The Heart of Hospice Podcast

In episode 5 in our Grief Series in partnership with Gabby Jimenez of The Hospice Heart, hospice social worker Lisa Pahl of the Death Deck is back to talk with us about managing grief for a loved one while still providing care for someone else.  Multiple losses can be overwhelming, and Lisa reminds there’s no magic answer.  It’s important to assess whether you can step back from current caregiving...

Part 4 of our Grief Series with Gabby Jimenez of The Hospice Heart features bereavement social worker Isabel Stenzel, with a focus on grief in children and young adults.  Younger people navigate grief differently.  As hospice and bereavement professionals, it’s important to remember to respect the instinct and wishes of the parents. There are numerous ways children can be connected to someone who’...

Reid Peterson of Grief Refuge brings a serene energy to our conversation about grief support, self care, and finding your normal inside a grief journey. Thanks for connecting with The Heart of Hospice!  Reid is the founder and creator of the Grief Refuge app.  He holds a masters degree in transpersonal psychology, and is certified in death and grief studies by the Center for Loss and Life Transiti...

Social worker and Death Deck co-creator Lisa Pahl is with us for part 3 of our Grief Series in collaboration with Gabby Jimenez of The Hospice Heart.  Lisa is sharing tips for grief that lasts for years.  We can’t take away the grief of someone else, but we can provide support and comfort through presence and touch.  Something as simple as holding a hand and being quiet with someone can be helpful...

In collaboration with Gabby Jimenez of The Hospice Heart, we’re featuring social worker Isabel Stenzel in Part 2 of our Grief Series. Isabel specializes in grief and bereavement, and she shares guidance about how to cope with grief in healthy ways.  Identifying when extra support is needed during a grief journey is really important.  Talking with a close friend who listens well, or a professional...

Grief coach Peggy Green is with us talking about her journey through child loss, the lessons she’s learned, and her book “Life After Child Loss:  A Mother’s Guide to Survival”.    Peggy became a grief coach after experiencing the loss of two children, a nine month old daughter and her 24 year old son.  Her wisdom is invaluable for anyone who has experienced the death of a child.  Her mission accor...

Welcome to our series on grief in collaboration with Gabby Jimenez of The Hospice Heart, featuring grief experts Isabel Stenzel and Lisa Pahl of The Death Deck.  Gabby, a hospice nurse, began noticing an increase in questions about grief on her Facebook group for The Hospice Heart.  She’s partnered with us at The Heart of Hospice to bring you this six part series on grief.  We’re going to be talki...

With over 50 million caregivers caring for loved ones across the U.S., self care has become an urgent need. We’re wrapping up our Self Care Series, helping you take care of body, mind, and spirit.  Caregivers use their whole “selves” - body, mind, and spirit - to provide care for loved ones, family, and friends.  If you’re a hospice professional caring for those who provide unpaid care for those w...

Author William Peters is a licensed psychotherapist and author of At Heaven’s Door.  In our discussion he describes his own personal experience with a Shared Death Experience (SDE) as a volunteer at the Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco. That experience, along with previous life events, motivated William to spend the next 20 years researching and gathering stories of other people’s “shared cros...

In episode 4 of our Self Care Series, we’re talking about nurturing your spirit, supporting hope, and sustaining your spirit while providing care for someone with a serious illness.  Just as you care for body and mind, it’s important to provide care for our spirits as well.  While caregiving might create isolation for the caregiver, it’s possible to maintain practices that will support spiritual h...

Providing care for a loved one can have long-term effects on mental health. In part 3 of our Self Care Series for Caregivers, we’ve got tips for self care of the mind.  When it comes to self care, we have to care for body, mind, and spirit.  Caring for one of the parts of our Self means we’re also caring for the other two.  If you’re an unpaid caregiver, you put in a lot of work to meet the needs...

RN and author Kimberly Best is the author of “How to Live Forever: A Guide to Writing the Final Chapter of Your Life Story”. Kim talked with us about her career spent in nursing and conflict management, and the value of mediation for end of life decisions.  Kim has a master’s degree in Conflict Management, and is trained in Transformative Mediation and Healthcare Mediation. Her passion for resolvi...

