The Hospice Heart

Much like her previous book Soft Landing, the author invites you on a personal journey. When she was 8 years old, she experienced her first death and although not realizing it until much later, knew at a very young age how to provide compassionate care to someone who was dying. The first half of this book clearly indicates that she has been on the hospice path a very long time. The second half of the book contains her first blogs. She started writing a blog hoping to educate and inspire anyone who sits at the bedside caring for another as they near the end of their life. She shares her tools and lessons hoping to remove any fear you might have and inspire you to be fully present for someone else. Her heart is a kind and gentle heart and you will see this as you read her words.

"What's gone and what's past help," Shakespeare wrote, "should be past grief." But Thomas Attig argues that Shakespeare is wrong--that a grieving survivor need never let go. In The Heart of Grief, Attig gives us an inspiring and profoundly insightful meditation on the meaning of grief, showing how it can be the path toward a lasting love of those who have died. Recounting dozens of stories of people who have struggled with deaths in their lives, he describes grieving as a transition from loving in presence to loving in separation. The thing we long for most--the return of the one who is missing--is the very thing that we can never have, kindling the intense pain of our loss. But Attig argues that we can, in fact, build an enduring, even reciprocal, love, a love that tempers our pain. He tells stories, for instance, of a young girl taking some of her dead sister's practical advice as she enters high school, a widower realizing how much intimate life with his wife has colored his character, and an athlete drawing inspiration from his dead brother and achieving what they had dreamed of together. Far from forgetting our loved ones, Attig urges us to explore ways in which our memories of the departed can be sustained, our understanding of them enhanced, and their legacies embraced, so they continue to play active roles in our everyday and inner lives. Groundbreaking and original, inspiring and compassionate, The Heart of Grief offers guidance, comfort, and a new understanding of how we grieve.

A handbook for acupuncturists and healthcare practitioners on the use of acupuncture for end-of-life care. The book covers the major hospice and palliative care diagnoses from a Chinese medicine perspective, as well as grief and loss, and includes the roots of Chinese historical perspectives on death and dying. The acupuncturist is introduced to the working medical model of hospice care and the interdisciplinary team approach and provided with evidence-based strategies for the use the acupuncture in symptom management.

This issue of the Heart Failure Clinics, edited by Drs. James Fang and Michael Givertz, is entitled "Advanced Heart Failure" and covers a wide array of topics relating to the subject. The issue will delve into the prevalence, history and prognosis of advanced heart failure; cardiorenal interactions; cardiohepatic interactions; the role of temporary mechanical circulatory support; guided therapy; the role of heart transplantation; palliative care; frailty; and novel biological techniques, among other topics.

More than ever it is incumbent upon those who provide care to those with life-limiting illnesses to be keenly aware of both the extent and the limits of technological advances that can add either great burden or great benefit to seriously ill patients and their families. The Hospice Companion has been created to operationalize the mission and values of modern-day hospice through the individual and combined efforts of our most valuable asset, the hospice professional. The Hospice Companion is intended as a guide through which some mastery of the seemingly complex, challenging, and oftentimes chaotic world of advanced disease may be derived. Use of this "tool" to direct processes of care during the intensive interpersonal experiences of hospice work should allow the greatest opportunity for personal and professional growth and a deeply gratifying sense of accomplishment as you proceed in the all-important work of caring for the dying. The second edition features a thoroughly current guide to clinical processes and symptom management, providing hospice professionals with a concise summary of changes that have influenced clinical practice over the last several years. Moreover, each chapter now concludes with a list of recommended readings, culled from the complete literature searches were done for each symptom complex.

Massage, aromatherapy, reflexology and a variety of relaxation techniques are frequently used in hospices, supportive care settings and some hospitals. However, there are still gaps and limitations in the choices offered to patients. HEARTS (Hands-on, Empathy, Aromas, Relaxation, Textures, Sound) was devised to bridge this gap for complementary therapists, patients, carers and health care professionals. HEARTS can be used either on its own, or integrated with a conventional complementary therapy. It can also be used easily by health care workers (and carers) who are not qualified in any therapies. By discussing principles which may influence the effectiveness of touch and relaxation therapies, the book emphasises that there are 'easy' approaches that can be utilised when working with distressed and vulnerable patients. By developing an understanding of touch, aromas and the sound of the human voice, Combining Touch and Relaxation Skills for Cancer Care guides practitioners in helping their patients achieve a state of relaxation and calm as quickly and easily as possible.