The Heart of Hospice Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

In honor of National Hospice and Palliative Care Month - and National Family Caregivers Month - we’re featuring a special 4-part series with special guest Barbara Karnes, Hospice Nurse and End of Life Educator.  In the first episode of the series, Barbara shares how she got started in end of life care back before the Medicare hospice benefit was established in the 1980’s.

Here are some highlights of this special episode:

• Barbara thinks she should have been a social worker but her mother talked her into nursing.
• She and her fellow hospice nurses learned how to provide their own self care without really knowing what it was.
• Barbara’s aversion to causing patients any pain or suffering made patient care difficult for her.
• She believes it’s important for hospice leadership to truly understand end of life work, and to have a comprehensive knowledge of hospice care.
• Barbara believes sacred rituals and beautiful memories can be created at the time of death.  

Connect with Barbara Karnes:

Website: bkbooks.com

Blog:  bkbooks.com

Shop her products:  bkbooks.com

Socials:    Facebook     Instagram     LinkedIn     Twitter     Pinterest     YouTube

Email: barbara@bkbooks.com

Thank you to our series sponsor The Death Deck!  

Connect with the End of Life Deck and the Death Deck:

Website:  thedeathdeck.comhttps://thedeathdeck.com/

Shop:  End of Life Deck   Death Deck

Socials for the Death Deck:  Facebook   IG   Twitter (X)

Hospice Navigation Services is here for you.  If you have questions about hospice care or need to troubleshoot the care you’re already receiving, book a session with an expert Hospice Navigator at theheartofhospice.com.  

Connect with The Heart of Hospice Podcast and host Helen Bauer

Website:  theheartofhospice.com

Email:  helen@theheartofhospice.com

More podcast episodes:  The Heart of Hospice Podcast

Death educator Lee Warren believes preparing for death in advance makes a good death possible. 

Over a period of two years, she experienced several deaths in her small community of 125 people, teaching her the best lessons about death as she cared for them.  

Those deaths, and the generous people who experienced them, offered an incredible opportunity for Lee to reweave a more holistic approach to end-of-life than the one generally offered to us in the U.S.  The outcome of stewarding those deaths together as a community,  including after-death care, home funerals, and home burials, was life changing and heart opening for Lee.  She has channeled the wisdom she learned into work as a Death Educator and End-of-Life Preparation Guide.  

Connect with Death Educator and End-of-Life Preparation Guide Lee Warren

Website:  queenofdeath.org/course    reclaimingwisdom.com/about 

Email:  lee@reclaimingwisdom.com

Socials for Lee Warren:   Facebook   IG

Connect with the End of Life Deck and the Death Deck

Website:  thedeathdeck.comhttps://thedeathdeck.com/

Shop:  End of Life Deck   Death Deck

Socials for the Death Deck:  Facebook   IG   Twitter (X)

Hospice Navigation Services is here for you.  If you have questions about hospice care or need to troubleshoot the care you’re already receiving, book a session with an expert Hospice Navigator at theheartofhospice.com.  

Connect with The Heart of Hospice Podcast and host Helen Bauer

Website:  theheartofhospice.com

Email:  helen@theheartofhospice.com

More podcast episodes:  The Heart of Hospice Podcast

As co-founder of Empowered Endings, Dr. Bob Uslander, is working to shift the paradigm of End of Life Care by supporting, guiding, and teaching an empowered approach to Palliative and End of Life Care.  He became aware of the gaps in hospice and palliative care that cause patients to struggle.  The deaths of his parents and a dear friend provided a personal perspective into caregiving that formed Bob’s determination to meet the needs of people with serious illness in a better way.  

Empowered Endings supports both patients and families through the final stages of life.  Bob, his wife Medical Social Worker Elizabeth, and the Empowered Endings team ensure each person feels heard, held, and whole throughout the end of life journey.  The team utilizes End of Life Doulas, nurses, a chaplain, and a grief and dementia doula.  

