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APRIL 2024

 APRIL 2024
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INELDA Newsletter - Notes for the Journey
NEWS BRIEFS MEDIA INELDA UPDATE PRACTICE CORNER EVENTS
Rites and Rights Revisited
rites and rights revisited
by Loren Talbot

On April 4, INELDA and NEDA held a virtual town hall on recent legal challenges that end-of-life doulas and others in the deathcare field are facing. Attorneys Ben Field and Christian Lansinger, from the Institute for Justice (IJ), shared their knowledge on these cases, which threaten the right to free speech and the right to earn an honest living. The event was moderated by Angelyn C. Frazier-Giles, INELDA’s board president, and Ashley Johnson, NEDA’s president. The discussion focused on IJ’s recent defense of the collective Full Circle of Living and Dying, based in California, and on Lauren Richwine’s practice, Death Done Differently, located in Indiana. The conversation addressed how these rare cases can impact end-of-life doulas across the United States.

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doula Profile
Treza Gallogly

Treza is from Auckland, New Zealand. Swansong is her end-of-life doula practice, which serves all areas of NZ. She is on the steering group for the newly formed End-of-Life Doula Alliance of Aotearoa and works alongside the Mercy Hospice Compassionate Communities project in Auckland. She is also involved in other community initiatives, such as Death Cafés and Dying to Know Day.

Doula Profile - Treza Gallogly
Q&A with Treza

When and why did you decide to become an end-of-life doula?

I had several experiences with looking after people at end of life—my dad and a dear friend. Spending time in hospice with them and watching the amazing doctors and nurses led me to start thinking about EOL care. I knew I wanted to end my career doing something compassionate. I had been a nurse in a past life and I wanted to give back to society. So, when someone told me about death doulas, I decided to do a doula training course at the end of the first lockdown in 2021. From there, I knew that being a doula was exactly where I was meant to be at this time of my life. I haven’t looked back!

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 INELDA Navigating Dementia Class April 23 - May 2

UPCOMING EVENTS
INELDA Discovery Call - Becoming an EOL Doula - April 16 Discovery Call: Becoming an End-of-Life Doula


April 16 | WED 7-8:30pm ET

Learn about INELDA’s End-of-Life Doula Training and our approach to supporting the dying and their loved ones. This discovery call is an opportunity to hear about the topics covered during our training and how we facilitate a supportive and experiential learning environment. Calls are open to all, but registration is required due to capacity.REGISTER

INELDA Intensive End-of-Life Daoula Training - April 19-21 •INTENSIVE• End-of-Life Doula Training


April 19-21 | FRI 12-4pm, SAT & SUN 8am-5pm ET

This ONLINE doula training is for those who intend to serve the dying independently, as part of a hospice program, in a hospital or care facility, through a community program, or in a doula collective. Topics include models of care, deep active listening, ritual and ceremonies, vigil planning, and more. Training is open to all and will meet for three sessions from Friday thru Sunday. Limited to 40 individuals. Click to see the full schedule | REGISTER

INELDA Hospice End-of-Life Doula Training - May 4-5 Hospice End-of-Life Doula Training


May 4-5 | SAT & SUN 10:30am-7pm ET

Hospice end-of-life doula training is designed for care provider organizations seeking to have current staff or volunteers trained as end-of-life doulas to enhance their care teams and services. Limited to 24 seats. This two-day training, taught by educator Claudette Peterson, is open to those who are currently affiliated, volunteer with, or employed by a hospice organization. Limited to 24 individuals.Click to see the full scheduleREGISTER

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MEDIA OF THE MONTH
Media of the Month - Judith Letting Go
Judith Letting Go: Six Months in the World’s Smallest Death Café

by Mark Dowie

Mark Dowie is the former publisher and editor of Mother Jones magazine, the founder of Talking Point Radio, and previous editor-at-large of InterNation, a features syndicate based in Paris. He recently retired from the U.C. Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism where he taught science, environmental reporting, and foreign correspondence. READ EXCERPT

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CREATING A “DOULA AWARE” COMMUNITY
by Nikki Smith

As you may well know, certain communities are less end-of-life doula-aware than others. I figured going into this that there would be challenges, but I also knew I was called to this line of work—and what better way to really immerse myself than to open my business in a “doula desert”? I spent a good 20 years hiding behind a desk in corporate America before I started on this path. I knew this work would mean coming out of my introverted shell, connecting with strangers, and spending a LOT of time explaining my new profession. But I had no idea just how much I would enjoy standing up in front of people talking about death and dying—even and maybe especially in a place where it was rarely discussed!

