Literature Review

These sisters help families donate brains to scienceBrain&Life; 2/2/24Tish Hevel, 65, talks about the Brain Donor Project, a nonprofit group she and her sister, Annie McManis, 54, established after their father died of Lewy body dementia. ... "Our father was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia in 2014. In researching the disease, we kept reading about brain donation. Our father had always wanted to donate his body, so we knew he would want to donate his brain as well. And we knew scientists needed tissue. But the process of donating was complicated."

Avow Kids awarded grant for children experiencing lossFlorida Weekly - Naples Ediition; 1/25/24Avow has been awarded a $55,300 grant from Champions for Learning as part of a multi-agency Future Ready Collier collaboration project to fund resiliency programming. Funds are designated to Avow Kids, which provides support to children ages 5-17 who are experiencing grief or loss in any capacity. The grant will ensure the continued availability of the program and its resources, which are offered at no cost to participants

A psychologist offers advice on 'being there' for aging parentsForbes, by Mark Travers; 1/22/24As our parents age, we find ourselves on a challenging emotional journey, one that often remains unspoken but deeply felt. It’s the journey of anticipatory grief, a complex mix of emotions and thoughts that arise as we witness our parents becoming older, weaker and more frail. This concept, often overshadowed by post-loss grief, is equally devastating.

Inside AccentCare’s new, centralized approach to bereavement careHospice News, by Jim Parker; 1/23/24After five years of planning, the post-acute services provider AccentCare recently re-organized its bereavement care services, which are now coordinated from a national center.

Grief care’s 2024 outlook in hospiceHospice News, by Holly Vossel; 1/11/24Finding the right balance of support and career development for bereavement care professionals is key to recruitment and retention as hospices combat labor strains. ... The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requires hospices to offer bereavement care for a minimum of 13 months following a patient’s death. Many providers extend this care to communities across their service regions, regardless of whether the deceased was a patient.

Local non-profit organizations receive over $424,000 in grant funding from Dignity HealthKEYT3, by Dave Alley; 1/16/24Dignity Health Central Coast handed out $424,496 in grant funding to nine community non-profit partnerships in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties. ... Grief Awareness Treatment and Education Project (GRATE): The Community Counseling Center, Hospice of SLO County, and the Alzheimer’s Association of the Central Coast are partnering to address grief related behavioral health needs in our community (GRATE: Grief Awareness Treatment Education.) 

‘Men who are grieving, or facing up to a terminal illness, can come here to share their experience’MSN, by Roland White; 1/14/24When volunteers from the Marie Curie charity were looking for a place where men could support each other through serious illness and bereavement, there was really only one option. They built a large shed. That’s no surprise. Sheds are very handy for storing garden tools and spare cans of oil, but they also serve an even more important function as places of male refuge. We escape to the shed in times of distress, or when we just need a bit of peace.

Handbook of Social Justice in Loss and Grief, in Routledge's Series in Death, Dying and BereavementRoutledge, Series in Death, Dying and Bereavement, edited by Darcy L. Harris and Tashel C. Bordere; pub. 2016, available The Handbook of Social Justice in Loss and Grief is a scholarly work of social criticism, richly grounded in personal experience, evocative case studies, and current multicultural and sociocultural theories and research ...  at the very junctures when people are most vulnerable—at points of serious illness, confrontation with end-of-life decision making, and in the throes of grief and bereavement. Harris and Bordere give the reader an active and engaged take on the field, enticing readers to interrogate their own assumptions and practices while increasing, chapter after chapter, their cultural literacy regarding important groups and contexts.Editor's Note: Are you eager to take a deep dive into Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in our worlds of loss and grief? Immerse yourself in this definitive, thanatological (the study of dying, death, and bereavement) research and its applications for you.

Impatiently waiting for my mom to dieYour Tango, by Kai Larsen; 1/10/24... I never hear her voice or see her face or think it’s her when a light burns out. She’s just gone. I write my portion of her obituary while she is still alive, but only because there’s not much to do while you’re living on the floor of the hospital that is designated for dying, and because it is taking her so long to do so. ...

The importance of emotional support services in mental healthYonkers Times, 1/8/24... ROLE IN HOSPCE CARE: In hospice settings, emotional support is crucial for helping both patients and their families manage the complex emotions associated with terminal illness. This support includes providing a safe space for expressing feelings like fear, grief, and anxiety and offering coping strategies. It aims to ease the emotional burden and improve the quality of life ..., recognizing the profound impact that a terminal diagnosis can have on both patients and their loved ones.

My father, the giant: His life's work was caring for the people he lovedThe Atlantic, by Ross Andersen; 1/3/24Yesterday afternoon, my dad, Erik Dybkaer Andersen, lay sleeping at home in his hospice bed when a calm settled over his body and he drew his last breath. He was 78. For more than a year, we had known that cancer would take him; only the hour was uncertain. But it is still a shock to find him missing from his bedroom, from his family, from the world. It is too early to measure, much less put into writing, all that he meant to us. For now, I want only to read his life into the record, and to get across his essence, above all as a caretaker of those he loved.Editor's Note: Access to the full article requires a free trial or subscription to The Atlantic.

Young paperboy volunteers for hospice in memory of grandparents BNN, by Ayesha Mumtaz; 1/3/24Jack Hartley, a 14-year-old paperboy, has taken up a noble cause close to his heart. Channeling personal loss into community service, Jack is volunteering his time to distribute leaflets for the East Cheshire Hospice, an organization that holds deep significance for him and his family. Both of Jack’s grandparents, Philip and Olwen Hobson, received care at the hospice before their demise just three months apart in 2015.Editor's Note: I wish the word "demise" had not been used, as it has (to this reader) negative connotations similar to the word "expired," for life's natural processes of dying and death. Otherwise, this story might spark ideas for creative ways to involve younger volunteers--with appropriate parental / adult supervision--for other meaningful ways to contribute toward your hospice mission.