The Heart of Hospice Podcast

Hospice doctor Dr. Alen Voskanian is sharing the lessons he’s learned at the bedside of the dying, including why managing compassion fatigue is so vital. Working with AIDs patients led him to hospice work and to obtaining his board certification in hospice and palliative care medicine. Through his practice, Alen tries to humanize his patients and tries to connect with them. He works to find the best balance of doing his job an...

Elizabeth Uslander is empowering the dying every day to create a better ending.  As co-founder and CEO of Empowered Endings, Elizabeth is passionate about helping people with serious illness to find the death that aligns with their values and wishes.  Her social worker background equips her with problem solving skills she can use to be an advocate for patients and their caregivers.  Elizabeth’s theological training lets her su...

Hospice nurse and End of Life Doula Erin Collins puts her heart and mind into helping people make peace with the end of life through compassionate, reflective conversations. As co-founder of The Peaceful Presence Project, Erin has seen the comfort and calm that advance care planning brings to not only those who are dying, but also to their family caregivers and the end of life workers who are serving them.  

Facilitating end ...

The International End of Life Doula Association believes everyone deserves compassionate, respectful care at the end of life.  Executive Director Doug Simpson is working with the INELDA team to make that happen.  Doug’s journey to EOL doula work began with the death of his own father, followed by the birth of his son. Drawn to end of life work, Doug trained as a doula in 2018 and became an INELDA volunteer in 2019.  He moved i...

Trigger Warning: The content of this episode includes narratives about seriously ill children. If you need to sit this one out, catch up with us on another episode and please take time to care for yourself.

In his memoir titled “Because I Knew You: How Some Remarkable Sick Kids Healed a Doctor’s Soul”, Dr. Robert Macauley tells the story of the patients who have impacted his life, and how he’s changed for good. As a pediatric...

DNP Elena Prendergast is empowering people with serious illness to find their voices, and advocate for their best quality of life.  Working with patients who are dealing with end of life issues showed her how much extra support is needed, even when there’s a healthcare team providing care.  Elena helps clients navigate the confusing maze of the US healthcare system.  She listens to what they think is important, and equips them...

Palliative physician Emma Jones knows the real effects of burnout, and now she’s coaching others to rise from the ashes. While working in a high-pressure pediatric palliative care job, she found herself suffering the fallout of severe burnout. Emma was told to go home and figure out what was going on, but she realized there was no guide for how to do that. She began dealing with depression, trying to rebuild her self care. The...

With honest information and gentle humor, the founders of Before the Casket are teaching us how to plan for more than just funeral arrangements. Hospice nurses Erin Putney and Amy Hensley have designed workshops that educate attendees about hard end of life decisions, empowering them and their decision-makers and making the whole experience easier. Before the Casket also provides education for healthcare professionals, offerin...

In this open and vulnerable interview, Dr. Shoshana Ungerleider talks about her caregiving experiences during her dad’s illness and death. Shoshana discovered early on that she wasn’t prepared for the complicated decision making that comes with serious illness caregiving, despite her medical training. Reflecting back at the experience, she talks openly about what she would have done differently. Difficult conversations about t...

End of life option advocate Dan Diaz is sharing the story of his wife Brittany Maynard and her pursuit  of a gentle death. Diagnosed at age 29 with a terminal brain tumor, Brittany chose to move 600 miles to a state that allowed for death with dignity, utilizing Medical Aid in Dying.  In this powerful interview, Dan describes the impact of her life and death on compassionate death choices and legislation.  

Since Brittany’s d...

Hospice nurse Beth Cavenaugh helps to clear up confusion around live discharges from hospice services.  Sometimes people on hospice care improve or stabilize, and no longer meet the criteria to receive care from the hospice agency.  The discharge process can be confusing, and it’s important to know the things that need to happen.  Here are a few highlights from this episode:

• Live discharges are initiated by the hospice ag...

Author and Alzheimer’s caregiver Marianne Scuicco shares her powerful story of caring for her mother and stepdad through dementia diagnosis and end of life. She describes the roller coaster of her caregiving journey, all the ups and downs that her family experienced. After her stepfather was diagnosed with mixed dementia and her mother declined, Marianne and her siblings had to find a balance to ensure they were well cared for...

We’re getting back to the basics of hospice care, sharing information about complaints, when to make them, and what should happen when you do. Hospice Social Worker Lisa Pahl (creator of The Death Deck and End of Life Deck) helps drive this discussion. Here are a few highlights from our discussion: •Patients and/or caregivers have a right to make a complaint.  •There are numerous reasons a complaint might ...

Drs. Barry Jacobs and Julia Mayer join the podcast for a great conversation about bringing your best to caregiving, reminding us that caregivers don’t have to be perfect.  As authors and clinical psychologists, Barry and Julia support family caregivers, guiding them through the messiness of caring for a loved one.  As a married couple, they’ve had lived experience with caring for their parents and in-laws with Alzheimer’s and ...

We’re getting back to the basics of hospice with Hospice Social Worker Lisa Pahl, sharing information about transfers from one hospice agency to another.  It’s really important for patients and their decision makers to know they can transfer to another hospice agency if the care isn’t a good fit.  Hospice team members should be knowledgeable about how transfers work and what needs to be done.  

Here are some things you need t...

Elder law attorney Patrick Cawley is equipping dementia caregivers with the essential tools they need for estate planning, including advance care planning for end of life. Patrick guides family members as they navigate the health care system and complicated ways to pay for long-term care for their loved one. He is a certified dementia care consultant, and host of the Dementia Empowered podcast.  Patrick has lived experience w...

On-call, after hours, 24/7 services - no matter what you call it, hospice care is available to patients and caregivers every hour of every day. Regardless of the day of the week, whether it’s a holiday, or the office is closed, a member of the hospice team is accessible all the time. Some hospice agencies have answering services or triage teams, but the final result of a call is connection with a nurse. If another discipline i...

Blending aromatherapy and sound bathing into the care of dying patients comes naturally to end of life doula and hospice nurse Carrie Oram. Carrie has witnessed deep, relaxing responses from clients as they experience the vibrations of Tibetan sound bowls. Regardless of diagnosis or disease progression, people who are at the end of their lives become more relaxed during treatments with aromatherapy. The benefits are many - cal...

We’re getting back to the basics of hospice, talking about Continuous Care with hospice nurse Gabby Jimenez of The Hospice Heart.  Continuous care can be confusing.  We’re talking about when it’s used, how it works, and where it happens.

Here are some highlights from this episode:             • Continuous Care (CC) is a level of care within the Medicare hospice benefit.  It’s also called Crisis Care. ...