End of Life Care: An Emerging Praxis

The latest ANS featured article from the current issue focused on Palliative Care is titled: “What End-of-Life Care Needs Now: An Emerging Praxis of the Sacred and Subtle” by William Rosa, MS, RN, LMT, AHN-BC, AGPCNP-BC, CCRN-CMC and Tarron Estes, BA.  We invite you to download the article at no charge while it is featured, and return here to offer our responses for discussion.  Here is a message from the author about the work behind the article:

William Rosa

As the tsunami of aging population grows, and medical technical care alone misses the heart of caring, so does the cry to “Occupy Death”, to create care and healing at end of life and “Restore Death to its Sacred Place in the Beauty, Mystery, and Celebration of Life”. It is no longer enough to expect death with dignity; we must strive toward evolving human-centered care. It is not sufficient to ‘do no harm’; we must deliberately create healing environments guided by the spiritual autonomy of the dying one.

Tarron Estes

The wonderful news is this: As this cry grows to restore sacred, comforting care to our loved ones during their final months, weeks, and days of life, there is an equivalent groundswell of desire to serve, and a growing numbers of end of life doulas rising to meet the needs of those nearing death. This is the premise and guiding force behind our work.