The following is an excerpt from our livestream with Gabby Jimenez about life, death and hospice. Gabby is a hospice nurse, a hospice doula, and an author. To listen to the full podcast, click here.
When the last breath has passed, what are some insights or advice that you may have for the caregivers about grief, grieving, or any additional caregiving that may take place?
Honor What It Feels Like
When that last breath is taken, I encourage people to just sit for a moment and be with it.
I’ve seen over 1,000 last breaths and I am still in awe of how amazing and miraculous our bodies are. When that last breath is taken, I see it for exactly what it is, which is the ending of a life. Whether it’s someone I love or someone that someone else loves who’s sitting at that bedside, that should be respected and savored almost so that you can just be present for it in the best way possible and to not rush it or say, “OK, now we need to call the Funeral Home and we need to do this and we need to do this…
I think we need to slow down and just be with them for a moment and say one last goodbye. Just be with it and honor what that feels like.”
And then:
