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Mike Ferris is a nationally recognized expert in home care and hospice sales, marketing, and customer service. He has consulted with many of the most successful home care and hospice organizations in the country. Mike and his team deliver consulting and training programs based on their combined experience and expertise. Their services focus on referral management to maximize admissions and increase partner loyalty.https://healthcarestrategica.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jonathan is obsessed with helping others improve positive and decrease negative habits to live more fulfilling lives.  As the co-founder of Evolve United, he’s fueled by spreading that positive impact.  How?  By presenting the multifamily industry with a tool that provides added value to residents, while simultaneously building the #1 place for wellness professionals to work in the US.  He started young, getting his NSCA-CPT at 19, and went on to get his CSCS before graduating with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science. The goal of becoming an NBS strength coach was no longer fulfilling when he realized he had the opportunity to make an impact on a national scale.  His top priority is to make every members of Evolve United feel as valued as possible. By pouring into the lives of our wellness professionals, they can pour into the lives of those that they touch.  His mantra is to be the change that you wish to see in the world and Evolve United is an extension of that mission to both our partners and team members. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A practicing physician for over 30 years, Dr. Martha Calihan blends her knowledge of Functional and Integrative medicine with the mystical and spiritual, creating the space to help people heal on all levels. She practices and teaches Mindfulness, offers workshops in the US and in Ireland, and has done extensive work in death and dying. She lives and practices in Leesburg, Virginia.In this memoir, A Death Lived, Dr Martha Calihan shares the story of her husband's final illness and death to address some of the big questions about end-of-life care and the dying process.  Her unique perspective as both a wife and a physician allow her to explore these issues on a personal and professional level while also weaving in some of the mystical aspects of dying that she witnessed.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrea is an LCSW with a unique skill set after years working in the field of palliative care and community education. She graduated from Indiana University and received her Master of Social Work from the University of Southern Indiana. She quickly learned grief is beyond death, but rather any form of loss.  Her business, Tree of Life Counseling, LLC, has expanded upon the concept of traditional care and service. It embraces supporting people coping with or preparing for the ever-changing seasons of life, regardless of age or health condition, to start conversations and healing before it's too late. Services offered include mental health therapy, educational presentations, and advance care planning.  Her non-profit, What Matters Most? Evansville, Inc. strives to be a ripple in the water through conversations at the crossroads of grief and inspiration with the goal of creating a community where you can live well and die well, because you can grieve well, all the losses. This is done through, but not limited to, it’s podcast, River’s Fog, setting up lemonade stand gatherings, and encouraging others to write in to their “Share Your Grief Story, Anonymously” Project. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Macy Catheter was invented by Brad Macy, a veteran hospice nurse and recipient of 2013’s National Hospice and Palliative Care Nurse of the Year Award. The inspiration for its invention came directly from a memorable patient interaction.Over the years, Brad has seen thousands of difficult symptom management cases while assisting patients and their families in the middle of the night. The most challenging cases were when the patient could not swallow medication and end-of-life symptoms were spiraling out of control.One night, Brad had a patient who was experiencing severe terminal agitation. The patient was suffering; he was shouting, he was climbing out of bed, and he was clearly very frightened. Brad got orders to administer a sedative that would help calm the patient. Since the patient was unable to swallow, the prescribed route of administration was per rectum. He administered the sedative in tablet form rectally as prescribed, and waited “that difficult wait” for the patient to calm while giving the patient’s son emotional support. An hour later, the patient was worse. The desire of both the patient and his family were that he be able to die peacefully and at home. Brad called the doctor again for a repeated dose of sedative. While preparing to administer the second dose, he realized that the previous dose was still undissolved in the patient’s rectum.Brad was left with a dilemma that is well-known by every experienced hospice nurse: how to help a patient who is experiencing severe symptoms and unable to swallow reach a state of comfort within the home setting.Motivated to reduce the severe agitation and suffering of his dying patient, Brad found a way to give the medication as a suspension that would absorb quickly in the patient’s dry rectum. He crushed the tablet, added water, and administered the medication suspension into the rectum with a urinary catheter. The patient calmed down quickly and was sound asleep within thirty minutes. The patient’s son was deeply grateful for an easy solution that controlled his father’s symptoms with minimal subsequent discomfort or disruption. The patient died peacefully at home a few days later.Given the successful outcome of this case, Brad decided to create an optimized device to facilitate this