Reply #22: I worked as a hospice aide for three years. [View All]

[devinsgram]

I sometimes had as many as three people die for me in one week, sometimes just hours after I arrived. I can't even begin to tell you how grateful the families were for the help they received and I have many new friends from those families.

One thing I know for certain is that this country needs to have more education on the process of death and dying. People shy away from talking about it because it scares them and that is understandable. But that is where the mistake is made.You have to remember that the ultimate goal for every human being is death. The more you come face to face with that prospect and discuss it the easier it becomes to accept it.

The one thing I have found is that when hospice arrives, the patient is relieved that someone is there to talk to them about what is going to happen to them. Why? Because the family has not accepted it and they keep trying to deny what is happening. This isolates the patient and they feel all alone.

I remember this lovely older lady who invited her priest to her home to discuss her death. She was looking for some kind of comfort of what was going to happen to her from this priest. He totally tried to steer her away from the topic because he could did not want to deal with it. When he left, she was devastated and left with no comfort or answers. Here was a man of the cloth and could he not even give her the compassion to ease her mind. When I left her, I sat in my car and cried at what I had just witnessed.

I have felt so much sympathy for Michael Shiavo, because till you walk in his shoes, you have no right to criticize him. Death is a private issue and the three ring circus that was going on in Florida was the most disgusting situation I have could ever have imagined to be going on at a hospice.