NHPCO NewsLine Fall 2020 - 28

continued

codified in federal and multistate compacts. Seemingly
overnight, telehealth was
established as fully legitimate
and, in some applications, an
advantage over face-to-face
care. Beyond health care's walls,
Americans increasingly recognize
that social determinants - racial
equity, nonviolent neighborhoods,
adequate housing, and safe
working environments - are more
important to people's health than
is medical care.
Health care workers have been
elevated in public esteem.
Hospice and palliative care
providers have been recognized
as essential workers and the
services we provide are widely
viewed as critical components in
the care continuum. Nurses are
now rightly seen as heroes. So,
too, are nurse aides.
COVID-19 hasn't changed the
fundamentals of human caring
that we know so well. It has,
however, highlighted a hierarchy
of human needs and potential.
The biological and social
necessities of life form the base
of a Maslowian pyramid:
providing a clean, dry bed,
something to eat and drink, and
when needed, help with eating,
drinking, and eliminating. These
rudimentary responsibilities
define a caring society. On this
foundation, health care,
particularly hospice and palliative
care, adds therapeutic layers of
interdisciplinary expertise.
People in our field begin, as we

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Newsline / Fall 2020

always have, by showing up. We lean in to poignant and often tragic
situations from which others tend to flee. We treat pain and alleviate
the symptoms and suffering that often accompany illness and dying.
With skillful questions and listening ears, we identify people's personal
values and priorities. We invite patients and their families to share
decision-making, ensuring that medical treatment plans are consistent
with what people want.
Dying Well in the Era of COVID

Honoring &
Celebrating
Fostering Wellbeing
Assisting with Life Completion
Aligning Treatments with Goals
Alleviating Symptoms & Suffering
Human Essentials

During COVID-19, palliative care and hospice caregivers have utilized
novel ways of transcending physical separations, enabling families to
visit, say things to one another that might otherwise have been left
unsaid. Nurses and others are holding the phones and video tablets
that enable people to share precious moments, tell stories, offer and
ask for forgiveness, and express gratitude and love for one another.
Despite the barriers to human contact that PPEs and pandemic
visitation policies impose and the discomforts and dependencies of
serious illness, people can be made to feel wanted, worthy and dignified
in the way they are touched and the tone with which they are spoken.
People who feel at peace within themselves, right with those they love
and within their communities, and right with their God, can feel loved
and, sometimes, experience at least moments of joy.
Stories of caring in this pandemic will be told visually as much as in
words. Anyone reading newspapers or watching the news has seen
NHPCO NewsLine Fall 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NHPCO NewsLine Fall 2020
