Literature Review

The art of the obit: Longtime journalist offers tips of the trade Times Colonist, by Pedro Arrais; 4/5/24 Sandra Martin has written obituaries for everyone from Queen Elizabeth II to Margaret Thatcher, Betty Fox — mother of Marathon of Hope runner Terry Fox — Nelson Mandela, Farley Mowat and Jackie Burroughs. ... When she tells the story of an individual’s life and legacy, Martin says, she does it with the reader, not the family, foremost in mind. In that way, her work is different from a family’s death notice. ... “As a journalist, I write for the reader, not the family. That means that it has to be true. What I include has to have had an effect on the subject’s life.”

Jamestown Regional Medical Center employees give over $36K to medical center’s mission The Jamestown Sun; 4/4/24 Jamestown Regional Medical Center employees came together this year to raise over $36,000 through the annual Employee Giving Campaign. The funds raised go directly to the JRMC Foundation, which benefits the community through new equipment, staff training and patient comfort items. onations support cancer care, hospice, equipment and technology, infant loss and bereavement, Family BirthPlace, the Employee Support Fund, Kala's Korner and the Greater JRMC Fund ...

Optimizing RN responsibilities ‘more essential’ than staffing hours: study McKnights Long-Term Care News, by Josh Henreckson; 4/2/24 ... [New] analysis suggests that optimizing the role of registered nurses would be an even more effective way of increasing quality of care. Care quality would strongly benefit from an industry-wide focus on the responsibilities of RNs, the study’s authors said. Specifically, leaders should more actively differentiate RNs from licensed practical nurses, use a nursing practice model framework to maximize the role of RNs and provide RNs with more education in leadership and geriatric care.

American Airlines : Make-A-Wish® and Disney host Wish Flight in support of 28 children battling critical illnesses MarketScreener; 4/3/24American Airlines, Make-A-Wish and Disney will grant the wishes of children battling critical illnesses in celebration of World Wish Month. On April 17, 28 wish families will board the Wish Flight and fly on a one-of-a-kind, chartered plane from Dallas-Fort Worth to Orlando, Florida, to fulfill their wishes to go to Walt Disney World Resort®.

Central Dauphin football building connections with residents at Grane Hospice ABC TV 27 WHTM, Harrisburg, PA; by Amber Charnoff; 4/2/24 Volunteering is a cornerstone of the Central Dauphin football team and over the past 15 years the team has donated their time to Grane Hospice. ... Central Dauphin seniors Kannyon Miller and Elijah McDonald have enjoyed interacting with the residents at Grane. ... Coach McNamee enjoys stepping back and watching these relationships develop. ... “It’s so much fun watching them in action and seeing that room with the interactions between the players and the residents,” McNamee said. “There’s no doubt it’s a win-win. The residents are really enjoying it and our players are really enjoying it.”

Fostering respect and appreciation seen as keys to retaining direct care workersMcKnights Online Forum, by Kimberly Bonvissuto; 3/27/24 Expressions of appreciation and respect can go a long way in addressing senior living’s direct care workforce crisis, according to a panel of direct workers and employers who addressed what makes employees want to stay — or go. ... Nate Hamme, president and executive director of the Ceca Foundation, ... said that the most important part of employee recognition is listening to people. ... He added that there is a science to recognition backed by research into what motivates people and implementing programs around that. ... Recognition programs, Hamme added, should focus on IMPACT: inclusive, mission-aligned, public, authentic, consistent and timely. 

Vietnam veterans group salutes Mish, the World War II vet in hospice care who adopted them NBC News KGET.com, Bakersfield, CA; by Robert Price;  4/2/24Ray Mish’s military service to this country ended with World War II, but his service to the community of Bakersfield and to his fellow veterans never ended. As the number of Kern County veterans of World War II gradually diminished over the years, and Ray Mish saw the brotherhood of fighters he so cherished slowly erode, he looked elsewhere for that special sort of camaraderie. He found it in a generation-younger group of local Vietnam War veterans. ... This week [as Mish rests at home receiving hospice care], 24 days before his 100th birthday, a dozen members of Bakersfield’s Vietnam Rat Pack converged on his home in north Bakersfield. ...

Man with chainsaw assaults Vermont hospital workers, destroys property Becker's Hospital Review, by Madeline Ashley; 4/1/24 A man was taken into custody by Vermont State Police after assaulting staff and destroying property with a chainsaw at St. Johnsbury-based Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital. State troopers apprehended Tyler Roy, 27, on March 25 in the hospital parking lot "actively assaulting staff," according to a March 31 Vermont State Police news release. Mr. Roy was taken into custody and is cited to appear in Caledonia County Superior Court on April 6.

Instead of an elegy for my dying brother Santa Cruz Sentinel, by Stephen Kessler; 3/31/24Week before last I wrote about my elder brother Bruce, the racing driver, film director, deep-sea fisher, boat designer and global circumnavigator, who was on the last laps of his extraordinary life. ... I found him at home in hospice care, in a hospital bed by the big slider off the balcony in his seventh-floor apartment in Marina Del Rey with a lovely view of the marina and all its pretty white boats with their slender masts afloat on the dark-blue water. ... 

North Carolina restaurant fulfills woman’s dying wishABC News WGNO, by Raven Payne; 4/1/24It’s an act of kindness that cleared away a cloud of grief, crossing state lines. A North Carolina restaurant owner drove six hours to deliver what ended up being the last meal for a woman on her death bed. ... On her deathbed, Bowers had one last wish, a pork plate from Outer Banks restaurant Mama Kwans. But Simmons wondered how they could make it happen. After all, they lived six hours away in West Virginia.

Why a Texas system hasn't hired a travel nurse in 30 years Becker's Hospital Review, by Kelly Gooch; 3/28/24 Beth Schmidt remembers the last time Fort Worth, Texas-based Cook Children's Health Care System hired a travel nurse, and it was not recently. ... Many hospitals and health systems increased their reliance on travel nurses during the pandemic to fill vacancies. However, a number of organizations are now making efforts to decrease their dependence for financial reasons. ... [This organization has had 15-20 years success with] the Winter Plan, a program ... [that] allows workers to temporarily become Cook Children's employees for four to six months to help augment the health system's nursing staff. 

Touching graduation ceremony for Fulton County student at her grandfather’s bedside in hospice WSB-TV 2 Atlanta, by Berndt Petersen; 3/27/24 A graduating senior from Cambridge High School wanted to give her grandfather, who is in hospice care, one last gift. He wanted to attend her graduation ceremony. Channel 2’s Berndt Petersen shares how they brought the ceremony to him.