Literature Review

A Review of "Heartwood: The Art of Living with the End in Mind" by Barbara Becker CU Anschutz; by Darcy Campbell, AGNP-D, ACHPN; 5/14/24 This year, one of our [small group] readings was the book, Heartwood; The Art of Living with the End in Mind, by interfaith pastor Barbara Becker. The book is composed of small vignettes from her life that explore death and dying. Many of her experiences as a hospice volunteer are captured as well. Her book was to be about death, but she learned that in writing about death she really explored what it means to live. Heartwood is the inner core of a tree. While dead it does not decay as it is supported by the outer living rings of the tree. Becker, describes Heartwood as the ideal metaphor for our life, “where life and death cannot exist separately from each other.” ... Working in palliative care, we too are forced to look at our own mortality.

800+ California nurses to receive 22.5% pay hike Becker's Hospital Review; by Kelly Gooch; 5/10/24Members of the California Nurses Association have approved a new labor contract with Washington Hospital Healthcare System in Fremont, Calif. The four-year agreement covers roughly 840 nurses, according to a union news release. It was approved by union members May 3 and by the Washington Township Health Care District board of directors May 8. ... According to the CNA, the new deal includes a 22.5% across-the-board increase in wages over four years. It also includes "precedent-setting standard expanding infectious disease protocols and workplace violence protections"; language that protects union members' ability to take meal and rest periods; and protections for part-time positions, according to the union.Editor's Note: These new terms reflect nationwide trends of healthcare/nurse strikes and reasons for leaving their jobs, ie., pay, patient safety, workplace violence, work/home life balance, and more.

Beyond medicine: 'Being Mortal' challenges healthcare's approach to death and dying SwiftTelecast; by Shawn Butlere; 5/11/24 This video from the “Frontline” series, titled “Being Mortal,” follows Dr. Atul Gawande as he explores the complex relationships between doctors, patients, and end-of-life decisions. Based on his best-selling book “Being Mortal,” Gawande discusses how medical training often falls short in preparing doctors for the realities of death and dying. The documentary highlights personal stories, including Gawande’s own experiences with his father’s illness and death, to illustrate the challenges in balancing hope with realistic outcomes and the importance of quality life in the face of terminal illness. 

St Oswald's Hospice launches 'emotional' portraits exhibition highlighting end-of-life care Chronicle Live, United Kingdom; by Sam Volpe; 5/11/24 An emotional new exhibition has opened highlighting "the bond that doesn't die" when a loved one dies and promoting the care offered by St Oswald's Hospice. Entitled Portraits with Purpose: Continuing Bonds, and created by Fenham artist Leanne Pearce, the exhibition features twelve portraits of people who have received or are receiving palliative and end-of-life care at St Oswald's. Leanne has created the artwork working closely with the families - who have experienced care and support from the charity at the most difficult of times. 

Two documentaries could bring attention, not all of it wantedMcKnights Senior Living - Editors' Columns; by Lois A. Bowers; 5/13/24 The past couple of weeks have brought news of two upcoming documentaries that promise to shine a spotlight on senior living, warts and all. One, “Caregiving,” will focus on professional and family caregivers “as the United States’ long-term care system threatens to tip into crisis,” according to public media station WETA. The two-hour film will debut on PBS in spring 2025. No doubt the project will draw attention because one of the executive producers is Bradley Cooper, who was a caregiver to his late father when he had lung cancer. "That was a wake-up call for me, ..." he said ... Another project premieres sooner — [today 5/14], in fact — on Paramount+. Whereas “Caregiving” includes someone famous, “Pillowcase Murders” centers on someone infamous, at least to the readers of McKnight’s Senior Living. The three-part docuseries is about the actions of convicted killer Billy Chemirmir, who was sentenced for two murders and suspected in the deaths of more than two dozen older adults in Texas, most of whom were women residents of senior living communities.

