The Heart of Hospice Podcast

Grief specialist Dawn Delahoye is supporting people with terminal illness and their caregivers, promoting intentional self care and accepting help when offered.  After caring for her dad during his experience with Lewy Body Dementia (LBD), Dawn gained valuable personal perspective that made her understand the needs of caregivers.  People who support someone with a neurodegenerative disease (Alzhei...

As a hospice aide and certified End of Life Doula, Cassidy Bastien is helping her clients and their families facilitate and provide meaningful after death care.  She’s cared for people with serious illness for six years and  hosts Death Cafes in her Washington state community.  Since 2022 Cassidy has served the non-profit End Of Life Washington as an Ambassador Volunteer assisting in providing the...

Social Worker Bridget Sumser works to provide support to patients and families in palliative and end-of-life care for over a decade, looking to unearth untended-to grief and sadness as a means to be more in touch with our lives.  In this meaningful conversation, Bridget discusses how grief shows up in all its many forms.  Grief can result from loss that’s not only related to death, but comes from...

Today’s guest Roy Remer is teaching caregivers how to practice mindful caregiving, creating sustainability and calm during the caregiving experience.  Roy is the author of Zen Caregiving: How to Care for Yourself While Caring for Others . An educator and end-of-life caregiver since 1997, he is executive director of Zen Caregiving Project in San Francisco and lead creator of the Mindful Caregiving...

Walking alongside someone with serious illness takes compassion, skill, and a willingness to learn.  Dr. Kevin Dieter is teaching medical students how to be with the dying.  When Kevin’s patient “Mary” asked him to help her die, he had no idea how to support her.  Mary taught him how to shepherd a patient and family at the end of life, teaching him a lesson that changed his career.  Kevin has gone...

End of Life Doula and hospice nurse Jan Booth teaches at the intersection of end of life care and quality of life, promoting open-hearted advance care plan conversations to get to what really matters. Her heart and wisdom shine in this episode as she acknowledges the challenges of navigating the healthcare “superhighway”. Jan reminds us we have more agency to take the lead in decision-making about...

Hospice nurse and end of life doula Trish Rux believes that considering our death helps us to live life more fully.  After being at the bedside of hundreds of dying patients, she’s learned lessons that have shaped how she lives.  Trish believes most caregivers are reluctant to ask for help, especially the small things that can make a big difference. She recommends building a caregiving group who c...

Tracy Heath is taking a holistic approach to serious illness and dying, finding a healthy balance of emotional, physical, and financial well-being.  Although her family never discussed end of life issues, Tracy made her way to estate planning work. Tracy lost both her parents while Tracy was still in her 20’s, had small children, and was working a full time job. Her family experienced the impact o...

Hospice aides hold a special place on the hospice team, bringing their hearts to the hard work of personal care for seriously ill patients.  Kathleen Schrek shares the stories that have inspired her, tested her, and taught her to take care of herself.  As a trained Hospice Aide, Death Doula, and Social Worker, Katie has experienced the full span of working with the dying.  As an individual who has...

During her caregiving experience, author Alexandra Grabbe came to know her mom on a deeper level and found joy in their last days together.   Alexandra juggled caregiving responsibilities and managing her business, trying to give her best to both jobs.  Her mom Beatrice was a fierce career woman who knew her mind.  Alexandra experienced all the challenges that come with solo caregiving - overwhelm...

Today’s guest Alexandra Dionisio offers an honest look at the work of a pediatric death doula, describing how she has learned to sit with hard truths and face them with an open heart.  As the host of the Learning To Say Goodbye podcast, Alexandra is exploring death, grief, and spirituality.  After losing four people she loved in quick succession - none of whom she got to say goodbye to - Alexandra...

Grief expert Melissa Lunardini is featured in this conversation about the potential and pitfalls of AI use in grief care. Being able to leverage technology for grief support can be a huge help, but as with any tech use, that support needs to be safe and appropriate.   Here are some highlights from this episode: Melissa believes it’s very important to recognize that while AI is technology, not all...

