Festivities are Over The lights and Christmas tree have come down, Christmas cards have stopped coming and friends and family have gone home.  Reality sets in. You are left thinking, “what next?” You are not alone. Some studies show that as many as 25 percent of Americans suffer from mild to full-blown depression after the […]

The Diagnosis When my mother was first diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, I became aware for the first time of how she would most likely die. Over the next ten years or so, I watched her slowly leave us. Her physical abilities declined and her brain changed. Although it was difficult and sad to witness, the […]

I amble down the hall at the Sunset Manor,* trying to make eye contact with the wheelchair bound residents lining the walls. Some return my smile. I make my way into the room of our Wings of Hope Hospice patient. Marty* is a white haired gentleman with wire rim glasses. He is a little slouched […]

When I started working in hospice care, the phrase ‘death with dignity’ meant maintaining respect for the individual who was dying as that person became more and more vulnerable. For example, dignity meant maintaining a person’s privacy by keeping body parts covered; keeping by a person clean and groomed; talking to instead of around him […]

This is how our Wings Home provided a place for reunion between a homeless man and his family during their last Christmas together.  He had called from a hospital in Ohio having been told he would soon die.  His sister from Allegan went with her husband to pick him up in their own vehicle, not […]