Achieving a Dignified and Peaceful End-of-Life Experience Through Compassionate Palliative Care

Knowing that Edgar was so well taken care of by the Empowered Endings staff really allowed our family to process what was going on. We were able to, you know, find the joy, not specifically in that moment, but just, like, find a little peace to exhale and love each other and support each other and cheer him on in the most beautiful way to make that crossing over. The Empowered Endings and their whole philosophy about how every ending should be honored, it was just a really beautiful space for my whole family to enjoy the process. Hi, my name is Stacey Lievens, and I lost my stepfather, Edgar, over six years ago. I knew something was up when I got the call from my mom. She said, "Edgar's not doing well. I need you." And so I packed a bag, got in my car, and I drove as fast as I could. Sure enough, my stepfather was in a state where I knew that he needed some hospice care. Now, my family has been through hospice many times. In fact, I'm kind of the one in the family that has the experience working with different hospices. But through my many experiences with hospices, I became familiar with a doctor named Dr. Bob Uslander, and I always thought if there was something that was gonna happen to my family again, I'm gonna call him. I knew I could trust him, and I knew he would respond to me very quickly. So I called Bob right away and I said, "Hey, I really think it's time. I really think it's close." So he came over within the hour. So he sat us down and kind of went over, like, assessing how close he was to the end, and then brought his team of people into space. He called his nurse that was available. She came right over, and my mom still talks about that nurse to this day and how fabulous she was, because she walked in and she talked to Edgar. And I tell you, at this point, Edgar was pretty much had slipped into a coma at this point, and so he was non-responsive. But she just walked right into the room and she started talking to Edgar and making him feel like he's a part of this process and giving him so much dignity and beauty throughout the whole process. She was explaining everything she was doing to him. She would explain it with so much love and empathy and laughter. Oh my gosh, she was so funny. It was really beautiful to have that immediate care and that type of compassionate, lovely caregiving that we needed in that moment. You know, whenever you have a loved one on a hospice, you just don't know how long it's gonna take, and it could be... You could sign up for hospice and it could be, you know, a week, two weeks, a month, two months, three months. You just don't know how long it's gonna take. But in Edgar's case, it was quick, and it really took, like, maybe 24 hours and the process was over. I mean, he definitely, his body was ready to let go. And so having Bob's team there, even for the littlest time that we had them, it was so, so comforting, especially to my mom and my family members. Everybody felt so comfortable with the rites that are happening in front of us and watching his body just let go and surrender into this beautiful, peaceful state and peaceful space that was created thanks to Bob and his people that showed up. Looking back on this experience I had with my stepfather, you know, it's been six years. I just, I look back at that time and I just smile because he got to have a great, awesome death. He was surrounded by all the people that loved him and adored him, and he was so at peace, and Bob really made all that happen, and I'm so grateful that he was the one that showed up and, like, he was just, like, on the spot there within an hour of the phone call and put things into action so quickly that it wasn't invasive. It was just so effortless and it was so easeful, and it was done with complete trust and surrender. I think the word hospice is very scary to a lot of people who've never maybe experienced it. The fact that Bob called his company, his business Empowered Endings is exactly that. It's like, "Hey, you get to have a say in how you want to exit this lifetime." I would say if you're looking for somebody to hold your loved one with so much care and compassion and grace and dignity, run, don't walk to go see Dr. Bob, and I know that even in the six years that I've, I've worked with them, they've added so many more modalities to their toolbox, and I'm very, very, very happy. I've referred them many times over, and for everyone that I've referred, they've been so grateful.