Pastor Holland Lewis of Holland Lewis Ministries joined Rev. David Helseth of Englewood Christian Church in meeting Laurie Oswalt, recently named chaplain at Memorial Hospital. They toured the Cottage with me and were pleased to see so much thoughtful space is given to patients and their loved ones. Starting [...] Continue Reading…
After retiring in 2002, Dr. Elmer Hart wasn’t interested in hitting the golf course. Instead, he put his nimble fingers and ample energy into creating handmade, totally unique quilts to be donated to Memorial’s Hospice and Home Health programs as well as other area non-profit organizations in the Valley [...] Continue Reading…
It was a pleasure to take two hospice friends through the Cottage in the Meadow construction this week. Dave Edler, former Yakima City mayor and senior pastor of Yakima Foursquare Church, and Cindy Fiscus, early supporter and wife of former hospice patient, joined me on this tour. Though it [...] Continue Reading…
Carol Louden has become a champion on behalf of Hospice and Cottage in the Meadow, after witnessing the important role Hospice took in supporting her daughter and son-in-law as he succumbed to Lou Gehrig’s disease in 2004.
“When Brad was at the end of his life, I saw clearly how [...] Continue Reading…
In the previous blog, the subject was Grieving Now or Later—It’s Up to You. The point was that we don’t apply the model of grieving that we’ve been given.
There are a few typical reasons why. The first is that we’re so busy being strong when others are around [...] Continue Reading…
Our society hasn’t set us up to grieve well. We say silly things, like, “Real men don’t cry.” This makes no sense—are emotions now a sign of weakness? We compliment the widow with inane words, like, “Look how wonderfully strong she’s been.” Why would you choose a time [...] Continue Reading…
We have that image from the movies: it’s a quiet room, people that come in speak no louder than a whisper, and they tip-toe in and tip-toe out so as not to disturb the loved one, who seems to be resting peacefully and doesn’t respond to anything or anyone.
Is [...] Continue Reading…
After too little sleep and too much caffeine, nobody wants to say the words out loud, but they’re all thinking it as they keep vigil over their loved one. Meanwhile, this shell of a human, who now hardly bears any resemblance to the person that has meant so much, [...] Continue Reading…
Bill loved the great outdoors. Hunting, fishing, skiing, hiking, camping, boating—you name it, he got out and did it.
So when Bill died, the family decided it was only fitting to have Bill’s body cremated and his ashes spread over the same stretch of land that Bill enjoyed so much [...] Continue Reading…
What a lot we lost when we stopped writing letters. You can’t reread a phone call. ~Liz Carpenter
Have you ever gone through the attic—you know, wiping aside the cobwebs, scooting past the front half of the snowmobile (and wondering how anybody ever got half of a snowmobile [...] Continue Reading…
