NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 20
continued from previous page
Thanks to modern medicine and
advances in public health, people
are living longer today. In the U.S.,
the average life expectancy in 2016
compared to the 1880s has more
than doubled to an estimated 79
years old. We welcome this
increase in life expectancy. But at
the same time, patients and
families must bear the economic
burdens of costly treatments and
life-sustaining interventions and in
time incurring significant funeral
expenses as well.
Today death is likely to take place
in a hospital, nursing home or
some other setting outside of the
home where family and friends
can visit. End-of-life care and
dying have moved from the
familiar setting of home, where
family and friends are present, to
being outsourced to institutions
and professionals, where
caretaking and procedures are
performed by strangers. "In
removing death from public view,
sanitizing it out of society and the
home, and by narrowing our
exposure to end-of-life situations,
we have become more fearful of it"
(Spellman, 2014, 168).
In an effort to move away from the
modern world of medicalized and
institutionalized care at the end of
life, the first American hospice,
Connecticut Hospice, was founded
in 1974. Most important was the
change to patient determination in
which end-of-life decision making
and personal choices were
returned to the patient and family.
20
Admittedly, death is one of the
most anxiety-provoking
circumstances that an individual
will face in life. As hospice and
palliative care professionals know,
our society is reluctant to hear
about, talk about, or even think
about death, yet the deaths of
loved ones, relatives, and
acquaintances is an experience
familiar to most people. It's a
universal phenomenon. Yet, like
the proverbial elephant in the
room, most people walk around
the subject of death rather than
acknowledging and addressing it.
People are fearful in facing their
own death and avoid talking about
it because it may upset the family.
As hospice and palliative care
providers, we observe families
who avoid talking about it with
terminally ill loved ones, because
they fear they may upset the
patient or even accelerate the
patient's death through such
discussions, indicating their high
degree of emotional discomfort
with the subject.
communicating about death and
dying. Each death is as unique as
each life, and the emotional
reaction to a terminal prognosis is
going to be different for every
individual and family. "Death is a
biological event that terminates a
life. No life event can stir more
emotionally directed thinking in
the individual and more emotional
reactiveness in those about him"
(Bowen, 1978, 322).
Dying and death can be a
significant emotional threat to its
family members. All families,
however, respond to threats that
are likely to affect the stability of
the family system, such as a family
member with a terminal illness
that leads to death. Illness and
death upset the balance of
relationships in the family.
Direct language about death
indicates a complete and absolute
finality to a person's life while
pointing to the reality of the
situation. Such language also
provides a direct connection to the
reality of what is happening.
A family is an interdependent and
emotionally connected system.
What happens to one family
member will to some degree affect
the other members as well.
However, families differ in
capacity to cope with the anxiety
generated by these life situations.
These patterns of coping with life
challenges are typically
unconscious, automatic emotional
reactions that have evolved from
the coping patterns of previous
generations.
Let's face it: Death is a sensitive
topic, an emotional nodal event in
the life cycle of every family, and
some families have more difficulty
than others in dealing with and
Bowen refers to an 'open system'
as one in which patients and
families are able to effectively
address and cope with stressful
circumstances. He found that
NHPCO NewsLine | Summer 2017
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017
Table of Contents
Virtual Conference (display ad)
Message from Edo
History, Innovation and Trust
Edo Q&A
Summer Listening Tour (display ad)
NHF Gala (display ad)
Lighthouse of Hope Fund (display ad)
Put "Passed Away" to Rest
ACHC (display ad)
Hospice Aides Webinar Series (display ad)
Using Education to Connect
2017 Interdisciplinary Conference
2017 Interdisciplinary Conf (display ad)
Music & Memory
Pioneers of Hospice
NHPCO Career Center (display ad)
2017 Management and Leadership Conf
Advocacy at MLC
NHDD Congressional Briefing
2017 Advocacy Intensive
2017 Advocacy Intensive (display ad)
Virtual Conference 2017
Linda Rock Receives Award
NHPCO Webinars (display ad)
Podcasts (display ad)
Member News
MVI (display ad)
CaringInfo Content Licensing (display ad)
News from NHF
News from We Honor Veterans
Online Resources
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - Intro
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 1
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - Table of Contents
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 3
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - Virtual Conference (display ad)
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - Message from Edo
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - History, Innovation and Trust
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 7
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 8
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 9
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 10
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 11
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 12
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - Edo Q&A
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 14
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 15
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - Summer Listening Tour (display ad)
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - Lighthouse of Hope Fund (display ad)
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - Put "Passed Away" to Rest
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 19
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 20
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 21
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 22
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - Hospice Aides Webinar Series (display ad)
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - Using Education to Connect
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 25
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 26
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 27
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 2017 Interdisciplinary Conference
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 2017 Interdisciplinary Conf (display ad)
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - Music & Memory
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 31
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - Pioneers of Hospice
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 33
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 34
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - NHPCO Career Center (display ad)
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 2017 Management and Leadership Conf
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 37
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - Advocacy at MLC
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - NHDD Congressional Briefing
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 2017 Advocacy Intensive
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 2017 Advocacy Intensive (display ad)
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - Virtual Conference 2017
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 43
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - Linda Rock Receives Award
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - Podcasts (display ad)
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - Member News
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 47
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 48
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - MVI (display ad)
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - 50
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - CaringInfo Content Licensing (display ad)
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - News from NHF
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - News from We Honor Veterans
NHPCO NewsLine Summer 2017 - Online Resources
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