When Kate Christie’s mom chose to utilize VSED at the end of her life, Kate became a caregiver and advocate, never losing sight of role as a daughter. Kate’s mom faced a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease and made the choice to use VSED (Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking). Kate stayed by her mom’s side through the dying process and death, experiencing all the facets of being a VSED caregiver....

Death Doula Alua Arthur brings fresh air, compassion, and humor to her work with the dying.  After ten years working as an attorney, Alua found herself burned out, depressed, and looking for deeper meaning.  She found her purpose and passion in end of life work.  As a Death Doula and founder of Going with Grace, Alua educates clients and future death doulas about working with those experiencing se...

By providing end of life care for the homeless population, The INN Between fills a special need in the Salt Lake City community.  Executive Director Jillian Olmsted’s journey with The INN Between is both personal and purposeful. Jillian’s connection to the mission was shaped by her own family’s experiences with cancer—within a single year, her mother, father, and stepfather each faced the disease....

Most of us carry some fear of death, even if we rarely say it out loud. In this episode, we talk honestly with hospice Social Worker Rosie Gaston about death anxiety—what it feels like, where it comes from, and how to have conversations that reduce it. Death is a universal human experience that carries mystery, fear, and a lot of anxiety. In western culture, conversations about death don’t happen...

This week’s episode features hospice nurse Shelley Henry in an in-depth discussion about what should happen when a death occurs at home.  Many hospice patients chose to die at home, in familiar surroundings with their family members.  It’s important that patients, caregivers, and end of life workers understand the things that happen at the time of a death. Here are some highlights to know: • A hos...

David Mulqueen has seen first hand the challenges of being an executor of an estate. He’s got some great insight and advice about managing the heavy lift of handling administrative tasks after a death. His company AnnCare was built to solve that problem, making the role of an executor so much easier and easing the grief burden of survivors. So many people avoid conversations about death. Often the...

As a caregiver for his wife, David Walsh found purpose and meaning. As a business owner he’s carrying that purpose forward supporting seniors to live safely in their own homes. David’s wife Beatrice faced the end of her life with courage, and asked David to do the same as her caregiver. They had been partners for 30 years when Beatrice was told she had only four weeks to live during the Covid pand...

We're getting back to the basics of hospice care, taking a deep dive into hospice General Inpatient Care. Patients (and providers!) need to know the what/when/where of the GIP level of care inside hospice care. Here are some highlights of this episode: • General Inpatient Care is used for crisis symptom management that can't be done in the patient's home. • GIP is provided in a Medicare-certified...

What happens when the hospice nurse who has long stood at the bedside of the dying becomes the patient herself? A Butterfly Has Been Released is a death-positive documentary film that follows Allyson from her terminal brain tumor diagnosis to her final breath—revealing courage, love, and the raw realities of letting go.  Filmmakers Jason Zamer and Barry Koch capture Allyson’s journey in an intimat...

Hospice chaplain and end of life doula Daniel DeLoma is devoted to the sacred task of helping others die well, with dignity, presence, and the steady rhythm of the heart as their guide. His work has purpose. From the very start of Daniel’s work in end of life care, he knew the importance of working with the dying. Daniel’s chaplain work made him realize that presence and prayer were not enough to...

Encore episode - Carrie Aalberts (AKA the Dementia Darling) supports dementia caregivers with her heart and soul, and a whole lot of strength.  As the founder of Dementia Darling, Carrie has established herself as a leading voice in dementia education and support.  She’s cultivated an online community of more than 63,000 followers, creating a nurturing space for caregivers to find education, resou...

Trigger Warning:  The content of this episode includes narratives about suicide.  If you need to, catch up with us on another episode and take time to care for yourself. Dr. Delia Chiaramonte shares the story of her father’s suicide in this deeply emotional and personal episode.  She wanted the best end of life experience for her father.  Because his renal failure was at the end stage, he had a te...

We're honored to feature this intimate and warm conversation with Ken Ross, founder of the Elisabeth Kubler-Ross Foundation and son of Dr. Elisabeth Kubler-Ross. Ken describes the life and work of his mom, as well as her unconventional approach to the dying. Towards the end of Dr. Kubler-Ross's life, Ken was her caregiver. He describes how her open-hearted nature drove her to become one of the mos...