SUGGESTED WEB LINKS, DOCUMENTARIES, ARTICLES, PAMPHLETS & BOOKS!
TILT is dedicating this page to posting links
to websites, articles, documentaries, pamphlets, and books that touch upon End-of-Life issues.
Web Links:
"THE CONVERSATION PROJECT": When it comes to end-of-life care, one conversation can make all the difference."
http://theconversationproject.org/
"DEATH OVER DINNER" -- LET'S HAVE DINNER AND TALK ABOUT DEATH.
How we want to die – represents the most important and costly conversation America isn’t having. We have gathered dozens of medical and wellness leaders to cast an unflinching eye at end of life, and we have created an uplifting interactive adventure that transforms this seemingly difficult conversation into one of deep engagement, insight and empowerment. We invite you to gather friends and family and fill a table. Click 'Get Started' to plan a test dinner. We call it a test dinner because trying out this process in no way commits you to follow through with an actual dinner.
https://deathoverdinner.org/
Documentaries:
"ALIVE INSIDE": A documentary showing the power of music as therapy to "awaken" those with severe Alzheimer's. Caregivers of those with severe Alzheimer's should make watching this documentary a top priority! It can be found on the website of the Alive Inside nonprofit.
http://aliveinside.org/
Articles:
"THE IMPORTANCE OF LITTLE THINGS"-AUSTIN AMERICAN STATESMAN ARTICLE, JUNE 23, 2018
https://www.mystatesman.com/lifestyles/austin-group-gives-people-hospice-one-last-wish-little-thing/xnvweyc6EmU51zR3qnrdAI/
"CAN LIFE IN A NURSING HOME BE MADE UPLIFTING AND PURPOSEFUL?"
One young doctor in upstate New York thought so and he came up with a highly eccentric way of demonstrating it. In this extract from his book Being Mortal, Dr. Atul Gawande tells the story of Dr. Bill Thomas and his miraculous menagerie.
https://changingaging.org/about/
Pamphlets:
CULTURAL COMPETENCE IN CANCER CARE: A Health Care Professional's Passport By the Office of Minority Health Resources and Services Administration.
This is a pocket guide for caregivers to assist in the understanding and delivering of culturally sensitive care to racial/ethnic minorities, while not stimulating stereotypical thinking about a group to which health care professionals are providing services.
www.amazon.com/Cultural-Competence-Cancer-Care-Professionals/dp/B003BCYROO
GONE FROM MY SIGHT -- The Dying Experience”. By Barbara Karnes, RN
Besides being the the author of the aforementioned booklet, she has authored many other books and booklets on which many providers of end-of-life care rely: My Friend I Care, The Eleventh Hour, and A Time to Live.
Her book, The Final Act of Living, is used in universities, for hospice orientation of staff and volunteers and in end-of-life related areas, yet is also useful for any lay reader.
This pamphlet and others by her can be purchased in bulk at minimal cost on her website.
www.bkbooks.com
WHEN DEATH IS NEAR -- A Caregiver's Guide Created by Hospice of Santa Cruz County
This booklet is an excellent resource for educating caregivers about the dying process. Each section provides practical “What You Can Do” bullet points. Alternate title, When the Time Comes, available at no extra cost.
www.qolpublishing.com/booklets/when-death-is-near-alternate-title-when-the-time-comes/
HARD CHOICES FOR LOVING PEOPLE –- CPR, Artificial Feeding, Comfort Care, and the Patient with a Life-Threatening Illness by Chaplain Hank Dunn
Chaplain Hank Dunn wrote this book to provide guidance to patients and their families who must face the ‘hard choices’ that come with end-of-life.
www.hankdunn.com
Books:
BEING MORTAL by Atul Gawande
https://www.amazon.com/Being-Mortal-Illness-Medicine-Matters/dp/1781253943/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1FMUE1LOH6UB2&keywords=being+mortal+atul+gawande&qid=1673487999&sprefix=being+mortal+atul+gawande%2Caps%2C162&sr=8-3
WHEN BREATH BECOMES AIR by Paul Kalanithi, MD
At the age of thirty-six, on the verge of completing a decade's worth of training as a neurosurgeon, Paul Kalanithi was diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer. One day he was a doctor treating the dying, and the next he was a patient struggling to live. And just like that, the future he and his wife had imagined evaporated. When Breath Becomes Air chronicles Kalanithi"s transformation from a naive medical student "possessed" as he wrote, "by the question of what, given that all organisms die, makes a virtuous and meaningful life" into a neurosurgeon at Stanford working in the brain, the most critical place for human identity, and finally into a patient and new father confronting his own mortality. His book is an unforgettable life-affirming reflection on the challenge of facing death and on the relationship between doctor and patient, from a brilliant writer who became both.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=when+breath+becomes+air&gclid=CjwKCAjwos-HBhB3EiwAe4xM96Rl-HY375CWtfa1qRMzXIM7SWMOHgckXt-0AkCvyKklZDGkMNug6RoCf-EQAvD_BwE&hvadid=241641784264&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9028308&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=11797140096069523181&hvtargid=kwd-131214311094&hydadcr=10023_10352593&tag=googhydr-20&ref=pd_sl_7fpgnoo6eg_e
A Beautiful Secular Prayer:
When I Die
Give what's left of me away
to children
And old men that wait to die.
And if you need to cry,
Cry for your brother
Walking the street beside you.
And when you need me,
Put your arms
Around anyone
And give them
What you need to give to me.
I want to leave you something,
Something better
Than words
Or sounds.
Look for me
In the people I've known
Or loved,
And if you cannot give me away,
At least let me live in your eyes
And not in your mind.
You can love me most
By letting
Hands touch hands,
By letting
Bodies touch bodies,
And by letting go
Of children
That need to be free.
Loves doesn't die,
People do.
So, when all that's left of me
Is love,
Give me away.