intervention. He subsequently co-founded Hospi with the goal of making a commercial device available that could provide comfort and relief for patients and their loved ones on a much larger scale than would be possible as a lone practitioner.Hospi developed the Macy Catheter to improve the patient and caregiver experience with serious or terminal illness. The Macy Catheter is designed to maintain patient comfort and dignity while leveraging the speed and established benefits of rectal administration. The Macy Catheter is of particular relevance during end of life, as it can help patients remain comfortable in their home. It can also reduce the need for more costly and complex administration routes like intravenous delivery, which is seldom used in the hospice setting. The patented device has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. FDA.To learn more about Hospi Corporation, click here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hospice physician. End-of-life researcher. Acclaimed author of Death Is But a Dream. Death Is But a Dream, based on Dr. Kerr’s extensive research with hospice patients and their families in Buffalo, NY, highlights and validates the powerful dreams and visions often experienced at end of life that bring comfort and meaning to the dying process.Dr. Kerr is the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Medical Officer of Hospice & Palliative Care Buffalo, a valued member of our Coalition and parent organization of Hospice Buffalo. Dr. Kerr wrote Death Is But a Dream, an examination of ELEs, based on his experience with hospice patients and their families in Buffalo, NY.“Surviving Death” is a six-part series that explores the end of life through personal stories and research on near-death experiences. The fifth episode documents Dr. Kerr’s conversations with hospice patients of all ages who report seeing and interacting with deceased loved ones. These experiences can offer comfort for people as they near the end of life and, in turn, for their caregivers and loved ones.“We’ve done studies of hundreds of bereaved people and it’s very clear that what is good for the patient is good for the loved ones, and it absolutely soothes them in grief,” Dr. Kerr explains during an interview for the series.“Surviving Death” is now available to stream on Netflix here. For more information on Hospice & Palliative Care Buffalo, click here. You can also learn more about the work of Dr. Kerr and his fellow researchers by clicking here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

​Just Call Bill specializes in providing technology services to senior adults and their families. We are the company that loves working with seniors! Our team of technology professionals has the experience to take care of your phone, tablet, laptop and computer and more. This is an ideal service for you, your mom, dad, aunt, uncle and grandparents who don’t live close by family members and need assistance with their technology.  Bill is a proven instructor at OLLI Furman, graduate of the Seniors Leaders of Greenville (OLLI Furman), instructor at Wofford Lifelong Learning Institute, member of the Upstate Senior Network, and has worked with several senior communities and centers, as well as hundreds seniors. He understands the value of relationships and successfully partners with businesses and organizations to provide services to the 55+ adults and their families.http://www.justcallbill.net Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2014, Margo Fowke’s 21-year-old son, Jimmy, died after an eight-year battle with brain cancer. A year later, her mother died. In 2017, the Loomis resident started the website Salt Water (findyourharbor.com). The website is chock-full of blogs with topics ranging from loss to caring for yourself after loss. It also offers resources for the bereaved as well for tips for comforting the bereaved. (It’s not so much what you say but that you say it that matters.) Margo Fowkes, Founder of Salt Water, talk about the ways her grief has changed over time and offers hope for other grievers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jennifer O’Brien helps people talk about caregiving and end of life. She encourages compassionate, real conversation through her book, The Hospice Doctor’s Widow: A Journal, where she shares her story of caregiving through collages and writings. After years of caring for people with serious illness as a physician, Jennifer’s husband, Bob Lehmberg, was diagnosed with a stage IV, metastatic cancer. But caregiving for the man who had made a 40-year career of caregiving as a physician was not easy. When Jennifer’s husband was diagnosed and later after he died, she turned to what had brought her comfort for years—art journaling. She documented and depicted the raw, honest, beautiful and exhausting reality of caregiving through collage, tableaus, notes and observations. She included much of the wisdom and perspective she learned from her husband in his years as a physician. When the book was just a stack of pages, she took it to a friend who had just been diagnosed with a rare, advanced bladder cancer. After reading the book and knowing his own prognosis, he said, “You need to give this to my wife. She needs to understand what is ahead and feel supported as my caregiver.” After seeing how much that stack of pages helped them in his final months, Jennifer knew that what she had created might help others.Having been a practice management consultant and educator to physicians for 30+ years, an executive administrator for two large medical practices, in administration at three major academic medical centers, the wife and now widow of a physician, Jennifer has a unique and thorough understanding of healthcare. Still, with all of this experience, caregiving for her dying husband was both the greatest honor and challenge of her life. Now Jennifer works to help caregivers feel supported while caring for others and taking care