FAQ

The Problem With Health Care Today for the Elderly:

End of Life Disconnect- A National Hospice Organization Gallup Poll found that nine out of ten people who were terminally ill wanted to die at home, yet half were dying in the hospital. The same poll found that the number one fear of the dying patient was becoming a burden to their family. “Because of our society’s overwhelming fear of death, it is almost impossible to teach families how to fully care for their dying loved ones,” said O’Brien.“Compounding that is the short amount of time the patients spend at home.” In fact, another study found that seven out of ten families said that they felt they were referred to Hospice too late. “We have literally become paralyzed by the topic of death and this fear is making the experience so much harder than it needs to be, for both patients and families,” observes O’Brien. “Planning for end of life wishes and discussing them with loved ones takes a great weight off of both patients and families.”

The Solution: Doulagivers.

What is Doulagivers?

Doulagivers is the New Specialized Area of Non-Medical Health Care for the Elderly. Doula is a Greek word meaning non-medical person who gives physical, emotional, and spiritual support to someone else. Giver means someone who gives. Doulagivers was born from the two definitions. Doulagivers consists of Suzanne B. O’Brien’s award winning training programs End of Life Doula Guide Training and Elder Care Doula Guide Training. The trainings consist of 3 phases of End of Life Care and teaches the Doulagiver what suggestions to offer for comfort in all 3 phases of end of life.

About Suzanne B. O’Brien RN:

Suzanne B. O’Brien is an award winning Hospice and Oncology Registered Nurse. She has been working with this precious population for over a decade. It was due to seeing Elder Care and End of Life Care not going well for most of her patients that fueled her to look for better ways to not only help the patients, but all their loved ones. The toll it takes on family to care for an aging loved one is overwhelming. The stress and fear of caring for someone at end of life at home is heartbreaking. It is too much for families to handle considering that Hospice only manages the care, while the loved ones do the care. The Hospice Nurse teaches the loved ones how to care for the patient, a concept that is virtually impossible with the amount of fear and small amount of time that patients are actually on a Hospice program. Remember 8/10 people polled want to stay in their homes as they age and that 9/10 patients would want to be kept at home if they were terminally ill. The end of life phase and experience of someone we love touches everyone. We need a specialized area of trained professionals to advocate for the elderly and their loved ones to achieve these goals.

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