8 of 8

"People don't have to have crummy end-of-life care," says Bailey. "It's like the physician that doesn't know what to do. Well, patients and families don't know what to do either. And no one is there to help them, so they just muddle along. That's why people end up in ICU, when what they really need is to spend time in a room where their family can be with them.

"People think that to die you need a good doctor, a good nurse, a good social worker, a good chaplain, and maybe a good mental-health worker," he says. "I don't want to downplay that, but quite frankly, what people need is to stay connected with their community and their families. Instead, we take somebody who gets too sick to stay home and pluck them out of bed and put them someplace where you can only visit them a couple hours a day. And even that is not convenient, because it is during working hours when nobody can get there." (Balm of Gilead has no limits, for persons or hours, on visitation.)

"You've taken them out of their community and want 'professionals' to care for them when what people really want is to be with their family. The medical system does a terrible job. It doesn't know what to do.

"Professional caregivers can help, but this is something bigger. What people really need when they are facing death are five things: To say, 'I forgive you. Please forgive me. I love you. Thank you. Goodbye.'"

Wendy Murray Zoba is a senior writer for CT. For more information about Balm of Gilead, call 205.918.2332, or visit www.gileadcenter.com.

Copyright © 2001 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

A ready-to-download Bible Study on this article is available at ChristianBibleStudies.com. These unique Bible studies use articles from current issues of Christianity Today to prompt thought-provoking discussions in adult Sunday school classes or small groups.

The Balm of Gilead is a comprehensive program for end-of-life care supported in large part through funding from the Initiative for Excellence in End-of-Life Care of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Resources for hospice and palliative care include:

• The Center to Advance Palliative Care is a resource to hospitals and health systems interested in developing palliative care programs.
• American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine is the only organization in the United States for physicians dedicated to the advancement of hospice/palliative medicine, its practice, research and education.
• The International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care offers an online manual on palliative care.
• National Hospice Foundation gives tips on selecting a hospice program and communicating end of life wishes.
• American Hospice Foundation has helpful articles for those who are dying or grieving.
• National Hospice and Palliative Organization gives access to extensive resources and links.
• Hospice Foundation of America has resources on sudden loss.

Progress in Palliative Care is a multidisciplinary journal with an international perspective that provides a forum for rapid interchange of information on all aspects of palliative care.

In 1998, Christianity Today looked at fears that a bottom-line mentality, had "hijacked" the original hospice vision of the movement's Christian founder, Cicely Saunders.

first page |  8 of 8

share this page

October 22 2001, Vol. 45, No. 13