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Introduction

Sarah is 89 and dying. Her daughter Kaye takes over the caregiving role and she brings her mother Sarah to live with her. Sarah’s fight to remain a viable, loving, useful woman for as long as she can in the face of her illness is quite palpable. When hospice is presented to both women as a choice for living, it is clearly evident what a valuable service it is. As Sarah’s health declines and Kay’s stress increases, the tough decisions that anyone in this position needs to make are brought to the forefront. The film concludes with Sarah’s death portrayed as a natural part of life filled with its intrinsic joys, sorrows, and love.

Video Instructions

To view the video, click on the play button (Play Button) in the bottom left corner of the player. If you want to go to a specific part of the video, click on the number of the day in the timeline below the video, then click the play button.

Time Table

  1. View 27 minute video
  2. Break up into 4 groups – 10 minutes. Each group is assigned one of four sections below
  3. Group leader reports to all – 5 minutes
  4. Open discussion with group leader and facilitator.

Objectives

At the end of the conference participants will be able to:

  1. Describe the patient’s experience of decline and death. Describe the patient’s change in mentation from the beginning to the end of the video.
    Describe the patient’s change in appearance from the beginning to the end of the video.
    How was the patient’s pace of decline different from what you have experienced?
    What did you think about the daughter’s assessment of patient’s quality of life related to continuing to take pills and eat?
  2. Describe the differences between the process of dying inside and outside the hospital:
    The social interactions
    The role of the physician
    Use of medications Impact on the family
  3. Relate their experiences to your personal and family values about death and dying
    What hits home for you personally?
    What day had the most impact for you?
  4. Formulate concepts, based on your observations of this video, for your care of dying patients in the future.
    What obstacles did you see interfere with reaching the patient’s goals?
    How will you try to avoid them?
    What actions will you try to emulate?
    What type of personal interactions will you seek?

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Copyrighted Material; prohibited any reproduction without written authorization.

About the Author: Bailey Barash is a freelance television producer and journalist. Her current work focuses on issues of aging, public health, and economic and health care disparities among low income Americans. In February 1999, Barash left CNN after almost two decades, during which she produced network news and documentaries in the areas of health, medicine, science and technology. Programming under her management included the weekly Science and Technology show, Science & Technology Week, and breaking science news. The Science and Technology Unit at CNN, of which she was Executive Producer, won numerous awards, including the Award for Cable Excellence, the early cable version of the Emmy. She was awarded several journalism fellowships which allowed her to study and teach journalism in such locations as Hawaii, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary. Barash received her BS degree in Zoology from the University of Georgia and her MS degree in Genetics from the University of Melbourne, in Melbourne, Australia, where she was a Fulbright Scholar.

Contact: bbarash.com bailey@bbarash.com bbarash productions, LLC 1875 McLendon Ave., NE Atlanta, GA 30307 404-373-8246 fax: 1-586-816-2924