Week 10: Death and Dying

When I was at WWU I took a class on “Death and Dying,” that was extremely interesting. We looked at death from a cultural standpoint around the world, and then from a scientific standpoint. What stuck with me the most was when we had a Hospice nurse come in and talk to our class. We were allowed to ask her questions and she told us why she did what she did. At first I could not understand how someone could face death every day and then go on about their lives, being happy. Her name escapes me but her words don’t.

She said that she fully and whole heartedly believed in Hospices’ goal to allow people to die with dignity. Many people aren’t able to do things for themselves that we consider private (such as bathing and using the bathroom), and the nurses help with that. But they are also somewhat of an emotional resource because they are there every day taking care of the patient. The nurse said there is nothing more rewarding then being able to carry out someone’s dying wish because it’s sometimes too hard for the family or friends. When you help someone die with dignity, you are helping them come to terms with what is going on, but you are also taking some of the burden off of the family. You are able to send them off in peace.

I can’t personally image being in her shoes or being one of her patients but I can say that if I were dying I would want someone who cares as much as she does by my side.  

Week 9: Aging

I found the article, “As Good as it Gets” very interesting this week. It seems as though we hear a lot about health care in the media these days, but not a lot about other countries health care. My parents live in Sweden and the other day my father had to see a cardiologist and it was covered 100%, I was stunned. Granted their taxes are a bit higher, but their out of pocket costs on dental and healthcare are almost nothing, which in my opinion outweighs the taxes; especially for people that are aging or chronically ill and require more care. It is inevitable that we are all going to age and I believe that the US needs to have better programs in place to handle the gap between what retired people collect in Social Security, versus their medical costs. Maybe instead of giving everyone a large stipend, base it off their income and medical bills? Thoughts? I am open to ideas.

The second thing that piqued my interest was the different biological theories of aging. The wear and tear theory would have been my first assumption, besides acute disease, that causes death, but it seems there are multiple theories. If I had all the money and time I wanted I would do more research on the Free Radicals theory. It seems odd to me that your body would create random chemicals that help the aging process, but maybe they aren’t so random after all. Maybe they are meant to develop when the wear and tear on your body is too much.