Charlemont - Tyler Memorial Library

"People often do not avail themselves of hospice care available to patients and families dealing with terminal illness, because they don't understand what it entails. Many wait until their last few days to request this extraordinary comfort care instead of using the full six months available to them through Medicare and other insurance options. Demystifying Hospice describes, through stories, good news about end-of-life issues. Written from the perspective...

"Defining Hope is a documentary that weaves the stories of patients with life-threatening illness, and the nurses who guide them as they make choices about how they want to live, how much medical technology they can accept, what they hope for and how that hope evolves. It is about optimism and helps us define what 'quality of life' really means. The film focuses on palliative care, end of life issues, and hospice care. It offers a hopeful message...

Many hospice social workers must address spiritual issues with their clients, but do not feel competent to do so effectively. This targeted volume draws upon multidisciplinary theory and research to advance a relational model of spiritually sensitive hospice care. The book will help readers elevate their spiritual competence and foster a relationship with their clients that will enrich the experience for all involved. Spirituality and Hospice Social...

"The Miracle of Hospice; The Personal Journey of a Hospice Nurse is designed to offer information and emotional support to a wide audience of people who may be faced with their own death or the death of a loved one, or those who just want to be informed about what hospice is and what it is not. By merging elements of memoir, reflection, information and gentle self-help, The Miracle of Hospice demystifies the work of hospice as it ministers to the...

"In Dear Life, palliative care specialist Dr. Rachel Clarke recounts her professional and personal journey to understand not the end of life, but life at its end. Death was conspicuously absent during Rachel's medical training. Instead, her education focused entirely on learning to save lives, and was left wanting when it came to helping patients and their families face death. She came to specialize in palliative medicine because it is the one specialty...

"...Finish Strong is for those of us who want an end-of-life experience to match the life we've enjoyed. We know we should prepare, but are unsure how to think and talk about it, how to live true to our values and priorities, and how to make our wishes stick. The usual advice about advance directives and conversations is important but woefully inadequate. This book describes concrete action in the here and now to help live our best lives to the end....

"There's a quiet revolution happening in the way we die. More than 1.5 million Americans a year die in hospice care-nearly 44 percent of all deaths-and a vast industry has sprung up to meet the growing demand. Once viewed as a New Age indulgence, hospice is now a $14 billion business and one of the most successful segments in health care. Changing the Way We Die, by award-winning journalists Fran Smith and Sheila Himmel, is the first book to take...

"Joy is a word rarely associated with death. Yet joy is ultimately the effect in this collection of stories about Janet Wehr's experiences in witnessing the death of her patients during her fifteen years as a hospice nurse. Her first-hand account gives illuminating and comforting insight into the spiritual aspect of what occurs in the transition between life and death, highlighting the importance of the mind-body-spirit connection as it manifests...

A Palliative Care Book of the Month: IAHPC (International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care)
From a medical insider comes a plea to renew medicine's mandate to relieve suffering. The philosophy and practice of palliative care shows how this is possible by easing pain, by embracing the human side of illness, by inviting patients to be full participants in their care, and by incorporating the wisdom of these injured storytellers...