Connect with Dr. Bob Uslander: 

Website: https://empoweredendings.com/

Empowered Endings Community: https://empoweredendings.com/community/ 

Empowered Endings Foundation: https://empoweredendings.com/foundation/ 

Social Media for Empowered Endings

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobuslander/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empowered_endings_/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/empowerendings/

Interested in purchasing a GrandPad to stay connected with a senior loved one?  

Get more information at https://www.grandpad.net/thoh.

GrandPad website: https://www.grandpad.net/

Social Media for GrandPad

https://facebook.com/grandpad

https://instagram.com/grandpad_social/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/grandpad

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuFAJCb7_tTneM_ikABq08Q

Connect with Jodi Clock, author of It’s Complicated! at jodieclock.com

Purchase your copy of It’s Complicated! here and learn what you need to know about: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Long Term Care, End-of-Life Wishes and more!  It’s Complicated! has a customizable “Family Care Plan” at the end of each chapter. This care plan is also downloadable and free, regardless if you have purchased the book.  

Social Media for Jodi Clock

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/AskJodi/

Twitter (X):  https://twitter.com/jodiclock

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/jodi-clock-b988908/

Hospice Navigation Services is here for you.  If you have questions about hospice care or need to troubleshoot the care you’re already receiving, book a session with an expert Hospice Navigator at theheartofhospice.com.  

Book podcast host Helen Bauer to speak at your event or conference by sending an email to helen@theheartofhospice.com.

Find more podcast episodes from The Heart of Hospice at The Heart of Hospice Podcast (theheartofhospice.com)

Love Your Life to Death founder Yvonne Heath is teaching us how to just show up for someone who’s grieving. Yvonne has been a Registered Nurse since 1988, working in emergency and ICU settings as well as hospice and palliative care.  According to her website LoveYourLifetoDeath, Yvonne  “witnessed our grief-phobic society and how our reluctance to talk about, plan and prepare for grief, death, and dying causes excessive suffering in life and at the end of life.”  She channeled her experience, both professional and personal, into an award-winning book and a celebrated TEDx talk.  Empowering people to live life to the fullest and show up for each other to diffuse the fear around death, dying, and grief is at the center of Love Your Life to Death.  As Yvonne would say, the most important thing to do is just show up. 

Connect with Love Your Life to Death at loveyourlifetodeath.com.

Read more about founder Yvonne Heath here.

Join the #ijustshowedup movement here.

Watch Yvonne’s weekly vlog here.

Order a care package for someone you love at BeyondWordsCo.com.

Find care packages and workplace gift programs for corporate gifting, employees, co-workers, and clients here. 

Read more about how Catherine Hinz founded BeyondWords here. 

Connect with podcast host Helen Bauer at helen@theheartofhospice.com.

Find more information about hospice philosophy, end of life care, and self care for both personal and professional caregivers here. 

Certified Grief Coach Jenny Dilts is helping people to find the calm inside the grief storm.  Jenny finds incredible meaning in supporting people going through a loss.  Jenny defines grief as a loss, change, or absence of connection.  Whether it’s from a death, a relationship, or a life role, she guides clients to find both the sadness and joy inside the grief experience. Loss of identity, trauma, independence, finances, unmet expectations and dreams are all sources of grief.  Hospice patients and their caregivers deal with grief long before a death occurs. Anticipatory grief includes so many different types of loss. Jenny believes in finding the joy that exists along with the sadness of grief.  

Listen to Jenny Dilts’ podcast Sharing Your Story: Exploring Humanity One Heart at a Time on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or Anchor FM.

Connect with Jenny’s resources at Grievingcoach.com. 

Follow Grieving Coach on Facebook here. 

Sign up for Jenny’s newsletter here.

Check out Reimagine here.

Order a care package for someone you love at BeyondWordsCo.com.

Find care packages and workplace gift programs for corporate gifting, employees, co-workers and clients here. 

Read more about how Catherine Hinz founded BeyondWords here. 

Connect with podcast host Helen Bauer at helen@theheartofhospice.com.

Find more information about hospice philosophy, end of life care, and self care for both personal and professional caregivers here. 

