Her dying time was a brief few months. My family would have been at a loss if I had not had my hospice knowledge to rely on. Even with that said I was the daughter. A health care professional should have been the one to emphasize the benefits of hospice care before my mother was no longer able to voice her opinion. Dying is a subject that our society avoids talking about.
Doctors enter medical school to help heal people.
Nurses and social workers want to help people get better. Getting better and healing sometimes needs to mean finding a healthy way to die and healing spirits before they die. We have in this state and in this nation a wealth of professionals already to educate and train students - from the elementary schools to the graduated professional. Hospice teams consist of nurses, social workers, volunteer coordinators, bereavement counselors and medical directors who are experts in the dying process and death. They are the perfect resource for educating society.