Hospice programs are adding a new dimension to their services, providing companionship for families and patients during the last days and hours of life.
Continuum Hospice Care in New York City provides vigil services for patients in their program that prepares families for what to expect during the dying process and provides round the clock companions during final days.
Continuum has specially trained 29 volunteers to help at the bedside of dying patients. The volunteers call themselves doulas, a Greek term for women who assist midwives and mothers during home births.
The program uses music, massage, meditation, and aromatherapy to calm both patient and family members and create a positive environment. Doulas remind those at the bedside that hearing is usually the last sense to go and encourage them to reassure patients with a steady, soothing murmur.
More information about the vigil program along with stories of families that have used it is available in the May 20, 2006 issue of The New York Times.
February 18, 2008 at 12:49 pm, Tammy said:
Hello, I would like to say how thankful I am for your program it was and is very helpful to myself as my husband was ill for 2 years with stage 4 colon cancer…He passed away on the 5th of Feb and will be MISSED forever but never forgotten…Thank you so much for this web site.
Tammy Fitzgerald