The Heart of Hospice Podcast

Senator Meg Cappel turned her experience as a caregiver for her terminally ill mother into advocacy and now works to promote hospice care in her home state.  Meg believes a true legacy - one that lasts - is a legacy of kindness. Years of working as a special education teacher taught her the importance of seeing people and meeting them where they are. As a caregiver along with her siblings, Meg exp...

Supporting people who are grieving is fulfilling, joyful work. Just ask Help Texts founder Emma Payne. After having a personal loss, Emma realized how much we could improve how we support grievers. She’d spent years working in the tech space. That knowledge helped launch Help Texts. Their service provides grief support for events like pregnancy loss, pet loss, and death of a loved one.   The needs...

Joelle Johns believes telling people they’re dying gives them an opportunity to say the goodbyes, do the final things they want to do, apologize, and forgive. Joelle is a death midwife and grief counselor, as well as a pastoral thanatologist and clinical chaplain, having just completed her designation as a Board Certified Clinical Chaplain (BCC). She also holds a certificate in Death Midwifery.  A...

Death Doula Jo-Anne Haun has found growth and meaning in working with the dying. As co-founder of Death Doula Network International, Jo-Anne works to support and educate about the work of death doulas. Jo-Anne uses her personal gift of gentle humor in her volunteer work as a therapy clown (Code Name: Buttons). Jo-Anne’s habit of incorporating a little fun into a discussion about end of life wishes...

Death literacy advocate and Community Doula Francesca Arnoldy is sharing the role of a death doula and how to support someone through a time of intensity.  She’s the author of The Death Doula's Guide to Living Fully and Dying Prepared, a workbook that offers the opportunity ​​to explore mortality and end-of-life care planning.  In her work as an end of life doula, Francesca focuses on end of life...

Award-winning End of Life Educator Barbara Karnes takes a deep dive into the unique challenges of caring for someone with dementia at end of life.  Caregivers often find their responsibilities accumulating over time as the disease trajectory continues. They’re forced to live in the present, to see their loved one as who they are today.  The goal is to bring joy and quality of life to a beloved tod...

*Trigger warning - this episode contains a description of an intense death event and the death of a child. Please make space for your self care if you find the topic overwhelming. Juli Henderson has turned the loss of her son into meaningful advocacy, sharing her wisdom with other caregivers. Juli and her husband Chris were the parents of a son, Robert. Robert had a rare mitochondrial disorder. Ge...

Hospice physician Dr. Karen Wyatt wants people to get comfortable thinking about death, and have time to plan for the end of their lives.  Karen is the host of the End of Life University podcast and author of 7 Lessons for Living from the Dying .   She’s considered a thought leader in end of life care.  We talked about lots of topics related to hospice in this great conversation, including trends...

*Trigger warning - this episode contains a description of an intense death event. Please make space for your self care if you find the topic overwhelming.  Death doula Karen Hendrickson’s brother died suddenly when she was sixteen years old. That event became a lifelong lesson in death and dying, grief, and how to support teens during a loss.  As co-founder of Death Doula Network International, Ka...

Hospice nurse and end of life doula Gabby Jimenez of the Hospice Heart shared her thoughts in our great conversation about supporting MAID caregivers, and her new book Dignity Day. Hospice and end of life workers should know what Medical Aid in Dying (MAID) is, regardless of their personal opinion about MAID. If patients and caregivers ask questions, every EOL worker should be able to answer quest...

Caregiver, physician, wife, and griever - Dr. Lucy Kalanithi shares her remarkable journey with her husband Dr. Paul Kalanithi, author of When Breath Becomes Air . Lucy’s experience with her terminally-ill husband and his death has shaped how she approaches patient care and thinks about human suffering.    Dr. Kalanithi is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, a member of the Alpha Omega...

Chaplain J.S. Park has a powerful voice - raw, transparent, and real. He’s using it to influence how people care for people at the end of life. J.S. will tell you he’s heard all the regrets in his work with the dying. As a hospital chaplain in a Trauma 1 center, J.S. provides grief counseling, attends every death, helps with end-of-life decision-making, and advocates for patients and families in c...

