For many, hospice care is synonymous with death, and death is not an event to be confronted or embraced but, rather, feared and avoided.
In the Jewish and black communities, cultural attitudes often cause people to reject the idea of death until the bitter end, according to Sandy Slavin, program director for Lutheran Hospice, the Charleston area’s nonprofit hospice organization. This tendency, along with other factors, keeps many members of the Jewish and black communities away from end-of-life medical care and counseling that might benefit them, Slavin said.
Her views were confirmed by religious leaders who attested to the fear and avoidance, citing a variety of religious, cultural and historical reasons.
In an effort to reach these underserved populations, Lutheran Hospice recently launched a campaign to cater to the particular concerns of the two groups and to ensure that patients enjoy regular access to the people and practices of their religious traditions despite the sequestered nature of hospice care, Slavin said.
I live in a very small rural community (near a city) which is terribly underserved; however, it is beautiful how churches, extended family and friends help to care for their own. While we need agencies to address the
needs of those who do not have this as well as assist those who do, we need to very carefully nurture that which is already in place. We could often take lessons from these rural churches and communities.