CareDoula Thoughts

I was sitting with a family early this morning waiting for the funeral home to arrive. The hospital was quiet and it was just the wife and daughter (of a much loved man who had just died) and I at his bedside.

In providing emotional support, we are helping to create a peaceful environment. Emotional support is the essence of our presence. During our entire walk with the dying and their family our presence is one of the most stabilizing gifts we can offer. 

I belong to Hospice Community Forum and just had a discussion with an “11th hour volunteer”. An 11th hour volunteer is a person who sits at the bedside of the dying, usually when death is imminent or within 24 hours or so. They are very much akin to a death doula.