Spreading Our Wings

by Janie Rakow

The long lazy days of summer are slipping away and I find myself trying to savor every last bit of this warm weather. Summer usually means the pace slows down, we spend a week or two at the beach, and life is mellower. Not so this summer for INELDA! Our team has been busy, busy, busy! With the launch of our website, we have seen an increased volume of searches and much more interest in our work than ever before. Our main mailbox has been flooded with people looking for a doula to help a loved one with a terminal illness. The number of people training each month has doubled. The word is spreading, and we have added two new hospices to our fold in July alone. We are so thankful to bring this work to so many.

With the increase in demand for our trainings, our staff has grown as well. We are pleased to introduce three new INELDA trainers: Kris Kington-Barker, Shelby Kirillin and Nicole Heidbreder. Along with Henry, Janie and Jeri, our three new trainers will be training at our hospices, facilities, hospitals and public training sessions across the country and in other parts of the world. Each of our new trainers is uniquely qualified in the end of life field, as you will see below. We extend a warm welcome to them!

Warmly,
Janie

Kris Kington-Barker

Kris has served as Executive Director for Hospice of San Luis Obispo County (SLO) in California since 2010. Since 1972, the focus of her work has ranged from mental health counseling to rural health to acute care clinical operations and administration, in both for-profit and nonprofit sectors. Hospice SLO was one of the first hospices that INELDA helped build a doula program based on our model. Kris is on the INELDA Board and is an INELDA Certified End of Life Doula.

Shelby Kirillin

Shelby has worked as an ICU nurse for twenty years and continues to do that work part time. Now she also has a private practice as an end of life coach and doula in Virginia. As an INELDA Certified End of Life Doula, Shelby is instrumental in guiding and coaching many new doulas who are interested in starting a private practice. She believes that dying isn’t a medical experience, but rather a sacred time in a person’s life, and should be treated with care.

Nicole Heidbreder

Nicole works in Washington DC as both a Hospice nurse and as a Labor & Delivery nurse. She is a Clinical Faculty Educator for Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing and has taught birth doula workshops for the past seven years. When not working or teaching, Nicole is deeply involved in the Insight Meditation Community of Washington DC, where she studies with teacher Tara Brach.