I started as a hospice nurse in 1981 after spending several years trying to learn how to care for people who were dying. There just wasn’t any material about end of life. People generally died in the hospital, in a private room at the end of the hall, alone. No one was there, no one saw how death came. If and when a person was in their home, dying with family present, the family brought their own fears and misconceptions about death and generally just had “horror” stories to tell about what happened when Dad died. Hospice was the “new kid” on the block saying, “We can support, comfort, and guide people and their families as the end of life approaches. No one needs to be alone anymore during this life moment.”
It was from my experience being a hospice nurse, whose goal was to be with the patient and family during the months, weeks, days, hours, and then at the moment of death, that I began to actually learn about how people die.
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