of themselves.https://www.hospicedrswidow.com/about Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ken Ross, son of Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, is the founder of the EKR Foundation (2006) and President (2006-2013 & 2018-Present). He also served on the board of the Elisabeth Kübler-Ross Center from 1989-2005. Ken was the principal care provider for his mother in the last 9 years of her life until her passing in 2004.His responsibilities include handling over 80 publishers of Dr. Ross’ work, public relations, copyright & trademark issues, website maintainance, developing foreign Kübler-Ross chapters, developing strategic partnerships, as well as preserving her archives. While growing up, he traveled with her extensively while on her numerous foreign trips witnessing her lectures and workshops. Ken has lectured on his mother’s legacy for hospices and various conferences in South America, Asia, and Europe. There are several film projects that Ken is currently a consultant on including a major motion picture, a television series and various documentaries, both foreign and domestic.See Ken Ross on on YouTube.comA professional photographer by trade, he has photographed 101 countries.http://archive.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/06/19/20080619sr-kenross0621-ON.htmlwww.kenrossphotography.comAuthor, Real Taste of Life: A Journal by Ken Ross and Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, 2002Tea with Elisabeth by: Ken Ross, Fern Stewart Welch, and Rose Winters, 2009 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Emma is a seasoned technology entrepreneur, MIT graduate, and award-winning change-agent, who started building online communities before Netscape was born. Her 25 year career leading online and mobile projects has included building tools to register young people to vote, creating online networks of support for families facing health challenges, and launching North America’s first online crisis intervention line. She also founded a scrappy, action-oriented, national non-profit focused on women & technology, that broke boundaries and developed leaders for 17 years.Grief Coach combines Emma's passion for mobile technology and engagement, with her deep commitment to giving people the confidence and tools they need to support each other through grief. She knows that, while nothing makes grief go away, supporting someone through loss is powerful and transformative for the supporter, and alters the trajectory for the grieving person too.https://grief.coach Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sarah Bamford Seidelmann was a fourth-generation physician living a nature-starved, hectic lifestyle until a walrus entered her life and changed everything. She is a shamanic healer and has trained at Michael Harner’s Foundation for Shamanic Studies and is a Master Coach trained at the Martha Beck Institute. She is the author of Swimming with Elephants (Conari Press) and The Book of Beasties: Your A-to-Z Guide to the Illuminating Wisdom of Spirit Animals (Sounds True, June 2018). She lives in northern Minnesota. For more, visit followyourfeelgood.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Nobody likes to sit down and listen to a talk about life’s challenges. But somehow, Rachel makes it all Okay. Her warmth and sensitivity, and especially her story, enables us to hear brutal honesty and embrace it, rather than fear it. Bravo, Rachel Kodanaz.” —Ora DeMorrow, Senior Financial Advisor, Vice President Merrill LynchNo one knows better how to embrace life’s challenges than Rachel herself. Overcoming her own adversity of being widowed at 31 years old with a 2-year-old daughter, she “wows” audiences with her down-to-earth, current and relevant presentations – helping attendees to reach their potential by embracing and learning from all of life’s complexities. Having worked in management for Fortune 100 companies, she is fully aware of the see-saw created when personal and professional challenges collide. Rachel has been speaking passionately to national audiences of all sizes for 20 years, addressing all aspects of change, growth, and acceptance that comes with embracing life’s challenges – those expected and unexpected. Through her books, Living with Loss, One Day at a Time and Grief in the Workplace, Rachel offers a wealth of knowledge, inspiration and practical advice for those who have lost a loved one or are supporting someone who has lost a loved one. ​On October 1, 2019, Rachel released her third book, Finding Peace, One Piece at a Time. This book provides encouragement and tools for those seeking to down-size, right-size or sort through a loved one’s possessions. Whether they are in physical or electronic form, those possessions tell the story of the person’s life. Rachel’s book shares practical ways to thin, repurpose, and redistribute these possessions so they continue to share the story with future generations.  Rachel is available for speaking appearances, educational programs, interviews and community outreach. https://www.rachelkodanaz.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Absolutely Delicious: A Chronicle of Extraordinary DyingAfter a life marbled with exploration, academia, and domesticity, the writer Valerie Lester retired to a residential hospice and set about enjoying the final act of her life. She died nine weeks later, having engaged in dying with equanimity, curiosity, and even amusement.In Absolutely Delicious, Valerie’s daughter describes a journey that illuminates the benefits of acceptance and the many gifts offered by daring to own one’s end.“As a palliative care physician I've read countless stories about dying patients but none as engaging and original as this, opening my eyes to what's possible for future patients and families I care for.” - Jane deLima Thomas, MD, Palliative Care Physician, Harvard Medical Schoolhttp://www.alisonjeanlester.