Creating a "Doula Aware" Community

Yet how do you begin these conversations in a place where most folks are unfamiliar with the notion of a death doula? Education is key. When you’re in an area where not a lot of people have been exposed to end-of-life doulas, and tend to shy away from death talk in general, you have an opportunity. You can teach them about who we are and what we do—and convey that discussing death doesn’t make death happen. (My fellow midwesterners know what I mean here). Here are some ways to start educating your community.

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INELDA UPDATE
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF AGING 70TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE
The INELDA team headed to San Francisco in March for the American Society of Aging’s annual conference. It was great to connect with our friends joining from C-TAC, SAGE, and other organizations. We were inspired by a range of presentations: from researchers looking at end-of-life caregiving capacity in Japan to learning more about best practices for receiving foundational support when serving aging populations to hearing from end-of-life doulas in our larger community. READ MORE INELDA Update - American Society of Aging 70th Annual Conference

INELDA HEADS TO RED LATINOAMERICANA DE ACOMPAÑAMIENTO CONFERENCE

This April 11th–14th, INELDA’s executive director Douglas Simpson will be joining Red Latinoamericana de Acompañamiento for their 2nd annual conference in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. READ MORE

NEWSLETTER PAUSE FOR MAY
Notes for the Journey, INELDA’s newsletter, will be taking off the month of May as we work on some exciting internal projects. We look forward to sharing them with you when we return in June. If you have any questions in the meantime, feel free to email: [email protected]
INELDA UPDATE - Newsletter Pause for May

HIRING ONLINE TRAINING ASSISTANTS

We are hiring online training assistants. If you have trained with INELDA and are interested in providing technical support during our online sessions, we hope to hear from you! READ MORE

INELDA Update - Job Opportunities - Online Training Assistant
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INELDA’S APRIL WEBINAR
Monthly Webinar
INELDA Community Screening: A Good Death
April 24 | WED 7-8:30pm ET

Our next monthly webinar is available to all INELDA members. The film A Good Death, directed and produced by Jean Chapiro and Alison Boya Sun, features INELDA-certified, end-of-life doula Virginia Chang and her client Soon Ja during the last weeks of her life. We will watch the 25-minute film together and then have a conversation with Virginia and the filmmakers, which will be followed by a Q&A. Learn how Virginia guides, supports, and accompanies the dying through her beautiful relationship with Soon Ja.

Virginia is an INELDA-certified end-of-life doula, educator, and writer. She works as a doula in private practice and as a hospice and vigil volunteer for VNS Health. Jean is a Student Academy Award-winning filmmaker and journalist from Mexico City. She holds an M.S. in Documentary Journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and is currently completing an MFA in Creative Producing at the university. Alison is a documentary filmmaker hailing from China. Her educational journey led her to the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where she graduated in 2022 with a specialization in documentary filmmaking. Alison works as a junior producer and editor at Eastern Standard Times Media.

Guest Speakers - Virginia Chang, Jean Chapiro & Alison Boya Sun

Our guests will be joined by moderator and INELDA educator Wilka Roig. Together they will explore this powerful film and what it means to journey alongside someone at the end of life. View Trailer here.

 Cost: Free with INELDA membership | Non-members $15

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PRACTICE CORNER

TOOLBOX TIPS
Tool Box

Showing up as a doula for someone who has experienced sudden death utilizes many of the skills you would use when working with someone who knows they are going to die. It requires you to be present with the individual or group in front of you. You can lead with a supportive presence and employ deep active listening. I often ask those mourning to tell me about their loved ones. There are ways we can work together by doing a memorial project or offering resources and referrals for grief support.

