Non-profit organization
Lumen Learning (2020). Lifespan development. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-lifespandevelopment/
Part 1: Giving to others: You are the president of a non-profit organization committed to supporting unique needs within the community. This week you are training others to work with people who are terminally ill or in grief. Advise your group about how to work most effectively with those populations.
Part 2. Post Constructive Peer Feedback: In addition to posting your main entry, respond to at least TWO (2) of your classmates’ entries. In 3 or more sentences, provide constructive feedback. What thoughts did their strategy bring forth? What questions do you have? Share them. When providing your feedback present the logic behind it.
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Classmate post 1:
raining volunteers takes responsibility. Not all volunteers are suited to help people in specific situations. I would inquire why the volunteer wanted to help? I would want to know if the volunteer had suffered a loss of a good friend or family member and how much time the volunteer could offer to help community members, i.e. what other obligations the volunteer had. Perhaps I would want to know their educational background, and if the volunteer was up to specific training? Next I would have a well organized cross section of literature and videos to educate the volunteer just as we have been educated in this module with issues pertaining to the capacity to understand patients and families situations, specifically those associated with end of life. Also I would ask if the volunteer is bi-lingual, I would go over Elisabeth Kubler Ross’s 8 stages of grief and other ways of explaining grief such as those written by Warden, Parkes, Shut and others. I would spend time with the volunteers and ask them to go around to visit people with staff and experienced volunteers before greeting people on their own. I would provide them with packets of information to go over carefully themselves before giving them out to those in the community with needs. I would introduce them to teams that can specifically help people with Medicare, Palliative Care and Hospice needs. I would have a list of outreach people from various religious groups, who could provide visitation and support groups, and other support groups run by hospitals, and specific disease professionals, ie. heart, cancer, mental health, and diabetes. As a basic message I would encourage volunteers to remember that the most important thing is to be a good listening post so that they will know at what stage in the grief process people are and thus what kind of help can best help them now. Spiritually it is helpful to let patients and their families know that we want to give them the ability to exercise the most control over working within the confines of illness; we support their dignity as a person to be in the forefront of any advice or service that we provide. Let them know that no question is too many, and we are there in friendship. If there are financial considerations we should have a list of responsible and vetted professionals or organizations, who provide transparent advice. We will also need to know if they have a signed directive, and HIPPA sign-offs, specifically with whom are we to communicate with any information about them, but only if they wish to communicate. We want to reflect that we know that they are grieving because of a deep love that they have for another person, and at the same time will protect their privacy and try to make them as comfortable as possible. Remind these good people to take care of themselves and buddy up with family members to provide care for family members; remind families to look-out for each other and suggest services to family members suffering depression. Remind them to share good times even as they process grief.
Reference
Lumen Learning Course(2020) Module(11)Death and Dying. Retrieved from:https://courses.lumen learning.com/wm-lifespandevelopment/Chapter/bereavement- and- Grief
Classmate post 2:
When an individual is terminally ill, I believe it is important to try and maintain as much control and autonomy for the individual as possible, giving them a sense of empowerment over their care (Lumen Learning, 2020). One way to achieve this goal would be to thoroughly educate patients about their illness and treatment options. Studies show that patients who are well educated about their terminal diagnosis are better able to adjust emotionally which reduces anxiety and creates a feeling of support (Huffman & Stern, 2003). When my mother was told she had stage 4 pancreatic cancer and only had weeks to live, it was very important that she understood everything about her disease as possible. I remember her specifically having me write out descriptions for her 20+ different medications she was on because she didn’t want to be in the dark about what she was taking and when.
Also, educating the grieving family on the death and dying process will help them to better support their dying family member through this stage of life. Although death and dying are normal life processes, many people are uncomfortable with the thought and processes that occur during death, and will often withdraw from a person with a terminal illness. Our text, (Lumen Learning, 2020), explains that, “ Social support is important for quality of life and those who experience social death are deprived from benefits that come from loving interacting with others.” While my mom was in hospice the nurses would often explain to me different things that were happening physically with my mom, (like weird breathing), so I would know what is normal and not be so afraid of death. They also encouraged me and the rest of my family to interact with her as much as we could, such as talking to her a lot and staying with her, even when she was sleeping. These interactions not only helped my mom to know she was alone, but also helped me and my family with our grief.
Huffman, J. C., & Stern, T. A. (2003). Compassionate Care of the Terminally Ill. Primary care companion to the Journal of clinical psychiatry, 5(3), 131–136. https://doi.org/10.4088/pcc.v05n0305Lumen. (2020). Module 11: Death and dying. Retrieved from https://courses.lumenlearning.com/wm-lifespandevelopment/chapter/bereavement-and-grief/
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