End of Life Counseling

There comes a time in everyone's life where we must come to the realization that our journey here on Earth must come to an end. Coming to this realization - there should be support systems in place that make our last days here as peaceful as possible. My mother is a nurse manager of a hospice unit at a well known hospital in the Chicagoland area. She shares with me all the time the stories of how her and her team provides care and counseling to the patients as well as their families. She tells me that comforting the patient as well as the family is a big part of helping and preparing both for the transition from life to death. It’s a fact that some do to suffer more than others in their dying bed. When one is suffering in a great way - I feel that effective counseling such as the end-of-life counseling should be a great option that is sought out for a dying loved one.

Dr.'s Alexi A. Wright, Baohui Zhang, and Alaka Ray did a study with patients who received end-of-life counseling vs. those who didn't. The results of the study showed that patients who did have end-of-life discussions were admitted to hospice earlier and that a longer stay in hospice adversely gave the patient a better quality of life. Those who did not engage in end-of-life counseling had a worse quality of life in their last days, and not only did the patients suffer more, but their caregivers adversely were effected psychologically as well. Preparation and acceptance are key. Some may say that accepting the imminence of death is giving up on life. I feel that this may not so much be true. It’s a fact that our life begins and ends with the hand of God, but He never promised us an infinite life here on Earth. It’s up to God to make the decision of whether we are to be healed from a disease - or if He will call us home. The best that we can do is to just be prepared.

Our U.S. government is debating rather Medicare should be able to fund such an option - as well as if it should even be apart of Obama’s health-care reform. I feel that it should be. Our country is one of the most difficult when it comes to aiding those that are in need of health care and its benefit. Not including end-of-life counseling in the health-care reform to me is a way of whispering "I don't care". We should be doing everything that we can in our power to make sure those who are suffering - are as comfortable as they can be. Battling with denial can make matter worse, but when you accept something - you can move on and feel free in accepting whatever outcome that will come to pass.