How to Find the Right Words for Someone in Hospice
After spending 15 years researching the best ways to support people whose lives end in hospice, professor Elizabeth Bergman has advice for friends, neighbors, family members and co-workers who want to send them a final, poignant message: Mail cards, but choose them carefully.
“Please don’t send a ‘get well’ card,” pleads Bergman, chair of Ithaca College’s Gerontology Institute.
By its very definition, hospice is for patients who will not get well. Patients enter hospice when they and their medical team agree that curative measures have been exhausted. The focus shifts to comfort care, emphasizing the patient’s emotional and spiritual needs.
Comments are closed.