat’s suffering. We joined in profound grief and love and stood together in a hallowed place that only comes with goodbyes. I dug a hole, we buried the cat, said some words, and cried. He was far too young for this, I thought, but so was I. A few bedtimes later, he put it together. He realized that we all die. That he, too, will die. He’s never been the same." Continue reading…
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SUPPORTING A GRIEVER - 64 WAYS TO "MEET GRIEVING PEOPLE WHERE THEY'RE AT"
By Eleanor Haley
“Meet them where they’re at” is a common (and sound) suggestion for how to support a grieving friend or family member. In this context, it means bridging the gap between your own expectations and where the other person is coming from. It means intentionally listening to understand their values, needs, desires, and even their trauma-responses. This is a terrific list compiled for the What's Your Grief website - a great online resource! Reflect on these 64 supportive descriptions...
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GOOD QUOTES - ON LISTENING
By Doug Smith, author of "The Tao of Dying-A Guide to Caring"
For a symphony to be beautiful,
There must be spaces between the notes.
Otherwise, there would only be a cacophony.
The dying will provide the notes.
The caregiver will provide the spaces.
Be attentive.
Listen.
Reflect.
Allow.
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CONTACT: Rayne Regush, Volunteer Coordinator
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