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Funeral Bureau Warns of New Funeral Scam
Scammers are posing as funeral and cemetery workers to steal consumers’ moneyThe Cemetery and Funeral Bureau has recently issued an alert for consumers to beware of a new funeral scam. The ruse features scammers who call newly bereaved people, preying on their fresh grief. This new trend is not only criminal, but it is incredibly disturbing as the scheme targets those who are in the throes…
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Let’s Not Be Kidding: A Comedian, His Mom and Alzheimer’s
A podcast series of sad stories that have funny parts“Let’s Not Be Kidding,” a new podcast series created by comedian Gavin Crawford, offers a realistic, yet lighthearted perspective on navigating a parent’s dementia diagnosis. The podcast chronicles both challenging and humorous moments throughout his mother’s dementia journey. Described as part memoir, part stand-up, and part support group, this seven-part series reminds us that a…
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Surfing the Waves of Grief (Interview)
J’aime Morrison uses movement to address the grief we physically hold in our bodiesIn 2015, J’aime Morrison lost her husband, Jim, to brain cancer. Morrison, who is a professor of movement and theater at California State University, Northridge, has a long history with dance and movement – including classical ballet, choreography, modern dance, surfing, and working with actors in experimental theater. Jim’s death was so overwhelming that she…
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“A Man Called Otto”
This touching film captures how the power of community can heal wounds“A Man Called Otto” features Tom Hanks in the role of a surly curmudgeon who’s actively trying to take his own life. In other words, this is not your typical Tom Hanks movie. Luckily, it’s also not your typical grumpy old man movie. And Hanks, who we’ve come to know as a voice of kindness…
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A Hospital Chaplain Debunks the Most Common Misconceptions About Their Role
Beyond just prayer, hospital chaplains assist with meaning-makingHospital chaplains…. For many people, the term can conjure up images of a solemn pastor dressed in black, informing families that their loved one has died or offering prayer at inopportune moments. But prayer and grief support are only a small fragment of what hospital chaplains do. Having worked as a hospital chaplain for the…
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“Why I Never Talk about My Mother”
A son contemplates the times when his father forgets his mother has diedWhen my father remembers my mother has died,when he realizes he had forgotten, and he cries— if that’s the word for those great, wracking peals of thunderI feel against me, holding the hollow treehe has become as it waits to fall — he shuddersin the sudden storm of memory, and I knowI brought this down…
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Facilities Create Fake Bus Stops for Patients with Dementia
Around the world, memory care providers explore fake bus stops as dementia aidsHow can memory care facilities calm people with dementia and reorient them to their surroundings while keeping them from wandering off? They set up a fake bus stop. Staff at the Benrath Senior Center nursing home in Duesseldorf, Germany discovered the success of this approach after building a fake bus stop for their residents. Individuals…
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Revolutionary Technology Aims to Preserve Organs for Transplant
Restoring cellular function in deceased pigs holds promiseResearchers are hopeful that a new device may help to maintain viability of organs for transplant after a donor dies. A team at Yale School of Medicine conducted experiments on pigs undergoing cardiac arrest with a device called OrganEx. The machine takes over the function of the heart and lungs much like the machines used…
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“How Do I Say Goodbye”
A child’s fear of losing a parentIn his 2022 song “How Do I Say Goodbye,” singer-songwriter Dean Lewis wrestles with what it means to have a parent die. The subject material is autobiographical and intensely personal for Lewis, who wrote on Instagram that his father was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and given a 25% chance of surviving the…
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