Literature Review

Best of Beth Ashley: After a life well lived, facing the sadness together Marin Independent Journal; by Beth Ashley, this IJ is reprinting some of the late Beth Ashley’s columns. This is from 2014; 10/27/25 A dear friend is now being cared for by hospice. Like so many others, she has trusted hospice to see her through the last days of her life. Knowing that she may soon die is a blow to the heart. But it’s not as though I haven’t known that for all of us, life ends sometimes. That doesn’t make it any easier. By now, a huge assortment of dear ones have left my here and now. My parents are gone. My beloved second husband. My two sisters. My precious son Jeff. And so many friends I’ve lost count, including my best friend and fellow traveler for years and years, my Stanford classmate Skid. I still talk to them all. My mom has not really left my life; I’m just with her in a different way. ... Whenever these endings come near, it’s important to express our love, and face the final sadness together.

Mentorship, military legacy, and making a difference with Susan Combs Advisor Today; podcast with Susan Combs; 10/25/25 Susan Combs is the Founder of Pancakes for Roger, a nonprofit that honors veterans and amplifies their stories through a grassroots “pancakes” movement. She created it after her father, a Major General, asked for pancakes while on hospice, inspiring a campaign, book, and advocacy project.Editor's Note: Though Veteran's Day is only two weeks away, you have time to implement Susan's amazing "Pancakes for Roger" for the veterans you serve, via their annual national (and international) campaigns each February. Explore more information. 

The power of music, art, and pet therapy in hospice care  607NewsNow, Ithaca, NY; by Maddie Cavataio; 10/10/25 Hospice care isn’t only about easing physical pain, it’s also about nurturing the mind and spirit. Creative and alternative therapies like music, art, and pet therapy are helping patients find comfort, connection, and moments of joy during one of life’s most challenging times. Music therapy can have a profound effect on mood, memory, and relaxation. ... Art therapy provides another outlet for self-expression. ... Pet therapy adds yet another dimension of comfort. ...  Many patients light up when a friendly animal visits, offering unconditional love and a welcome distraction from medical routines. ... These holistic therapies remind us that hospice care is about living fully, right up to the end.

Heritage Hospice spreads smiles with ‘Scattering Kindness’ project The Advocate-Messenger, Danville, KY; 10/17/25 Heritage Hospice, Inc. volunteers spread cheer across four counties recently through a community outreach effort called “Scattering Kindness,” which delivers handmade seasonal crafts and treats to local nursing homes and assisted living residents. The project, coordinated by Heritage Hospice Volunteer Services, began earlier this year with the idea of using creativity as a way to bring comfort and connection to patients in care facilities. The first celebration took place in February, when volunteers marked Valentine’s Day with heart-themed gifts — setting the tone for what would become an ongoing series of seasonal outreach events.

[Scotland] The University of Glasgow has partnered with The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice to launch a bold new concept in sustainable fashion, in the heart of Glasgow University of Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom; by University News; 10/14/25 The University of Glasgow has partnered with The Prince & Princess of Wales Hospice to launch a bold new concept in sustainable fashion, in the heart of Glasgow. With more than 200,000 tonnes of textile waste generated annually in the UK, Worthwhile Wardrobe is a collaboration between the hospice and Adam Smith Business School that offers a more conscious and sustainable way to shop. High-end items donated to the hospice will be curated into the ‘Worthwhile Wardrobe’ collection, available at the Hospice Shop on Queen Street, Glasgow. When a customer purchases an item from the collection, they have the option to return it after use and receive a discount on their next Worthwhile Wardrobe purchase. This ensures that garments stay in the circular chain rather than being discarded after minimal wear. Professor Deirdre Shaw, Professor of Consumer Ethics and Sustainability at the Adam Smith Business School, said: “Worthwhile Wardrobe is all about doing good - for the planet and for people. By extending the life of clothes, you help reduce waste while supporting vital hospice care."

New art exhibit on display at MaineHealth Waldo Hospital MaineHealth, Belfast, ME; 10/14/25 A new art exhibit is now on display at MaineHealth Waldo Hospital, featuring works by Kristin Golden, Penny Linn and Penny Markley. Their works are on display along the first-floor hallway near the hospital’s laboratory and cardiac rehabilitation department. The exhibit is part of an ongoing effort at MaineHealth Waldo Hospital to showcase a range of artists and mediums from across Maine. The MaineHealth Pen Bay and Waldo Hospitals Art Committee, made of care team members from both hospitals, put out a call for artists in January, looking for artists with ties to Maine and New England to display their work in a series of 12-week exhibits at the hospitals. Editor's Note: MaineHealth Waldo Hospital’s rotating art exhibits show how creativity can enhance healing spaces for patients, families, and staff. Consider adapting this idea—partnering with local artists or schools to display works that bring comfort and reflection—to enrich your hospice units, grief counseling rooms, or offices.