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley and activist Denella Clark join forces to help women giving care to terminally ill loved ones MSN / The Boston Globe; by Adrian Walker; 5/11/24  Ayanna Pressley and Denella James Clark are sisters in a sorority no one wants to join. The congresswoman and the educator-activist are both women who have lost their mothers. Or, more precisely, women who have shared the experience of being principal caregivers to mothers who are terminally ill. ... As they supported each other in the process of grieving, Pressley and Clark thought of the many people — especially the many women — who act as caregivers to their loved ones in the final stages of their lives. So this Mother’s Day Weekend they are launching the Pressley-James Lovin’ Gestures Fund, which will provide financial help to people providing care to terminally ill close relatives. ...

A Mother’s Story: Grieving a child on Mother’s Day KEYT3, Santa Barbara, CA; by Patricia Martellotti; 5/10/24For many, Mother’s Day can be a bittersweet reminder for mothers who have lost a child. Rosy Bucio lost her daughter, Nina, age five from a rare childhood cancer. ... Bucio offers ideas to help those who are grieving cope on Mother’s Day. Find out how Hospice of Santa Barbara also helped Bucio through the grieving process on News Channel 3.

2024 Hastings Center Cunniff-Dixon Physician Awards announcedThe Hastings Center email; 5/9/24The Hastings Center and The Cunniff-Dixon Foundation are pleased to announce six recipients of awards that honor physicians for providing exemplary care to patients nearing the end of life. The awards are based on technical competence, personal integrity, empathic dialogue with patients, active engagement with the family and loved ones, practical and heartfelt communication regarding advance directives, and compassionate alleviation of suffering. Congratulations:

It’s ‘unbelievable’ Walmart couldn’t figure out how to operate primary care clinics profitably, expert saysHealthcare Brew; by Maia Anderson; 5/7/24Walmart’s decision to shutter its Walmart Health initiative at the end of April left some healthcare industry experts wondering: If Walmart—the largest company in the world by revenue—can’t profitably operate primary care clinics, who can? Given the retailer’s enormous scale, it’s more likely Walmart simply decided to focus on more profitable aspects of healthcare, one expert told Healthcare Brew.

Maddy Baloy had only 1 year to live after cancer diagnosis — and chose joy: 'Didn’t let anything defy her’ People; by Lizzie Hyman; 5/8/24 Even surrounded by loved ones in hospice care at her Florida home, Maddy Baloy craved adventure. “She kept saying, ‘I want to go outside and go swimming,’ ” her fiancé Louis Risher tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. It was how Baloy had approached each day from the time she was diagnosed with terminal cancer in February 2023, to the end of her life on May 2, 2024. In just over one year, the 26 year old gained the admiration and support of millions who followed her journey on TikTok as she worked her way through a 19-item bucket list of skills to learn, people to meet and places to go. “Maddy did not let anything defy her,” Risher, 27, says. “She was always just about love.”

Exploring grief: Cleveland Institute of Art student copes with loss through her paintings FreshWater, Cleveland, OH; by Karin Connelly Rice; 5/8/24 Maddie Cantrell, 21, and a painting major at the Cleveland Institute of Art (CIA), grew up in the small town of Traveler’s Rest, South Carolina, with her grandparents, Alaine and Jim Sosebee, living just around the corner. ... Now a rising senior at CIA, Cantrell has found her art to be an outlet for coping with the sudden deaths of her grandparents. The result of her effort her exhibit is, “Living with Grief,” four paintings that illustrate the experience of living with grief, at Hospice of the Western Reserve’s The Elisabeth Severance Prentiss Bereavement Center, ... “My work is centered around having to grow up without [my grandparents] and making a bridge between where I exist and where they exist,” Cantrell explains of her works. “... How would I speak to them if I could? Or, how would we have a conversation, even though they're not here?” ...

27 hospitals, health systems cutting jobs Becker's Hospital CFO Report; by Kelly Gooch; updated 5/3/24A number of hospitals and health systems are reducing their workforces or jobs due to financial and operational challenges. Below are workforce reduction efforts or job eliminations announced this year. ...