The Heart of Hospice Podcast

As a caregiver her entire adult life, Elizabeth Miller has learned how to find the joy in the caregiving life. As a Certified Caregiving Consultant, she helps other caregivers make the best of their own experience. Elizabeth joined forces with her siblings to provide support for their parents, and for her developmentally delayed brother. Each sibling brought his or her own skill se

Gail Rubin, The Doyenne of Death, has been talking about death and dying for years - and she’s still alive. As an award-winning death speaker, Gail uses humor and film clips to educate the public about advance care planning, funeral pre-planning, and estate planning. She’s a Certified Thanatologist and a featured speaker at TEDxABQ, where she spoke on “A Good Goodbye”. Gai

Jennifer O’Brien is sharing details of her caregiving journey, telling the story of her husband’s life-limiting illness and how she’s learned to make the most of Precious Time. After working 35+ years as a practice management consultant to physicians, Jennifer supported her husband Bob up to and through the end of his life. As a hospice and palliative care physician, Bob knew

The story of the terminal illness and death of Kimberly Acquaviva’s wife Kathy is powerful, intense, real… and human. As a hospice social worker and LGBTQ+ community advocate, Kim knows what good end of life care looks like. During their experience with Kathy’s end stage cervical cancer, the women discovered that none of the hospice agencies where they lived had LGBTQ - inclu

Senator Meg Cappel turned her experience as a caregiver for her terminally ill mother into advocacy and now works to promote hospice care in her home state. Meg believes a true legacy - one that lasts - is a legacy of kindness. Years of working as a special education teacher taught her the importance of seeing people and meeting them where they are. As a caregiver along with her s

Supporting people who are grieving is fulfilling, joyful work. Just ask Help Texts founder Emma Payne. After having a personal loss, Emma realized how much we could improve how we support grievers. She’d spent years working in the tech space. That knowledge helped launch Help Texts. Their service provides grief support for events like pregnancy loss, pet loss, and death of a love

Joelle Johns believes telling people they’re dying gives them an opportunity to say the goodbyes, do the final things they want to do, apologize, and forgive. Joelle is a death midwife and grief counselor, as well as a pastoral thanatologist and clinical chaplain, having just completed her designation as a Board Certified Clinical Chaplain (BCC). She also holds a certificate in D

Death Doula Jo-Anne Haun has found growth and meaning in working with the dying. As co-founder of Death Doula Network International, Jo-Anne works to support and educate about the work of death doulas. Jo-Anne uses her personal gift of gentle humor in her volunteer work as a therapy clown (Code Name: Buttons). Jo-Anne’s habit of incorporating a little fun into a discussion about

Death literacy advocate and Community Doula Francesca Arnoldy is sharing the role of a death doula and how to support someone through a time of intensity. She’s the author of The Death Doula's Guide to Living Fully and Dying Prepared, a workbook that offers the opportunity ​​to explore mortality and end-of-life care planning. In her work as an end of life doula, Francesca foc

Award-winning End of Life Educator Barbara Karnes takes a deep dive into the unique challenges of caring for someone with dementia at end of life. Caregivers often find their responsibilities accumulating over time as the disease trajectory continues. They’re forced to live in the present, to see their loved one as who they are today. The goal is to bring joy and quality of life