“The oldest trees often bear the sweetest fruit”

The majority of my patients are elderly, so inevitably I have experienced some of them passing away. As their caretaker, I always find it personally challenging when a patient dies. Thoughts run through my head and I wonder: could I have done anything more?

I consider myself a hospice home visit nurse at times. When a patient is dying, I work closely with family members on ways to keep their loved one comfortable during the end of life process. Morphine is not available at the clinic at the moment. The strongest pain medicine we have in our pharmacy right now is Ultram ER (narcotic like pain reliever). Therefore, I encourage alternative measures of comfort as well such as massages, playing comforting/calming music, sponge baths, keeping patients clean and dry, repositioning frequently, and engaging the patient in conversations if possible.

Recently, I was able to attend one of my patient's funeral in town. I learned about the typical process and traditions a family goes through. When someone passes away here in town, their body is taken to a morgue to be identified, cleaned, prepared, etc. Then the family starts to plan for the wake. A wake is a ceremony which takes place at the house of the deceased with the body present. Friends and family gather to mourn, celebrate, drink, eat, sing, and reminisce. This lasts all through the night until the next day in which the funeral takes place. The funeral I attended was an open casket, which I was told is standard. After the funeral, the body was put in the back of a truck and slowly driven to the cemetery across town. Others walked and followed behind in a procession. Once at the cemetery, it was surreal to see the casket placed into a hollow cement grave. Some songs were sung and last words were said, then cement was poured on top of the casket and spread all around. The sun was blazing hot and the family members were sobbing uncontrollably. I was lost for comforting words at that time. I stood and watched as the family mourned and the cement continued to pile on, layer by layer.

I find it amazing how well the elderly are taken care of by family members and the community here in town.  Many times when I visit a patient, they have family members all around--even great great grandchildren are running around the house. In my opinion, no nursing homes are needed here. It’s encouraging to see how involved the family can be with the care of their loved one. For example, I rarely see things like bed sores on my patients who are bed bound. They are turned every couple of hours by their supportive family. I’ve built some strong relationships with family members, communicating with them has helped me provide better care for the patient. The family helps me get to know what’s normal or abnormal during my assessments. It’s been an enjoyable experience learning how to work with a family and the patient as a whole unit.

Celebrating turning 100 years old!