Diane Hullet, host of the Best Life Best Death podcast, believes in authentic conversations, holding space for those who are dying, and supporting others as they define their own “best death”. With the experience in her own family of eight deaths supported at home by hospice and having worked as a teacher for many years, Diane felt drawn to combine teaching with end of life work. She completed the...

Dr. Kaishauna Guidry is keeping it real when it comes to difficult conversations about hospice, dying, and death. As the host of the Dr. G at the Heart of Healthcare podcast, she’s teaching her listeners about challenging healthcare issues. She’s a fierce advocate for quality care, and empowers others to get the best from their care. She’s comfortable with the hard topics, discussing what people a...

Hospice physician Lauren Templeton knows the power of pausing, taking a moment to reflect on end of life wishes even when things are tense and chaotic. Dr. Templeton is a fierce advocate and a strong voice for advance care planning, palliative care, and upstream discussions about end of life. As a hospice medical director, Lauren walks alongside seriously ill patients and their caregivers. She say...

Hospice nurse Juli Boit works to care for the dying in Kenya, providing desperately needed care and services. She is an author, community builder, and nonprofit leader working at the intersection of faith, global health, and human dignity. For eighteen years, Juli has lived and worked in Africa, founding and serving as International Director of Living Room International, a community-led nonprofit...

Sending a message to someone we love on the wind using a Wind Phone is a beautiful way to express grief.   Amy Dawson knows the power of being able to express grief emotions. She’s a Master Grief Coach and manages the My Wind Phone website. Amy didn’t originate the Wind Phone but she promotes the phones on her website. The first Wind Phone was created in Japan by Itaru Sasaki, using a phone booth...

Chaplain Wes Moldogo is an advocate for integrating spiritual care into the care of patients, service members, and their families. As a chaplain for the military as well as hospital and hospice patients, Wes educates about the value chaplains bring to the care of people with life-limiting illness. 1 in 4 Medicare hospice patients is a US military veteran. That’s 25% of the patients who utilize the...

Death Doula Jill McClennen helps clients transform their fear of death and dying while they work to live life fully, eventually dying with a feeling of closure. Whether it’s advance care plan conversations or supporting family members when a loved one is actively dying, death doulas provide expert guidance.   Jill McClennen is a certified death doula, a non-medical professional specially trained t...

Dignity Pajama designer Fran Goldberg used ingenuity to create pajamas for bedbound patients, and created meaning following the death of her parents. As a clothing designer, Fran knows design and fabrics. As a caregiver for both her parents at the end of their lives, she learned the importance of comfort, dignity, and convenience in pajamas. The designs of Dignity Pajamas include features that pro...

Bev Foster with Music Care by Room 217 is using beautiful music to create meaning at the end of life. Using her skills as a musician, Bev founded Room 217 to teach clinicians and caregivers about integrating music into the care experience.   Here’s what Bev says about her own personal experience:  As a musician, the effects of what I do have always intrigued me. Using music in my personal caregivi...

Tara Jenkins, founder of Harmony in Dementia, is connecting patients and caregivers with meaningful music one song at a time. As a Board Certified Music Therapist (MT-BC), Tara knows the power of music for reaching those patients dealing with Alzheimer’s and dementia. She knows it takes a team of people to care for someone with dementia, working in harmony to provide quality of life. That’s where...

An End of Life Doula is a great source of support for someone as they die, and for families after the death has occurred. Anna Adams, End of Life Doula and founder of International Doula Life Movement believes everyone should have a doula. Through vigils, education, rituals, and compassionate presence, doulas help dispel the fear that can come during a death. When someone is dying, an End of Life...

End of Life Doulas are experts in managing advance care planning conversations. EOL Doula Pam Carter of International Doula Life Movement knows how to get those discussions going. As an EOL Doula, Pam works with people with serious illness and their families to determine their end of life wishes. Choices are often made by weighing benefit vs burden. That means considering questions like “What will...

Anna Adams, death doula and founder of International Doula Life Movement, is educating her community about how doulas support patients and families dealing with serious illness. She’s been a volunteer, a CNA, and now she’s working with hospice agencies as a death doula. Doulas bring a special set of skills to the care of hospice patients. They support, educate, and guide patients (and caregivers)...