Literature Review

Penn State Hershey Medical Center nurses ratify new contractNBC WGAL TV 8; by Lori Has More; 4/27/24 More than 2,000 registered nurses working at Penn State Hershey Medical Center have ratified a new three-year contract. The union says their new deal will increase pay rates by an average of 22.5%, include more time off and new initiatives to address staffing needs. Editor's Note: These changes reflect national trends for recent healthcare strikes and high turnover rates: pay rates, work-life balance, and staffing. Additionally, we're seeing demands for improved workplace safety as a common theme for healthcare professionals.

Mercy Hospital surgeon teaches high school student future of surgical medicine CBS News TV 13 Sacramento, CA; 4/21/24 A unique experience for high school students, taking a step into the world of robotic surgery. Mercy Hospital hosted students to learn the ins and outs of the future of surgical medicine.

Village Hospice hosts Vietnam Veteran’s Breakfast CBS KCTV 5, Kansas City, MO; 4/10/24 Village Hospice provides many services to support their residents, including ways to honor their residents that are veterans. Jillian hears about a recent Vietnam Veterans’ Breakfast and how it celebrated Veterans living at John Knox Village. 

Good Sam Center of Caring opens half of new home this week WFIR News Talk Radio and WDBJ 7 TV, Roanoke, VA; by Gene Marrano (text) and Aaron Housch (tv); 4/1/24Perhaps today or sometime in the next few days half of the new Good Sam Hospice Center for Caring on Cove Road northwest will be open for business; a wing dedicated to office staff and volunteers. An update from WFIR’s Gene Marrano: [audio]. See video tour of Center for caring here.

Lubbock author publishes "I'm on Hospice: A Children's Book for Processing & Coping With a Terminal Illness" CBS WDTV 5; book is by Sydney Crane (author) and Nina Broen (illustrator); tv interview 3/14/24While a child is in the care of a hospice team, they will likely hear words and phrases that they do not know or have questions they are unsure how to ask. Presenting information through Riley's story, I'm On Hospice encourages conversations and facilitates a space for questions, discussion, and understanding within any relationship dynamic surrounding a terminally ill child. Riley is a nine-year-old boy whose life purpose is all about baseball, and he shares how each of his hospice caretakers helps him be comfortable and safe.Editor's Note: This book is available on Amazon and Kindle. The description above is from Amazon, as the tv interview is video.

Hospice of Southern West Virginia receives grant WVNS Bluefield, WV; by Ashley Davidson; 2/26/24The Hospice of Southern West Virginia received a grant from the Beckley Area Foundation. The grant totals $33,962.15. “We’ve had numerous awards from them over the years that allow us to grow and achieve… It allows us to innovate and advance and all in the names of service to our patients and their families,” said Jeri Knowlton, Director of Public Relations for HOSWV.

OBI says proposed bill would improve quality of life for at-home hospice patientsNews on 6; 2/16/24Our Blood Institute is bringing awareness to an Oklahoma Senate Bill it says would improve the quality of life for at-home hospice patients. The OBI said Senate Bill 2186 would make access to blood transfusions easier for end-of-life patients who receive care at home. 

85-year-old Arizona doctor arrested for allegedly aiding in New York suicideNBC4 New York, by Jonathan Dienst; 2/6/24An 85-year-old former doctor from Arizona is facing manslaughter charges for allegedly aiding in a suicide of a woman at a New York motel last year, according to authorities. 

Pals for Life helps animals lend a paw while treating community members with pet therapyABC News, by Nick Iadonisi; 1/19/24Kristen Abbott as Program Director of Pals for Life is bringing pet therapy across the Delaware Valley. She guides animals as they lend a paw, and lift the spirits of our community members. The pets will visit people in various locations, such as "elder care homes...mental health hospitals...hospice centers," said Abbott.

Civil rights activist Elmore Nickelberry dies at 92WREG Channel 3 TV, Memphis, by Megan Fayard and Ashley Paul; 12/30/23MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Elmore Nickelberry, a civil rights icon who marched with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the fight for higher pay and better working conditions for sanitation workers, has died at the age of 92, according to his family. ... [He] went into the hospital around Thanksgiving ... Soon after, he was placed in hospice.

Doctors are pushing Hollywood for more realistic depictions of death and dying on TVKQED, by April Dembosky; 12/28/23We've seen it so many times. A young, handsome man rushed into the emergency room with a gunshot wound. A flurry of white coats racing the clock: CPR, the heart zapper, the order for a scalpel. Stat! Then finally, the flatline. This is Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider's biggest pet peeve. Where are the TV scripts about the elderly grandmothers dying of heart failure at home? What about an episode on the daughter still grieving her father's fatal lung cancer, ten years later? "Acute, violent death is portrayed many, many, many times more than a natural death," says Ungerleider, an internal medicine doctor and founder of End Well, a nonprofit focused on shifting the American conversation around death.

New documentary revisits Terri Schiavo caseAxiosDecember 13, 2023A new documentary revisits the decades-old legal fight concerning Terri Schiavo—a Tampa Bay woman who remained in a persistent vegetative state for over ten years before she died in 2005. “Between Life & Death: Terri Schiavo’s Story” explores how the pro-life movement used Schiavo to further their aims and examines how her right-to-die case laid “the groundwork for a post-Roe America.”