Many fears surround the use of pain medication in terminal patients, especially when they near the end of life, and even more so when the pain medication is morphine. Family members and caregivers fear the use of the medication may prematurely cause death or addiction. Maintaining comfort for dying patients is of the utmost importance and it is easier to prevent pain than to relieve it. All opiates can cause nausea, drowsiness and/or constipation. Generally, as the dying

Hospice is about helping people find meaning as they transition in their journey. It’s about helping people to live out their last days well. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that death isn’t still a part of life. Many of our patients live in a facility, be that a skilled nursing home, a memory care center, or something similar. Many of these places put more than one patient in a room. That was the case for one of our hospice patients. She and her roommate had lived in the sa

This year Ash Wednesday falls on March 1. Ash Wednesday marks the first day of the liturgical season of Lent and lasts for 40 days, culminating with Easter Sunday. The number 40 comes from the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke referring to the number of days Jesus stayed in the wilderness being tempted by Satan after his baptism by John the Baptist. Often times, Ash Wednesday begins a time when people “give up something” (to correspond with the fasting Jesus did while in the