Find more podcast episodes from The Heart of Hospice at The Heart of Hospice Podcast (theheartofhospice.com)

We're talking with Hospice Nurse Penny about how her TikTok videos  about end of life care have become a social media phenomenon.  After finding her way to hospice nursing, Penny Smith realized there was a big gap in accurate information about end of life care.  She decided to educate people in a unique way, utilizing social media.  With videos, reels, and dancing, Penny helps expand understanding of hospice care.  She normalizes the dying process and helps people to be more comfortable with someone who’s dying.  Penny says she gets the biggest response from videos about end of life visioning (seeing dead people or pets) and the dancing videos.  Her video about eating at the end of life has over a million views.  Using a fun medium, Penny Smith is making a difference in end of life care. 

Penny Smith's bio -

Penny Smith is a nationally certified hospice and palliative care registered nurse. She has been a hospice nurse for 17 years and worked in a variety of care settings and roles within hospice including inpatient, home case management, education, quality and regulatory. She currently works as a hospice quality manager.  Penny is a passionate advocate for hospice education with a mission to normalize the end-of-life process to remove the stigma and fear around hospice care, death and dying. During the pandemic Penny found her way to social media and discovered a unique way to utilize her death care expertise to provide education to a worldwide audience at a grassroots level. Using a variety of teaching styles including Tiktok trends, dark humor, dancing and storytelling, she has gathered over 450,000 followers on Tiktok and 100,000 on Instagram as @hospicenursepenny.

Connect with Hospice Nurse Penny’s on social media.

Facebook     IG     

Order a care package for someone you love at BeyondWordsCo.com.

Find care packages and workplace gift programs for corporate gifting, employees, co-workers and clients here. 

Read more about how Catherine Hinz founded BeyondWords here. 

Book podcast host Helen Bauer to speak for your podcast, event, or conference by sending an email to helen@theheartofhospice.com. 

Connect with podcast host Helen Bauer at helen@theheartofhospice.com.

Find more information about hospice philosophy, end of life care, and self care for both personal and professional caregivers here. 

Find more podcast episodes from The Heart of Hospice at The Heart of Hospice Podcast (theheartofhospice.com)

Connect with podcast host Helen Bauer at helen@theheartofhospice.com.

Empathy co-founder and CEO Ron Gura created the company with one mission in mind: to help families deal with loss. It’s the friend we all need when we’re navigating the death of a loved one.  According to the Empathy website, Empathy was “designed to help bereaved families find balance during one of life's most challenging moments.”   Combining technology and human support, the Empathy app helps families through all the financial, legal, emotional, and logistical challenges after losing a loved one.  Grief and loss cost businesses millions of dollars a year, yet most companies are ill-equipped to support employees after a loss.  Ron and the team at Empathy partner with individuals, employers, and hospice agencies to help them navigate the many challenges and unknowns after a death. Through the website and an award-winning app, Empathy provides both administrative and emotional support. 

Connect with Empathy’s resources for individuals here.  

Find Empathy’s resource for supporting an employee through a loss here. 

If you’re a hospice agency wanting to partner with Empathy’s services, click here. 

Read more articles on Empathy’s Knowledge Base. 

Find more information about hospice philosophy, end of life care, and self care for both personal and professional caregivers here. 

Find more podcast episodes from The Heart of Hospice at The Heart of Hospice Podcast (theheartofhospice.com)

Connect with podcast host Helen Bauer at helen@theheartofhospice.com.

Book podcast host Helen Bauer to speak at your event or conference by sending an email to helen@theheartofhospice.com. 

Hospice social worker Nathan Yemane is meeting the needs of his community by opening the first black-owned hospice agency in Washington State and carrying on his father’s legacy of service. Nathan grew up in Washington, has his masters in Social Work, and in 2013 obtained his clinical license in social work. He has worked in healthcare since 2010, primarily in the hospice field. Nathan and his business partner David Turner were awarded a Certificate of Need approval from the DOH to establish the first Black-owned hospice in Washington State. Nathan recognized the end of life needs of people of color in King County.  Studies show African Americans have the highest mortality rate from 3 of the most common 4 hospice diagnoses, and yet utilization of hospice is reduced. As an agency owner, Nathan is serving his community in a unique way. Opening a hospice agency in Washington State takes numerous steps, resulting in the awarding of a Certificate of Need by the state. It’s a grueling process, but Nathan and his team were patient and persistent.  He’s passionate about educating and serving the people of King County and correcting the racial disparity among hospice patients.

