Mother language matters when people die – reflections of a hospice nurse
Agata Czerwińska, Dorothy House Specialist Nurse, has been practising palliative care for 25 years — initially in her home country of Poland, and later in the UK.
Over the years, as a foreign healthcare professional delivering direct palliative care in the UK, she has observed how important it is for dying people to communicate in their mother tongue at the end of their lives. Here are her moving reflections.
The Grief Self-Care Guide
To mark National Self-Care Week, we asked guest blogger, Amy Jackson, for her tips on how she took care of herself after experiencing a number of bereavements. Her Grief Self Care Guide provides simple and accessible tips to help adjust to life without loved ones and to improve wellbeing.
Doctors and death: A Dose of Grief
According to research, nearly 80% of doctors have experienced a distressing patient event in the last year, and many go on to suffer from depression, anxiety, and PTSD. Two Melbourne medical students, share how unprepared they felt to deal with the inevitable deaths of patients and how they are tackling this important issue.
Is death really taboo?
Sue Brayne has an MA in the Rhetoric and Rituals of Death and is an end-of-life researcher and she is the author of The D-Word: talking about dying.
In this blog for Part of Life, Sue explains how her work with the Death Café movement has led her to believe that talking about death is no longer the taboo it once was, but what we lack is the understanding of how to talk about death and dying.
Digital Immortality: In memory of Gordon Bell
In May 2024, one of the pioneers of personal computing passed away. Those familiar with technology’s relationship with death will be aware of Chester Gordon Bell, who helped coin the phrase ‘Digital Immortality.’ Khadiza Laskor had the privilege of meeting him a few months ago, and felt it was important to reflect upon Bell’s influence in the sphere of digital immortality.
What matters to you?
BSW Junior Doctor, Eve Barnes, shares her perspectives on the What Matters to You movement and the importance of signing the charter ahead of What Matters to You Day on 9th June, 2023.
In conversation with Kathryn Mannix
Wayne de Leeuw, ex-palliative care nurse and CEO of Dorothy House Hospice, interviews writer, speaker and palliative care specialist, Kathryn Mannix.