Literature Review

Share your story of grief with USA TODAYUSA Today, 12/24/23[USA Today is offering readers the opportunity to share their personal grief experiences by completing a two-page survey.] We know so many people are grieving losses of all kinds: children, parents, pets, jobs, identities. It can help to talk about it—and sometimes writing can be an outlet. We encourage you to share your story with us.

‘Memory Makers’ helps grieving children and teens in AugustaWRDW-TV (Augusta, GA), 12/22/23Augusta, GA—A new program is giving kids and teens a better way to handle grief, and it won’t cost you anything. The holidays can bring on heavy emotions, not just for adults who’ve lost a loved one, but for children too. The program is called Memory Makers. It’s held at Affinis Hospice on Walton Way, and it’s for ages 4 to 17. Volunteer Coordinator Jessica Hands says she started Memory Makers because her father died when she was 15. Her goal is to help create a safe space so young people can give their pain a purpose. “This space kind of gives them the opportunity to scream. We scream. We have torn paper up and thrown it to let our anger out. We laugh, we cry. It gives them a space to do all of that without worrying about how it may impact someone else’s emotions,” she said.

We’re Thinking About Pain All WrongNew York Times, By Maia Szalavitz. Opinion Writer, 12/24/23For many years I’ve written about people suffering intractable pain, and how their agony and increased risk of suicide and death has been ignored in the rush to end the overdose crisis. ... Between five million and eight million Americans currently rely on opioids to treat chronic pain, and thousands need them for end-of-life pain at any given time. Despite their risks, opioids remain the best available pain treatment for many patients—and there is little evidence that addictions are prevented or treated by denying them to those who have already used them safely for years. Concerns about the harms associated with indiscriminate cutbacks have been raised by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and major medical organizations. Nevertheless, doctors continue to abandon these patients while the overdose crisis worsens.

Las Vegas teen leads holiday donation for kids in hospice careKLAS-TV (Las Vegas, NV), 12/21/23Las Vegas, NV—A 14-year-old Las Vegas teenager is doing what she can to make the holiday a little merrier for children in hospice care. Aiyana Castro led her third Christmas donation drive with her mother for hospice patients in the Las Vegas valley. ... The donation drive team is focusing on children being treated by ProCare Hospice of Nevada, ... “Doing this stuff is not just helping the kids that are on our service,” ProLife Child Life Specialist Brooke Kowalski said. “But it’s helping everyone who is involved in their medical journey.”

State tries to remove ‘veil of arbitration secrecy’ in memory care elder abuse caseMcKnights Senior Living, By Kimberly Bonvissuto, 12/19/23In a bid to remove a “veil of arbitration secrecy,” one state attorney general filed a motion to intervene in a lawsuit alleging elder abuse at a memory care facility. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes filed a motion to intervene on Friday in an abuse and neglect lawsuit against Senita Ridge, the memory care community on the campus of Ridges at Peoria in Peoria, AZ. A judge’s Oct. 31 order moved the case to arbitration, but Mayes charged that the secrecy of arbitration removes transparency in an elder abuse case, which violates the state’s Adult Protective Services Act. The act requires notification to the state’s top attorney when a lawsuit alleging elder abuse or neglect is filed, allowing the state to track and potentially join the case.

Hospice of the Chesapeake celebrates highly successful first year with NICHEAnne Arundel (MD) PatchDecember 20, 2023Pasadena, MD—Hospice of the Chesapeake is celebrating the graduation of seven registered nurses and 46 certified nursing assistants in a prestigious training program. It marks a highly successful first year as a member of the Nurses Improving Care for Healthsystem Elders, or NICHE, program of New York University Rory Meyers College of Nursing. The program helped the not-for-profit hospice organization train nurses to become key leaders in the NICHE Leadership Training Program. 

