Caregiving

As Death Gets Closer: The Last Days and Hours at Hospice

I'm honored to stand witness to those intimate, vulnerable moments.

End-of-Life Signs and Symptoms

When someone is approaching death, especially an elderly person or someone with a terminal illness, their body and behavior go through a number of changes. Recognizing these changes can help you understand your loved one's journey as their life comes to an end.

Palliative Care vs. Hospice: What's the Difference?

Palliative care and hospice are both prescribed to provide comfort and relief to someone who is suffering from an illness or medical condition. But they're not the same thing. 

What is a HIPAA Release and Why Do I Need One?

This document allows family members to access your medical care information.

Grief After a Long Goodbye

Just because we know a loved one is dying doesn’t mean we are prepared for the loss.

Caring for a Terminally Ill Loved One: First Take Care of Yourself

Self-care takes a back seat when we care for dying loved ones. But it's one of the most important considerations in an emotionally and physically harrowing time.

What It's Like To Care for a Terminally Ill Child

In many ways, Beth Bischoff-Taylor is like any other mom of a young child. She shares lots of pictures and videos of her son, Miles, on Facebook. She excitedly trumpets his milestones and achievements. She wakes up extra early to get to the gym before his day begins. She is busy, busy, busy, struggling to fit in a lunch date with a friend or a Target run.

Turning Grief Into Purpose

While grieving a loss, you learn a lot about what helps or hampers healing. Meet two remarkable women who turned personal loss into an external source of comfort.

Witnessing Two Deaths

Sometimes dying is full of confusion, fear, regret, denial, secrets, and chaos. Grief and conflict swirl through the person dying as well as through their family and friends. Decades of emotional and social dynamics intensify and sometimes remain unresolved at the end of life. This is especially true when someone is facing what we think of as an “early” death — the death of someone not yet in old age, someone who’s busy with children and career, has relationships in process, and still has so much left to do. Death can feel entirely wrong, cruel even, and like it comes far too soon.

Music is Good for the Soul, in Sickness and in Health

Music is an inextricable part of the human experience. We hear it in the womb, we play it as we say goodbye at funerals... and increasingly, music is used in hospice to enhance the last months of life in myriad ways.

The Intimacy of Care

Being with people at the end of life as a volunteer caregiver with Zen Hospice Project for the past 15 months has felt like finding home.

Aromatherapy Triggers Memories and Relief for the Dying

is a series dedicated to opening conversations around death and dying. In this interview, we learn from the unique perspective of Nikki Hernandez, a certified clinical aromatherapist who works with hospice patients. She uses essential oils to bring relief to patients who are in pain or distress. Aromatherapy is not yet widely used in end-of-life care, but Hernandez thinks it should be in every hospice across the nation.

What It's Like to Comfort the Dying

is a series dedicated to opening conversations around death and dying, and how acknowledging our mortality can help us live better. In this interview, we learn from the unique perspective of a chaplain working in hospice.

Massage Therapy at the End of Life

Today's hospices are adding new therapies to bring their patients comfort and relief in their final days. One of these therapies is massage. We talked to Tami Legler-Roberts, a hospice massage therapist, about how she discovered a passion for helping patients at the end of their lives.

In the Presence of Death

...it is a unique and rare privilege to be in the presence of death, to face this ultimate reality of life right in front of me.

Born to be Wild at the End of Life

Adrian was a rocker from way back, born to be wild. 

When Doctor Becomes Patient

Kate Granger, a doctor who was diagnosed with terminal cancer three years ago, has made it her mission to make treatment more compassionate. She was kind enough to talk with Legacy about what she’s learned from living with terminal illness—and how doctors can better serve their patients.