Hospice Explained

204 Supporting Teens and Families Through Hospice: Jean Anne Menna on Education, Pets, and Legacy Messages Host Marie Betcher, a registered nurse and former hospice nurse, interviews returning guest Jean Anne Menna, a certified hospice and palliative nurse in New York, board member for End of Life Choices New York, and author of Go With Grace and A Pawsitive Journey. Menna shares updates on her website consulting/support services and new writing projects, including an upcoming teen guide, While You're Still Here, focused on normalizing teen emotions, reducing guilt, and encouraging healthy breaks while a loved one is dying at home, potentially on hospice. She discusses a children's book series featuring Duke and Houdini, inspired by a hospice patient's neglected cat, emphasizing the need for a pet care plan in hospice. They also highlight legacy practices like letters and voice recordings, and clarify common hospice misconceptions, stressing education, 24/7 availability, and the need for a primary caregiver in home hospice. 00:00 Welcome and Disclaimer 00:29 Meet Marie and Jean Anne 01:38 New Teen Guide Preview 02:57 Why Teens Need Support 05:30 Filling the Education Gap 06:40 Where to Find the Books 07:16 Duke and Houdini Series 08:49 Houdini Hospice Story 12:27 Planning for Pets 13:25 Website and Legacy Letters 14:28 Recording Voices for Later 17:21 What Hospice Really Provides 21:19 Anticipatory Grief and Resources 22:19 Closing Thanks and Next Time 24:04 Final Sign Off https://gowithgracebook.com/ If you want to help, you can donate to help support Hospice Explained at the Buy me a Coffee link   https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Hospice  Hospice Explained Affiliates & Contact Information Buying from these Affilite links will help support this Podcast.  Maire introduces a partnership with Suzanne Mayer RN inventor of the  cloud9caresystem.com,  When patients remain in the same position for extended periods, they are at high risk of developing pressure injuries, commonly known as bedsores. One of the biggest challenges caregivers face is the tendency for pillows and repositioning inserts to easily dislodge during care.(Suzanne is a former guest on Episode #119) When you order with Cloud 9 care system, please tell them you heard about them from Hospice Explained.(Thank You) Marie's Contact [email protected] www.HospiceExplained.com   Finding a Hospice Agency 1. You can use Medicare.gov to help find a hospice agency, 2. choose Find provider 3. Choose Hospice 4. then add your zip code This should be a list of Hospice Agencies local to you or your loved one.

203 Facing Hospice Concerns: Stories and Solutions Host Marie Betcher, a registered nurse and former hospice nurse, shares two recent conversations highlighting common hospice challenges. In one case, a grandparent was admitted to hospice only 10 hours before death, leaving little time for family education; a caller described being told to "just give them more" medication without clear dosing guidance, underscoring the need for better instruction and repeated follow-up calls for clarification. In the second case, an only child caregiver needed a medical procedure and worried about being unable to physically care for a parent; Marie discusses contacting the hospice team for help, including respite care options such as short-term nursing home placement through Medicare, as well as self-pay adult family homes, nursing homes, or CNAs, noting costs and limited resources. She reminds listeners hospice is not typically a full-time caregiver, suggests using Medicare.gov to find and compare agencies, and encourages reaching out or switching providers if needs aren't met. 00:00 Welcome and Disclaimer 00:28 Meet Your Host Marie 00:42 Story One Late Hospice Referral 01:32 Medication Guidance Needs 02:51 Story Two Caregiver Crisis 03:47 Respite and Care Options 05:05 Keep Calling Hospice Team 05:26 Hospice Is Not the Caregiver 05:54 Finding and Switching Agencies 07:00 Closing Thoughts and Contact   If you want to help, you can donate to help support Hospice Explained at the Buy me a Coffee link   https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Hospice  Hospice Explained Affiliates & Contact Information Buying from these Affilite links will help support this Podcast.  Maire introduces a partnership with Suzanne Mayer RN inventor of the  cloud9caresystem.com,  When patients remain in the same position for extended periods, they are at high risk of developing pressure injuries, commonly known as bedsores. One of the biggest challenges caregivers face is the tendency for pillows and repositioning inserts to easily dislodge during care.(Suzanne is a former guest on Episode #119) When you order with Cloud 9 care system, please tell them you heard about them from Hospice Explained.(Thank You) Marie's Contact [email protected] www.HospiceExplained.com   Finding a Hospice Agency 1. You can use Medicare.gov to help find a hospice agency, 2. choose Find provider 3. Choose Hospice 4. then add your zip code This should be a list of Hospice Agencies local to you or your loved one.

