Today one of my favorite clients decided to go on Hospice. I admire the courage it takes to say on any given day, today I am ready to begin the journey of releasing. I loved my work as a Hospice Social Worker, and it shaped me so much for the work I continue to do today as the owner of Visiting Angels of West Michigan.
One of the things that struck me most as a new grad with my MSW, as I met with Hospice clients and their families day in and day out, was that people often came to Hospice tired. They were tired from treatment. Tired of navigating medical systems. Tired from feeling sick, tired of the wondering, the uncertainty, the limitations, the blood draws. So much of the journey of treatment takes everything we have to give it.
And then we say welcome to Hospice where we want to focus on the quality of life. We would talk about how that felt hard to dream that quality could come easily to this tired body and soul.
If Hospice’s philosophy aligns with how someone wants to live life, education needs to continue to happen. We need to encourage individuals to consider hospice as an option earlier. Hospice is very much about how we live and how we die.
When I had the opportunity to buy Visiting Angels, I did so because I was deeply convinced that life’s quality needs to be our focus way before we engage a terminal diagnosis. I am committed to living out the quality of life in my living and my dying and facilitate that for others with every chance I am given.
I will write more about quality of life, living and dying, advocacy, Visiting Angels, and Hospice in the coming year. But tonight, I leave you with this. If you were going to commit to quality of life in your living and dying, how would your choices or thoughts change?
Let’s do it, my friends. In honor of my dear client Betty. Let’s commit right now to live our lives with intention and purpose. What a gift to be able to go to bed at the end of every day, knowing that we did our best with what God gave us on that day. I hope we can all say that we commit to creating quality of life in our living and our dying, both for ourselves and those around us!