Read more about Nathan Yemane’s agency here. 

Connect with Nathan’s agency Heart ‘n Soul Hospice at heartnsoulhospice.com. 

Interested in purchasing a GrandPad for a loved one?  Click here.

Get information about GrandPad purchases for your facility or agency here.

Find more information about hospice philosophy, end of life care, and self care for both personal and professional caregivers here. 

Find more podcast episodes from The Heart of Hospice at The Heart of Hospice Podcast (theheartofhospice.com)

Connect with podcast host Helen Bauer at helen@theheartofhospice.com.

Book podcast host Helen Bauer to speak at your event or conference by sending an email to helen@theheartofhospice.com. 

Caregiver Warrior founder Susanne White is sharing the many lessons she learned as a caregiver for her dad and mom.  According to the Caregiver Warrior website, Susanne offers “advice, helpful tips, and strategies based on the experience, strength, and hope I found while surviving my own caregiving journey. It has become my mission to share my stories and the things I learned about being an empowered caregiver.”  Susanne is an advocate for surrounding yourself with your caregiving village, to find support in friends and family to help you do the caregiver job. She realizes the lessons she learned about herself, her mom, and how they communicated.  Through her caregiving experiences and a lot of hard work, Susanne came to a place of self-awareness in her interactions with her mom.  She’s sharing all she’s learned with others who are walking someone else home. Caregiving changed her life, and changed who she was. 

Read more about Susanne’s story here.

Order your copy of Self-Care for Caregivers here. 

Find Susanne on social media:     Facebook    Twitter   Instagram

Connect with Susanne at caregiverwarrior.com.

Interested in purchasing a GrandPad for a loved one?  Click here.

Get information about GrandPad purchases for your facility or agency here.

Find more information about hospice philosophy, end of life care, and self care for both personal and professional caregivers here. 

Find more podcast episodes from The Heart of Hospice at The Heart of Hospice Podcast (theheartofhospice.com)

Connect with podcast host Helen Bauer at helen@theheartofhospice.com.

Book podcast host Helen Bauer to speak at your event or conference by sending an email to helen@theheartofhospice.com.  

We’re having an open, honest discussion with hospice social worker and author Jill Johnson-Young about intimacy during a serious illness. Jill’s been widowed twice, and knows the importance of physical intimacy even at the end of life.  As a hospice social worker, Jill has seen what it’s like for terminally ill patients and their partners to struggle with physical intimacy.  Losing physical intimacy is just another loss of identity and who couples are together. It can be a source of anticipatory grief at a time when intimacy is so important.  There are many layers to physical intimacy, not just the sexual component.  After the death has occurred, it can be important for the partner to be involved in providing postmortem care, to bathe their loved one’s body.  Hospice professionals can support and encourage the desire of patients and their partners to be physically intimate.  Humans need connection to thrive, and that doesn’t stop in the presence of a serious illness.

Connect with Jill Johnson-Young and her work at jilljohnsonyoung.com.

If you’re interested in booking Jill to speak at your event, connect with her here. 

Buy Jill’s book The Rebellious Widow by clicking here. 

Purchase your copy of Jill’s workbook Your Own Path Through Grief here.

Interested in purchasing a GrandPad for a loved one?  Click here.

Get information about GrandPad purchases for your facility or agency here.

Find more information about hospice philosophy, end of life care, and self care for both personal and professional caregivers here. 

Find more podcast episodes from The Heart of Hospice at The Heart of Hospice Podcast (theheartofhospice.com)

Connect with podcast host Helen Bauer at helen@theheartofhospice.com.

Book podcast host Helen Bauer to speak at your event or conference by sending an email to helen@theheartofhospice.com.