A closer look at three phases may bring an answer.
In defining death we need to look closer and begin at the beginning.
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Stages of Loss
This “loss” can be the loss of a wallet, a relationship, or life itself.
“Pseudo” denial…This denial is very important and therapeutic.
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Alzheimer’s Disease and the Right Brain
As director and nurse practitioner of an Alzheimer’s Adult Day Care in Northern California during the early 1980’s, I made contact with one of the most interesting client. Lee was a 70-year-old man with advanced Alzheimer’s disease.
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Life and Death
Ken B. and his dilemma regarding quality of life. This “right-to-die” case brought many questions for our health care professionals. It became very real to me personally because I cared for Ken the last night of his life. I was a staff nurse at Nathan Adelson Hospice and also worked per diem as a private duty nurse on the side. Ken and I became pretty good friends in the short time we knew each other. At first he wasn’t sure about me. He had wanted only the “young nurses.” It made him nervous when he found out that I had
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advocacy
What does death and dying mean to you personally? Has a person close to you died? Do you want to share your own experiences about quality of life or fears about dying? This website offers an incentive for health care professionals, individuals, and organizations to come together and open the channels of communication – the rights of the dying and the rights of the living – to advocate for individual rights.
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Advanced Care Planning
Why is advanced care planning important. I want to be in charge ! I don’t want to be a burden on my family It helps me to realize there will be an end of this life It will take away a lot of the fear of the future and the “what ifs”… My family won’t have to make difficult decisions I don’t want people to suffer while their death is prolonged. These are just some of my thoughts. How about you?
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Quality of Life
Palliative Care is about Quality of Life which can take many forms. There is a Case Study in this website about a gentleman with Alzheimer’s Disease. His attendance at a Senior Day Program is a good example. He became able to communicate positive emotions and creative skills even though his disease process was very “terminal.” How…Maybe just through Unconditional Love ? (Left brain=intellectual and Right brain = intuitive?)
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Suicide…choice or crime.
Quality of Life can also go through change in the mind of a person. I once cared for a young Canadian woman who had attempted suicide after her fiance’ cheated on her. She had come to the United States because of a law. Once upon a time (I think around the 1970’s) if someone found a person who had attempted suicide in Canada and they took them to a hospital, they would then become financially responsible. This young woman sadly said, “If I didn’t die and someone found me, I didn’t want them to be responsible. So, I came here.”
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The Hospice Movement
“Although the Hospice Movement has sincerely brought some positive reinforcements, death and related words (such as terminally-ill) continue to hide in a dark and most often negative corner of the mind. Many professional colleagues as well as friends I’ve met along the way share in the belief that we need to better understand and accept this most profound experience.” By: Suzanne with Vital Comm Lines (visit the Phases of Death presented elsewhere in this Website)
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Safe Passage
What is meant by “Death As a Safe Passage?” It can be viewed in 3 Phases. Phase One – The Love Movement (“Using Death as an Adviser” – a quote from a Carlos Castaneda book.) Phase Two – Prolonged Suffering Versus Supportive Caring (“Whose Life Is It, Anyway?”) Phase Three – Relax, Breathe, and Let Go (“Deathing” or “The Art of Dying”) Please follow a more detailed description under Phases of Death.
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