—Melissa Ferrante

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SHARING SOURCES
Future Files

Future File is a comprehensive, easy-to-use “grabbable” kit. It can be used to organize an individual’s wishes and information, as well as to offer a roadmap for their loved ones to follow for aging, emergencies, and death. Future File was created by business and financial expert and New York Times best-selling author Carol Roth and her sister, after they lost four loved ones. Its mission is to help families ease some burdens and save time and money as they deal with the challenges presented by life events.

Sharing Sources - Future File

Future File helps you gather in one location everything you’ll need for critical family events—such as emergencies, aging, or passings—including wills, information on powers of attorney, emergency contact information, spare keys, financial accounts, medical information, social media wishes, aging-care wishes, and so much more.

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ASK INELDA

Ask INELDA Image - Eucalyptus Branch

In what ways does a doula support grieving loved ones?—Q&A participant

Educator Shelby Kirillin: We do this in many ways. We begin by educating them about the grieving process. This might sound unnecessary, but many people have not experienced deep grief personally. It’s helpful for them to understand what this process can look like and to make sure that they’re aware of and can access needed resources. We also use legacy work—helping people define and create a project to memorialize the person who died. Whether it was started prior to the death or not, this work is a way we can help the loved ones have a more active role with their grief. READ MORE
Please submit questions to [email protected]
Self-Care - Anchoring Yourself in Sound

SELF-CARE

Anchoring Yourself in Sound

This week has been all Bill Evans. A few weeks ago, I encountered a powerful piece in The New Yorker titled “The Sound of Grief,” by Matthew Schnipper. Although I stumbled upon it randomly, I have been journeying with it ever since. Matthew shares his love of music, a diagnosis he had to confront (I had the same), his love of Sonic Youth (I’m a fan too), the songs he loved sharing with his son, and then the death of his son, from a condition called AVM (or arteriovenous malformation). I cannot even begin to speak to the pain he articulated so beautifully. But I can understand how his desire to listen to anything waned—how his grief swallowed the music he’d long loved. And I connect with how, eventually, Bill Evans and others brought him back to the music. READ MORE

—Loren Talbot

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News Briefs
Losing Trust in Healthcare as Access Declines
A recent article from KFC News and NPR documented the increasing distrust of patients in the United States. With a nationwide shortage of doctors and others who provide primary care, individuals are either utilizing heavily burdened emergency rooms and community health centers and/or opting out of primary care. As one example, the article noted that the 1,400 community health centers (also known as federally qualified health centers or FQHCs) that serve the nation’s most vulnerable lost 5% of their workforce during a six-month period in 2022. READ MORE  News Brief - Losing Trust in Healthcare as Access Declines
Caregivers Supported Through Telehealth
Hospice News reported on a study in the American Journal of Hospice & Palliative Medicine that focused on caregivers of hospitalized patients who reside in rural communities. Participants in the eight-week study received video and phone calls, as well as texts from a palliative care-certified registered nurse. The study showed success in reducing the financial costs of transitional palliative care. READ MORE
News Brief 3-California and Hawaii Paving the Way for Palliative Care
California and Hawaii Paving the Way for Palliative Care
This month, a Harvard Public Health feature documented the benefits of palliative care, while noting how both California and Hawaii are setting a new, higher standard for palliative insurance coverage. Today almost half of U.S. states include palliative care services for eligible Medicaid recipients, yet that coverage is often incomplete. READ MORE 

The Final Word
Before She Died
by Karen Chase

When I look at the sky now, I look at it for you.

As if with enough attention, I could take it in for you.

With all the leaves gone almost from

the trees, I did not walk briskly through the field.

Late today with my dog Wool, I lay down in the upper field,

he panting and aged, me looking at the blue. Leaning

on him, I wondered how finite these lustered days seem

to you, A stand of hemlock across the lake catches

my eye. It will take a long time to know how it is

for you. Like a dog’s lifetime—long—multiplied by sevens.

 
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Accessible, Equitable, and Compassionate Deathcare

© INELDA 2024 International End-of-Life Doula Association is a
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