http://www.slideshare.net/kevindayhoff/20000904-crossing-creek
I received “Crossing the Creek, A Practical Guide to the
Dying Process” on the last day, November 13, 2013, of Bereavement Skills
Training at Carroll Hospice.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/187206483/%E2%80%9CCrossing-the-Creek%E2%80%9D-is-written-by-Michael-Homes
I recently took a 15-hour class in Bereavement Skills Training at Carroll Hospice, http://www.carrollhospice.org/Bereavement-Skills-Training taught by Kathleen A. Bare, M.S. Bereavement Counselor, Carroll Hospice, 292 Stoner Ave., Westminster, MD 21157.
The topics included an introduction to Carroll Hospice and
the services and functions hospice can provide when family members, loved-ones,
friends and colleagues are “Crossing the Creek.”
The class touched-upon the medical aspects of the dying
experience and advice for caregivers. Class segments included ‘normal grief,’
natural grief responses, children and grief. Complicated grief, suicides,
communication skills, rituals, support groups and resources.
On the last day of class, a member of the class distributed
a photocopy of the publication, “Crossing the Creek, A Practical Guide to the
Dying Process,” which the author, Michael
Homes, RN, identifies as “A nurse’s perspective on the medical aspects of
the dying experience and advice for caregivers.” My copy of “Crossing the Creek” is branded with a ‘print date’ of
September 4, 2000.
According to http://crossingthecreek.com/,
the publication is no longer available. Furthermore, the publisher, Damone-Rose
Publishing is going out of business. A brief
search of the internet did
not locate a place where the book could be purchased. This information was
accessed on November 25, 2013.
That is a shame because it is a valuable and well accepted
plain-language and common sense approach to the dying experience and advice to
caregivers…
In his introduction to “Crossing the Creek,” Mr. Holmes
writes:
“This
guide is intended to provide dying people and their caregivers with a general description
of what they can expect to encounter. While understanding does not eliminate
the impact of experience, it can: certainly reduce some of the consternation
and allay that creeping sense of panic•.
“All
transitions have similar key elements. Also, every person experiences, a wide
variety of transitions during the course of his/her lifetime. In that sense,
there is nothing new in dying process. In fact, each of us develops our own,
personal style for dealing with transitions. We tend to stick with that style,
whatever it might be, when we face the transition we call death.
“If
you would like to know how you will handle your own death, look back upon your
life and observe how you have handled all your other transitions. Unless you
decide to change your approach, that is how you will die.
While
all transitions have similar key elements, this guide deals specifically with
the transition of dying. Every person does not experience every sign or symptom
described herein, or a person may experience a particular sign or symptom in
his/her own unique way. There is room for infinite variation in how any given
individual may experience the dying process. At the same time, certain general
themes are common to all.
“It
is well to remember that all transitions entail some disagreeable or
uncomfortable aspects. Dying process is no exception. No reasonable person
expects that life will contain no discomforts, yet some espouse the notion that
somehow, death will. This is not a reasonable expectation. The dying process
has its difficult aspects regardless of one's level of enlightenment.
“Modern
medicine has demonstrated a remarkable capacity for mitigating or even
eliminating many disagreeable aspects of physical death. At the same time,
modern medicine cannot relieve people of responsibility for their own lives. We
all prepare for our own death by the manner in which we live our lives. Skilled
clinicians can be a great help, but we each bear the ultimate burden of
responsibility for how we live and how we die…”
For more information on grief, bereavement, death and dying,
or coping with death at the holidays and the various programs offered by Carroll Hospice, contact: Kathleen
A. Bare, M.S. Bereavement Counselor, Carroll Hospice, 292 Stoner Ave.,
Westminster, MD 21157, 410-871-7231, KBare@carrollhospitalcenter.org;
or go to: http://www.carrollhospice.org/home.
Kevin Dayhoff is a chaplain with the Westminster Volunteer
Fire Department and the Maryland Troopers Association Lodge # 20.
In addition he currently serves on the executive board of
the Carroll Co. branch of the NAACP and the church council of Grace Lutheran
Church.
In the past, he has taken a number of classes in various
aspects of the chaplaincy, including non-violence training, emergency incident
command and response, Red Cross disaster response training, and a Federation of
Fire Chaplains’ class in the Essentials of Fire Chaplaincy…
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