202 Prescription-Grade THC-Free CBD for Pain, Anxiety, and Sleep: Pulak Sharma on Cope Now Host Marie Betcher, RN and former hospice nurse, interviews Pulak Sharma, founder of Kazmira and creator of Cope Now, a vertically integrated telemedicine, compounding pharmacy, and manufacturing platform providing prescription, pharmaceutical-grade THC-free CBD. Sharma explains their CGMP-validated hemp extraction and purification process, compounding into an oral tincture in three strengths, delivery to patients, and development of a shelf-stable nano-emulsion. He says patients most commonly seek help for anxiety and pain, and notes many consumer CBD products are underdosed, citing therapeutic ranges of roughly 200–400 mg/day and typical prescribing around 300 mg/day, with protocols for titration and liver enzyme concerns. They discuss CBD's non-scheduled status, lower side-effect profile compared with opioids/benzodiazepines, clinician and pharmacist oversight for dosing and interactions, and batch testing showing non-detect THC to avoid psychoactive effects and THC-positive urine tests. 00:00 Welcome and Disclaimer 00:29 Meet the Guest and Episode Focus 02:07 How Cope Now Works 03:06 Product Formats and Strengths 03:53 Top Uses and Proper Dosing 05:25 Hospice Needs and Opioid Alternatives 08:52 Titration and Daily Timing 12:04 Telemedicine Intake and Prescribing 13:32 Founder Story and Older Patients 16:14 Closing the Guidance Gap 17:59 Addiction and THC Free Assurance 20:47 Standardizing CBD as Medicine 23:42 Final Thanks and Subscribe https://copenow.com/ If you want to help, you can donate to help support Hospice Explained at the Buy me a Coffee link   https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Hospice  Hospice Explained Affiliates & Contact Information Buying from these Affilite links will help support this Podcast.  Maire introduces a partnership with Suzanne Mayer RN inventor of the  cloud9caresystem.com,  When patients remain in the same position for extended periods, they are at high risk of developing pressure injuries, commonly known as bedsores. One of the biggest challenges caregivers face is the tendency for pillows and repositioning inserts to easily dislodge during care.(Suzanne is a former guest on Episode #119) When you order with Cloud 9 care system, please tell them you heard about them from Hospice Explained.(Thank You) Marie's Contact [email protected] www.HospiceExplained.com   Finding a Hospice Agency 1. You can use Medicare.gov to help find a hospice agency, 2. choose Find provider 3. Choose Hospice 4. then add your zip code This should be a list of Hospice Agencies local to you or your loved one.  