Caregiving can take a toll on the physical health of a caregiver. We’ve got some tips in episode 2 of our Self Care Series for Caregivers!  Of course, it’s important to get clearance from your doctor before you start any physical regimen.  Then start out low and low.  Listen to what your body is telling you.   Make your exercise regimen affordable, reasonable, sustainable, and mostly importantly -...

Welcome to part 1 of our series on Self Care for Caregivers!  53 million people across the U.S. are unpaid caregivers for a loved one, and they need intentional self care every single day.  Caregiving responsibilities affect the caregiver in almost every aspect of life, taking a big toll on body, mind, and spirit.   It’s a hard job, sometimes very solitary, and affects quality of life for the care...

Hospice nurse Beth Cavenaugh is talking with us today about her passion for end of life care and her book, Some Light at the End. As a Hospice and Palliative Care Certified RN, Beth has 15 years experience in hospice nursing.  In her book Some Light at the End, Beth shares the wisdom she’s acquired through the years working with seriously ill and dying patients.  Her personal story includes end of...

We’re on the brink of the near year and the possibilities are endless.  What do we hope 2022 will bring for the hospice industry?  Looking at the year ahead, we hope for good things to come.  Above all, we hope for a resolution to the pandemic that has brought so much suffering around the world.  Jerry and Helen will be connecting with some awesome guests in the new year- experts in the hospice in...

We’re looking back on 2021 and all the changes it brought for the hospice industry.  Some of the changes were good, and some of the changes were challenging.  Staffing shortages, waiting lists for patients to be admitted to hospice, regulatory changes, and shortages of PPE were a few of the obstacles hospice teams all over the country face.  2021 also brought some changes that improved the care we...

The professional boundaries that hospice teams should maintain help to keep everyone safe - patients and caregivers, as well as the end of life professionals providing the care.  It’s important that the boundaries between care providers and care consumers are established from the start of care and continue until the last day care is provided.  Unhealthy or blurred boundaries can cause patients or...

Life coach and author Robert Pardi joins us in this episode to share his extraordinary caregiving story.  Robert cared for his wife Desiree for 11 years after she was diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer.  He became her caregiver, coach, advocate, and eventually her hospice.  His book Chasing Life is about the resiliency and meaning they built throughout her illness, and how Robert created mean...

The pandemic has taught us some lessons in self care. In this episode, we’re talking about what worked, the mistakes we made, and what we should have done differently.  Having to change our self care for body, mind, and spirit made us realize how important it is to maintain healthy habits.  The stress and restrictions caused by the public health emergency forced changes in our workouts.  It was di...

The Fading Memories podcast is a great resource for Alzheimer’s and dementia caregivers.  Host Jennifer Fink provides information, inspiration, and even some giggles.  According to the Fading Memories podcast website, Jennifer interviews people who have some of the answers and families currently on this journey.  The website features links to the podcast, a blog, even recipes for people caring for...

Our guest today is Dave Kerpen - serial entrepreneur, NY Times best-selling author, and founder of Remembering. Live. When Dave lost his mom during the pandemic lockdown of 2020, Dave and his team created a virtual memorial service and memorial website to honor her memory.  Through the Remembering. Live website, families can honor their loved ones with virtual memorial services, create a tribute w...

Remembering a loved one with a memorial tattoo is a unique way of creating meaning out of loss.  Memorial tattoos, also known remembrance tattoos, can be a meaningful part of a grief journey.  Many people who’ve experienced the loss of a loved one get tattoos in memory of someone special, a friend or loved one, or even a pet.  Sometimes it’s a name, sometimes it's a symbol or custom design.  These...

In episode 3 of our series in honor of National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, we’re sharing what we think hospice will look like in the future, along with our wishes for end of life care.  The large Baby Boomer population is going to require skilled clinicians, and a lot of them!  The use of telehealth has become a valuable tool for hospice teams and will probably be used even more in the fut...

Episode 097 - The A2Z HealingToolbox for Those Who Grieve (Mon. 11-15-2021) Susan Hannifin-MacNab is the creator of the A to Z Healing Toolbox, a great resource for navigating grief and trauma with practical tools and resources.  Susan became a widow when her husband was killed in a car accident, leaving her with a young son.  Using the wisdom she gained through her experience, Susan wrote the A t...