Rehab patients practice skills by building hospice care packages as Oak Park police and Lincoln Rx donate supplies. Feiga Bowick connects it all.  The Detroit Jewish News; by Rochel Burstyn; 10/9/25 ... Small steps can quickly snowball and make a big difference. Feiga Bowick, LMSW, CDP, the manager of Social Services and Community Engagement at PARC Home Care and Hospice of Southeast Michigan, ... [described] her recent hospice collaboration with Life Skills Village ... a rehabilitation center mainly for patients who have developmental delays and traumatic brain injuries. “I met with their occupational therapist ...: "How could these patients help others in a way that would be helpful to their own recovery?” Bowick said. “Many patients at Life Skills Village are working on fine motor skills and organizational skills, and we decided to try and get items together so they could create care packages for PARC hospice patients — while practicing their skills.” [Continue reading this inspirational story.]

Living with injustice: Gary Tyler had his life taken away, yet managed to claw it back. The Progressive Magazine; by Bill Lueders; 10/6/25 Just as I sat down to write this review of former death row inmate Gary Tyler’s memoir, I noticed that its publication date is the fifty-first anniversary of the day that upended his life: October 7, 1974. This undoubtedly deliberate timing, like the book itself, serves to help close the circle around Tyler’s remarkable—at times, almost unbelievable—life journey. That was the day Tyler, then a sixteen-year-old Black youth, was arrested for the shooting death of a thirteen-year-old white boy at their high school in Destrehan, Louisiana, about twenty-five miles from New Orleans. He was taken into custody and beaten so severely that he was left with permanent physical scars, as well as psychological ones. Police and prosecutors ignored and withheld evidence of his innocence, and suborned perjury by threatening witnesses. One witness, Natalie Blanks, was told she would be charged as an accessory to murder and miss out on her baby’s life if she didn’t falsely testify that she saw Tyler fire a gun from inside a bus. Stitching Freedom: A True Story of Injustice, Defiance, and Hope in Angola Prison is, for much of its first half especially, an intensely bleak book.Editor's Note: See previous significant posts in our newsletter about Gary Tyler and this transformative hospice program at Angola Prison.

Elizabeth Earley explores the fear of death in new essay collection SGN - Seattle & The Pacific Northwest's LGBTQIA+ News & Network; by Lindsey Anderson; 9/26/25 ... Humans often push the idea of death to the fringes of our minds, especially in Western cultures. However, for writer and clinical research scientist Elizabeth Earley, this topic contains multitudes as vast as the human experience. The more she studied the history and science of mortality, the more she found an underlying beauty, which inspired her latest work, Little Deaths All in a Row, a collection of prose diving deep into death. ... Realizing death is the inevitable end for us all, Earley decided to face her fear. "I believe the best way to get over fearing something is just to get closer to it and more intimate with it, so that's what I did," she said. She began volunteering in a hospice program as a form of exposure therapy. 

One year after Hurricane Helene: Lessons in resilience, recovery, and renewal Hospice & Palliative Care Today; Joy Berger and Cordt Kassner with Vern Grindstaff, Millicent Burke-Sinclair, and Chris Comeaux; 9/26/25 At this time last year, Hospice & Palliative Care Today brought you a series of articles reporting on the devastating impact of Hurricane Helene across the Southeast, focusing on hospices in the North Carolina mountains. We remain deeply grateful for the many ways you—our readers and colleagues—rallied in support of those hospice organizations and their communities during their time of urgent need. This Saturday, September 27, 2025, marks the one-year anniversary of that epic disaster. To reflect on what has been learned and how recovery has unfolded, Vern Grindstaff (CEO of Compassionate Care WNC, Burnsville, NC), Millicent Burke-Sinclair (President and CEO of Four Seasons, Flat Rock, NC), and Chris Comeaux (President and CEO of Teleios Collaborative Network, Flat Rock, NC) gathered in conversation with Cordt Kassner (publisher) and Joy Berger (editor-in-chief). The insights that follow honor the hospice employees who persevered to provide urgent patient care. We celebrate their spirit of compassionate community and courageous problem-solving from the onset one year ago through ongoing recovery.

Students lift patients' spirits with Words of Warmth The Daily Toreador, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX; by Christian Jeter; 9/19/25 As pens hit paper with words of love and encouragement, students gathered to write letters to patients currently in hospice care at the Student Activities Board’s Words of Warmth event on Sept. 19. Hosted on the first floor of the Student Union Building, the event invited students to write a letter or decorate gift bags with uplifting words as a part of the SAB’s Service Week, a period of time in which the organization holds community service-focused volunteer events. ... Phrases such as “Peace and love” and “Wishing you comfort” were some of the many suggestions SAB members recommended students write on their letters. Students could also write more in-depth text or personal anecdotes.

Neil Heinen: We give precious little thought to the meaning of life Madison Magazine, Madison, WI; by Neil Heinen; 9/17/25 An Op-Ed on the importance and profundity of being with a person at the end of their life, and how hospice plays a special role. We don’t think about death enough. How’s that for an opening sentence? ... We’d be considerably better off if we did think about life’s end a little more. The main topic of this column is hospice, which adds a bit of a buffer to the existential angst of contemplating death. ... Being with a person at the end of their life is one of the most profound and loving of life’s many possible experiences. And what brings meaning to a dying person is as varied as life itself. A song, a poem, a pet, a knitting needle and yarn, a recognition of service, stories, pictures, memories, another person who will listen, who cares; the list is long and filled with small acts of kindness so many of us could easily provide.