201 Hospice Explained: Margaret Montes RN, BSN, PHN on Early Hospice Nursing, Comfort Care, and Family Education Host Marie Betcher, RN, interviews retired hospice nurse Margaret Montes RN, BSN, PHN with facilitator Cindy Cisneros. Margaret, raised in Puerto Rico and licensed in 1976, joined the new Hospice of East San Gabriel Valley in 1987 and worked 33 years, starting when the census was eight patients and she was the only nurse; her bilingual skills helped serve Spanish-speaking families. They discuss early obstacles such as recruiting nurses suited for hospice, later team disagreements resolved through weekly interdisciplinary meetings, and common family fears that hospice or medications (including morphine) hasten death, emphasizing comfort as the goal. Margaret shares end-of-life visioning stories and a case where a family called 911 despite DNR wishes. They stress educating families on the dying process (including Barbara Karnes' "blue book"), bereavement follow-up, and analogies like the body as an aging car and end of life mirroring infancy. 00:00 Welcome and Disclaimer 00:29 Meet Marie and Guests 01:49 Margaret Finds Hospice 05:26 Early Hospice Challenges 07:28 Team Meetings Behind Scenes 10:43 Hospice Does Not Hasten Death 12:14 Comfort Beyond Medication 14:25 End of Life Visions Stories 18:07 When Families Call 911 20:46 What Everyone Should Know 24:01 Family Dynamics and Aftercare 27:39 Faith Fear and Support 29:46 Analogies for Dying Process 32:08 Final Thanks and Subscribe   If you want to help, you can donate to help support Hospice Explained at the Buy me a Coffee link   https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Hospice  Hospice Explained Affiliates & Contact Information Buying from these Affilite links will help support this Podcast.  Maire introduces a partnership with Suzanne Mayer RN inventor of the  cloud9caresystem.com,  When patients remain in the same position for extended periods, they are at high risk of developing pressure injuries, commonly known as bedsores. One of the biggest challenges caregivers face is the tendency for pillows and repositioning inserts to easily dislodge during care.(Suzanne is a former guest on Episode #119) When you order with Cloud 9 care system, please tell them you heard about them from Hospice Explained.(Thank You) Marie's Contact [email protected] www.HospiceExplained.com   Finding a Hospice Agency 1. You can use Medicare.gov to help find a hospice agency, 2. choose Find provider 3. Choose Hospice 4. then add your zip code This should be a list of Hospice Agencies local to you or your loved one.

200 Shari Brase-Smith RN, MS on Hospice Education, Facility Care, and Having Hard Conversations  Host Marie Betcher, a registered nurse and former hospice nurse, marks episode 200 of Hospice Explained with guest Shari Brase-Smith RN, MS, a hospice nurse, educator, and author. Shari recounts her nursing background since 1978 and how the rapid deaths of her husband and mother shaped her understanding of end-of-life needs, emphasizing that even experienced clinicians are often unprepared because healthcare and society focus on curing and avoid dying discussions. She describes why families and facility staff lack clear, practical guidance on what dying looks like, symptom management, and when to involve hospice, especially in nursing homes and assisted living. Shari explains her books are organized for quick, crisis-time answers, highlights the importance of conversations about wishes and forgiveness, and shares her Christian-focused poetry book on grief and hope. 00:00 Welcome and Disclaimer 00:29 Episode 200 Guest Intro 02:27 Shari's Nursing Journey 03:31 Personal Loss and Whirlwind 07:24 Why End-of-Life Education Matters 11:24 Books Filling the Resource Gap 17:02 Eating and Drinking at End of Life 19:17 Starting Hard Conversations 23:27 Forgiveness and Peace 27:28 Helping Facility Staff Work With Hospice 32:09 Poetry Faith and Grief 37:21 Closing Thanks and Subscribe https://sharibrase-smith.com/ If you want to help, you can donate to help support Hospice Explained at the Buy me a Coffee link   https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Hospice  Hospice Explained Affiliates & Contact Information Buying from these Affilite links will help support this Podcast.  Maire introduces a partnership with Suzanne Mayer RN inventor of the  cloud9caresystem.com,  When patients remain in the same position for extended periods, they are at high risk of developing pressure injuries, commonly known as bedsores. One of the biggest challenges caregivers face is the tendency for pillows and repositioning inserts to easily dislodge during care.(Suzanne is a former guest on Episode #119) When you order with Cloud 9 care system, please tell them you heard about them from Hospice Explained.(Thank You) Marie's Contact [email protected] www.HospiceExplained.com   Finding a Hospice Agency 1. You can use Medicare.gov to help find a hospice agency, 2. choose Find provider 3. Choose Hospice 4. then add your zip code This should be a list of Hospice Agencies local to you or your loved one.