Document text
Sections Home Page Local News AP News Archives Business Classifieds Event Calendar Forums Life Opinion Obituaries Photo Gallery Since We Asked Sports Tempo Weather Special Coverage 2006 Britt Festivals --> Shop Our Valley AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Search Our Valley Special Sections Homelife Magazine Joy Magazine Readers Choice 2006 Oregon Golf Info Oregon Wine Info Our Valley Other Publications Local Links Ashland News eSouthernOregon Newspapers In Education Personals Moving Here Movie Listings TV Listings Volunteer Customer Service Advertise With Us Media Kit Place Classified Ad Contact Us FAQ's Home Delivery Site Map --> Email Story to a Friend June 18, 2006 Agnes Schares, a volunteer with No One Dies Alone, sits with a dying patient at Providence Medford Medical Center. (Mail Tribune / Jim Craven) No One Dies Alone Providence program volunteers bring comfort to patients during final moments By Bill kettler Mail Tribune The old man's eyes are closed and his mouth is open. His skin is pale and waxy, almost translucent. His breathing is shallow and labored. The nurses say he could die at any time. There's no wife to sit with him in his final hours. No son, no daughter, not even a close friend, but he won't die alone. Agnes Schares of Medford is at his bedside, holding his hand while harp music plays softly from a little portable stereo. Schares is a "compassionate companion," a volunteer who attends dying people who have no one else to be with them as they leave this life. She's one of about 20 people who attend the dying at Providence Medford Medical Center. "No one is more vulnerable than someone who is dying alone," said Pat McFarland, Providence's parish nurse coordinator. McFarland learned about the No One Dies Alone program from nurses in Eugene, where it began, and brought it to Providence last year. Volunteers "tune into that (dying) person with all their being," she said. "You can't do it. You become it. You clear your head and compassionately unite with that person. Advertisement "It means listening," she explained, "not doing a lot of talking." McFarland contacts her volunteers to arrange a bedside "vigil" when doctors tell her a patient's death is imminent. Each volunteer agrees to sit with the dying person for a specific period of time, usually at least three hours. New volunteers step in at the bedside until the patient dies. Volunteers have attended 19 deaths for patients as young as 39 and as old as 94 since the program began in August. "It's a privilege to be there," said Schares, 70, who worked a variety of health-care jobs before she retired. "You just try to respond to their needs," said Schares, who has attended three deaths. "Sometimes I just put my hand on top of their head." The idea for No One Dies Alone came to nurse Sandra Clarke at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene, after a dying man asked her to stay with him. "He was so frail, pale, old and tremulous," Clarke wrote in a Sacred Heart newsletter. "I said 'Sure, as soon as I check on my other patients.' "Vital signs, passing meds, chart checks, assessments and bathroom assistance for six other patients took up most of the next hour and a half," she wrote. "When I returned he was dead. I reasoned he was a do-not-resuscitate, no family, very old, end-stage multi-organ disease; now he was gone, and I felt awful. It was okay for him to die, it was his time — but not alone." "I looked around; scores of people were nearby providing state-of-the-art patient care. For this man, state-of-the-art should have been dignity and respect." Clarke's experience led her to organize a network of people who would sit with the dying. The concept has since spread to other hospitals across the United States and around the world under a variety of names. Volunteers provide no medical care, although they may comfort the dying by moistening their lips or giving them a drink of water. They don't proselytize, despite the hospital's affiliation with a health care system founded by Catholic nuns. "It's not a 'Catholic' thing," McFarland said. "We're not there to convert them on their deathbed. If they're Christian, we might read them the 23rd Psalm." Some of the volunteers are not members of any organized church, McFarland said. "They're doing it on their own without the organized religion part." Others say their faith gives them the strength to sit with the dying. "The first one I did was with a gentleman who was unconscious," said Cecelia Rayburn of Medford. "I just kept my hand on his arm so he knew somebody was there. I felt like God was connecting us." Faye Heighton of Medford said attending the dying is not the frightening thing that some people imagine. "Most people just quietly stop breathing," said Heighton, 66, who worked as a waitress for 30 years. It's a very intimate moment. It's not scary." Everybody dies in their own way, Heighton said. "Some people have visitations. Somebody will come for them from heaven." McFarland said being a presence for the dying reaffirms our most basic human connections. "Someone's with us when we come into this world," she said. "Someone ought to be with us when we go out." Reach reporter Bill Kettler at 776-4492 or e-mail: [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2006 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback online casinos news Home Security Systems California Casinos Men's Clothing Southern Oregon Loans --> GMAT Prep Fundraisers Send Flowers Texas Electric Choice Entertainment Guide --> Casinos Canada Trunks, Footlocker Online Casino Reviews Advertisement s Advertisement