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Vicky Roncero is a certified Usui Reiki Master Practitioner/ Instructor with a private practice, in Upper Montclair, New Jersey. She is grateful to be working with Reiki and empowering clients to use this beautiful energy in whatever way is helpful to them. Some clients are healing from illness and injury, or managing stress and anxiety. Others are looking to feel more centered or grounded and are balancing their Chakras, to keep their energy flowing optimally.If you are feeling stuck or looking for more energy or inspiration, Reiki can be the key to breaking a habit, or cyclical behavior. Reiki truly can help you discover the new chapters of your life story, which are waiting to unfold.Vicky works with clients in private sessions, at her studio, and remotely, through distance sessions. She also conduct workshops and private training and instruction. Reiki can help from near or far, in groups or one-on-one.Work with Vicky. Reiki can help you manifest the goals you are looking to achieve and can help you balance your energy body, to maintain optimal wellness in your physical body. Reiki is for everyone.Vicky is also a writer/producer and have worked in television for over twenty-five years. She has been a storyteller. Vicky believes that Reiki is the ultimate story telling tool, as it takes you into someone’s energy field and helps you discover areas where they are holding trapped energy, which is keeping them stuck.Vicky's writing and producing experience, infused with Reiki training, is helpful in working with clients, to realize their dreams and spark their creativity, in all areas of life. Your stories are what got you here, but they don’t define you. You can turn the page to new beginnings, at any time.https://ronceroreiki.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Phyllis Shacter courageously shares the first personal story ever written about Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking (VSED). This memoir and guidebook follows the journey she took with her husband, Alan. Alan decided to VSED – so he didn’t have to live into the late stages of Alzheimer’s disease.This is their love story, their partnership, the brave territory they traversed, including how they prepared themselves with proper medical and legal guidance when electing to VSED. Choosing to Die is filled with emotional depth and sensitivity as well as practical information outlining the process from beginning to end.Phyllis shares every detail, including what Alan experienced during the nine-and-a-half days it took for him to die, and how the experience transformed Phyllis. This book provides a deeper understanding of end of life choices, and for those diagnosed with a degenerative disease.Phyllis Shacter is a retired teacher, business consultant, life coach, and public speaker. Choosing to Die and PhyllisShacter.com are the most comprehensive resources on the subject of VSED available today.

An End of Life Doula is a non-medical person trained to care for someone holistically (physically, emotionally, and spiritually) at the end of life. End of Life Doulas are also known around the world as: end of life coaches, soul midwives, transition guides, death coaches, death doulas, doula to the dying, end of life doulas, death midwives, than a doula, and end of life guides.Due to the enormous number of the elder population, there is an overwhelming need for these services and support. Finding the right teacher and training program is one of the most important decisions you will make.International Doulagivers Institute, founded by Suzanne O’Brien RN, providing the highest level of education and certification for the End of Life Doula. Our Doulagiver training is akin to the birth doula model: both help people transition to and from this world. Facilitating this process requires education, training and compassion. Our certified End of Life Doulas are a global community working as an adjunct to Hospice and providing care and guidance for patients and families at the end of life.And you can find everything you need at Doulagivers, an internationally recognized leader in end of life training programs and care. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Claire B. Willis is a clinical social worker who has worked in the fields of oncology and bereavement for more than 20 years. A cofounder of the Boston nonprofit Facing Cancer Together, Willis has led bereavement, end-of-life, support, and therapeutic writing groups. She has co-taught Spiritual Resources for Healing the Mind, Body, and Soul at Andover Newton Theological School. She maintains a private practice in Brookline, Massachusetts. As a lay Buddhist chaplain ordained by Joan Halifax at Upaya Zen Center in Santa Fe, she focuses on contemplative practices for end-of-life care. For the past five years, she has been a student of Koshin Paley Ellison, a founding teacher at the New York Zen Center for Contemplative Care. Besides Opening to Grief, Willis is the author of Lasting Words: A Guide to Finding Meaning Toward the Close of Life.  OpeningtoGrief.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Connie Ducaine, PhD, LPC, LCADC, Senior Vice President of Strategic Solutions, Vital DecisionsDr. Connie Ducaine is the Senior Vice President of Strategic Solutions at Vital Decisions and started her career with the organization 9 years ago working directly with health plan members who were approaching end of life. Through her clinical work, Dr. Ducaine has witnessed the benefits of advance care planning and patient engagement. As a licensed professional counselor, Dr. Ducaine continues to support individuals who are coping with various mental health issues. Dr. Ducaine is recognized as a visionary leader and trusted advisor with long-term executive relationships focused on providing support and programming for counselor educators and supervisors in the state.https://vitaldecisions.net Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.