Tired of the waiting lists for CA public universities, nursing students increasingly turn to expensive private programsPress-Democrat (Santa Rosa, CA)December 18, 2023... Private nursing schools are teaching more students each year, filling in the gaps as California hospitals face increasing staffing shortages and public, four-year universities struggle to grow. According to the California Board of Registered Nursing, in 2021 nearly 64,300 students applied for just 16,600 spots in associate, bachelor’s, and master’s degree nursing programs. About 55% of those spots were at private institutions. 

San Diego County’s first class of physician assistants graduates, seen as key to easing staffing shortagesSan Diego Union-TribuneDecember 18, 2023... Point Loma Nazarene University minted its first 28 physician assistants Friday, injecting a fresh set of trained troops into an ongoing battle to keep up with the increased demands for health care caused by an aging population and an exodus of burnt-out medical providers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the first graduating class of the university’s new physician assistant program and the first crop of locally trained PAs for any institution in San Diego County. 

Christmas tree dedicated to those who died in hospice care in 2023 stolen in EllensburgSource One (Columbia River Basin, WA)December 18, 2023Ellensburg, WA—In an unfortunate turn of events, a treasured Christmas tree, integral to a local hospice care volunteer group’s annual remembrance event, was reported stolen this past weekend. Hearts & Hands of Kittitas County, formerly known as Hospice Friends, has been a beacon of compassion and support in Ellensburg, dedicating their time to assist those in hospice care. The stolen tree, a centerpiece for their “Tree of Love” event, was intended to honor individuals served by the organization who passed away in 2023. This significant event, originally scheduled for January 25, 2024, not only serves as a memorial but also plays a crucial role in fundraising efforts for the group.

Walgreens’ VillageMD to shutter more clinics in cost-cutting planModern HealthcareDecember 15, 2023Walgreens-backed VillageMD is exiting Indiana. The primary care provider plans to shutter all 12 of its Village Medical practices across the state, effective Jan. 19, a VillageMD spokesperson confirmed Friday. Some of the locations are co-located with Walgreens stores, but the stores are not closing, the spokesperson said. The closures stem from Walgreens’ larger cost-cutting plan announced in October that involves closing 60 VillageMD-operated clinics in five markets. Earlier this month, VillageMD said 10 clinics in the Jacksonville, Florida, area will close in January. Walgreens is seeking $1 billion in savings, most of which will come from pharmacy operations and scaling back capital projects by about $600 million. 

Anderson Cooper’s Newest Assignment—Grief (His Own)New York TimesDecember 17, 2023It took Anderson Cooper more than a year after his mother’s death to begin clearing out her apartment. It was an emotionally draining task, one that he put off—something his mother may have anticipated, because she left him a road map. He began finding notes she had left him, tucked away in drawers and sealed containers. Written in her hand on heavy stationery, they acted as a kind of treasure hunt to their shared grief. Mr. Cooper’s mother, the heiress and fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt, was one of the most famous women in the world, courted by Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando, photographed by Richard Avedon, and a muse to Truman Capote, who is believed to have based the character of Holly Golightly in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” partly on her. Just sorting through her personal papers would have been challenging for her son after her death at the age of 95 in 2019. But the apartment was also the final resting place of objects that belonged to Mr. Cooper’s father, Wyatt Emory Cooper, an author and screenwriter who died in 1978 when Anderson was 10, and his older brother, Carter Cooper, who died in 1988, when they were both in their 20s, after jumping from his mother’s balcony.... Mr. Cooper, 56, began keeping voice memos on his phone as he was sorting through his mother’s belongings in 2021. They grew into a podcast on grief, “All There Is With Anderson Cooper,” which began its second season in November. For decades, the longtime anchor of CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360°” has chronicled other people’s suffering. Now, he has become a correspondent from the land of his own grief.

Carver Middle School students show compassion, support for hospice patientsLaurinburg (NC) ExchangeDecember 15, 2023Laurinburg, NC—December is usually a short month for Scotland County Schools due to the holiday break. However, several students at Carver Middle School have gone above and beyond with their time and efforts. Two school organizations, the Blue Blazers and Students Against Violence Everywhere (S.A.V.E) have embraced the true spirit of the season by supporting Scotland Regional Hospice through their respective community service campaigns.