He is the Founder of the International Association for Animal Hospice and Palliative Care. www.iaahpc.com (see The First Post below and right column of this blog) which will have its first meeting in conjunction with the Second Symposium on Veterinary Hospice and Palliative Care Sept 4-7 at UC Davis College of Veterinary Medicine (see below). Please read his thoughtful comments that explain how Hospice can help us proceed through the grief process on a healthy emotional path as well as provide the most comfortable and humane path for the pet members of our families:
Amir Shanan, Hospice Veterinarian said...
Dear Jamie,
There's no way to prevent the emotional pain we feel when we lose a source of unconditional love with the passing of a beloved animal companion.
But grief can be complicated by many factors, and some of those are preventable. An important goal of hospice is to address any preventable cause of complicated grief.
Animal hospice works towards this goal in the following ways:
1. Providing support. Having support is important because grief is inherently a very lonely experience. Support is helpful not only after the loss, but also before and during the loss. Support can be offered through active listening, being a sounding board in the process of making complicated decisions, taking over nursing care or nonmedical tasks periodically or regularly, and many other ways of showing empathy.
2. Second guessing our own actions [and others'] often makes grief more painful that it could be. Hospice philosophy is focused on assisting the family in making the very best decisions and on assuring the greatest comfort possible for the patient. This approach can alleviate at least some of the burden of guilt and self criticism.
3. Having an opportunity to spend much needed time with and saying goodbyes to your dying companion can be their last gift to surviving family members and a source of comfort during the inevitable grief that follows.
Please encourage your audience to actively support the increasing number of organizations dedicated to educating animal lovers and veterinary professionals about the benefits of animal hospice.
There's no way to prevent the emotional pain we feel when we lose a source of unconditional love with the passing of a beloved animal companion.
But grief can be complicated by many factors, and some of those are preventable. An important goal of hospice is to address any preventable cause of complicated grief.
Animal hospice works towards this goal in the following ways:
1. Providing support. Having support is important because grief is inherently a very lonely experience. Support is helpful not only after the loss, but also before and during the loss. Support can be offered through active listening, being a sounding board in the process of making complicated decisions, taking over nursing care or nonmedical tasks periodically or regularly, and many other ways of showing empathy.
2. Second guessing our own actions [and others'] often makes grief more painful that it could be. Hospice philosophy is focused on assisting the family in making the very best decisions and on assuring the greatest comfort possible for the patient. This approach can alleviate at least some of the burden of guilt and self criticism.
3. Having an opportunity to spend much needed time with and saying goodbyes to your dying companion can be their last gift to surviving family members and a source of comfort during the inevitable grief that follows.
Please encourage your audience to actively support the increasing number of organizations dedicated to educating animal lovers and veterinary professionals about the benefits of animal hospice.
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Thanks for an insightful, concise view of both what it feels like to grieve for a pet and what pet hospice strives to accomplish. When I first began my job as a veterinary grief counselor and educator at Colorado State University's Veterinary Teaching Hospital (1984), the feelings of loss when a pet died were truly marginalized and trivialized. One of the first vet conferences I was asked to speak at was boycotted by the membership because they felt the topic was inappropriate and "beneath their training."
ReplyDeleteI agree society needs to do more to comfort and understand people who are grieving for a pet, but we also need to do more to support grievers, in general. In one survey, respondents said they thought 3 weeks was enough time for someone to feel recovered from the death of a spouse! If we feel that way about losing a husband or wife, it's no wonder pet loss is still trivialized at times.
Veterinary pet hospice is another step toward making our culture (and the profession) more sensitive and supportive. I'm happy to see it progressing.