Comforting the Grieving During COVID-19 Crisis At Height of New York City’s Coronavirus Outbreak, Bereavement Calls Took on New Importance for Families

By Larry Beresford

When New York City became the epicenter of the United States’ COVID-19 infections this spring, Rabbi Edith Meyerson DMin, BCC, of Mount Sinai Health System found herself facing a nearly insurmountable challenge: Attending to the grieving.

As Associate Director of Pastoral Counseling and Bereavement Services at Lilian and Benjamin Hertzberg Palliative Care Institute at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine, Meyerson and her team typically support patients and families on the health system’s renowned palliative care service.

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Palliative Care in Two Pandemics By Jennifer Moore Ballentine

I had hoped, by this mid-summer moment, that the COVID-19 crisis would be mostly in the rear view – or at least in the rear view and maybe up ahead around a few bends. Instead, we are still right in the middle of it. And palliative care continues to be right in the middle of it.

Skills essential to good palliative care have proved essential in caring for COVID-19 patients: navigating difficult decisions and conversations, managing severe and distressing symptoms, bearing witness and keeping company when family and loved ones are kept away, and – sadly – doing our best to ensure comfort at death.

As I recently noted during a panel discussion for the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care, COVID care is palliative care, and palliative care has never been more relevant and urgently needed.

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COVID Crisis Underscores Gaps in Serious Illness Workforce  Need for Palliative Care Education and Training Has Never Been Greater, Experts Say

By Larry Beresford 

The COVID-19 crisis has underscored serious gaps in the U.S. healthcare system – among them, the nation’s shortage of hospice and palliative care specialists and the need for healthcare professionals in every setting to have some level of palliative care education and training, experts say.

The workforce issue was one of several topics related to the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted at a recent National Policy Forum hosted by the Coalition to Transform Advanced Care.

Speakers on the workforce panel discussion – “Caring for those with Serious Illness by Supporting Our Workforce During COVID-19 and Beyond” – pointed out that palliative care has been key to responding to the pandemic.

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A Grieving Mother Finds Healing Through Art Lessons from Institute’s Instructor-Led Course Were a Turning Point

When Linda Kallas’ youngest son died in a car accident 10 years ago, she thought the grief might swallow her. Instead, she found a way to keep moving through the pain, learning to process her emotions by expressing herself through art. 

“It was devastating; it changed me,” Kallas said about her son’s death at age 26. “I don’t think you ever get over it, you just learn your new normal. There are still days when it’s overwhelming, like it just happened yesterday, but thankfully those days are getting further apart.” 

A turning point, she said, was taking the online Healing Through Art course offered by the CSU Shiley Institute for Palliative Care. The course helped her identify triggers that could send her spiraling into grief and then “gave me a way to work through them.”

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Hospice House Gives Homeless a Place of Their Own Welcome Home Marks 5 Years Caring for People Who Are Housing Insecure

By Larry Beresford

A hospice house in Tennessee is celebrating its fifth year of providing a safe and comforting space for homeless or housing-insecure people who are nearing end of life. 

Welcome Home of Chattanooga, Tenn., opened in March 2015 with funding from nonprofits, grants, and philanthropists. It was founded by two social workers concerned about the increasing number of homeless people in the community who were dying alone on the streets.

In the years since, Welcome Home has cared for more than 61 residents with serious or life-limiting illnesses who have found solace and support in the five-bedroom house and the team members who staff it.

The program has weathered its share of storms, including the one currently facing other healthcare providers: the COVID pandemic.

“But we’re still here,” said Sherry Campbell, LMSW, co-founder and executive director of Welcome Home. “We haven’t skipped a beat, and that’s because of the support we get from our community.”

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