186 Staying Independent: Innovations in Home Medical Equipment

Host Marie Betcher RN introduces Hospice Explained and interviews Erica Sell, founder and CEO of Harmony Home Medical in San Diego, about aging in place and home accessibility. Sell explains her high-touch, education-focused approach to home medical equipment and modifications, noting bathrooms as the top fall-risk area and commonly not covered by insurance, with home entry/egress as the next major barrier. She highlights lower-cost safety steps like grab bars, handrails, removing loose rugs, improving lighting, and motion-sensor night lights, and discusses equipment options including shower transfer systems, sit-to-stand lifts versus Hoyer lifts, ceiling and floor lifts, lift-chair recliners with pressure-relief features, and high-low adjustable beds to reduce caregiver strain. She also describes lateral-rotation mattresses that can reduce nighttime caregiving needs and newer mobility advances such as lightweight lithium-ion power chairs and a LIDAR autonomous-driving power chair.

00:00 Welcome and Disclaimer

00:42 Meet Erica Sell

02:36 Bathroom Safety Upgrades

04:18 Home Entry and Steps

06:46 Low Cost Aging Tips

08:13 Transfer Equipment and Lifts

14:51 Filling Hospice Coverage Gaps

18:28 Lift Chairs and Pressure Relief

22:31 Rotation Mattresses Save Care Costs

26:05 New Mobility Tech Breakthroughs

30:10 Final Advice and Contact Info

31:54 Closing and Subscribe

https://harmonyhomemedical.com

https://www.youtube.com/user/harmonyhomemedical

If you want to help, you can donate to help support Hospice Explained at the Buy me a Coffee link https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Hospice

Hospice Explained Affiliates & Contact Information

Buying from these Affilite links will help support this Podcast.

Maire introduces a partnership with Suzanne Mayer RN inventor of the cloud9caresystem.com,
When patients remain in the same position for extended periods, they are at high risk of developing pressure injuries, commonly known as bedsores. One of the biggest challenges caregivers face is the tendency for pillows and repositioning inserts to easily dislodge during care.(Suzanne is a former guest on Episode #119)

When you order with Cloud 9 care system, please tell them you heard about them from Hospice Explained.(Thank You)

Marie's Contact
Marie@HospiceExplained.com
www.HospiceExplained.com

Finding a Hospice Agency

1. You can use Medicare.gov to help find a hospice agency,

2. choose Find provider

3. Choose Hospice

4. then add your zip code

This should be a list of Hospice Agencies local to you or your loved one.

185 From Suffering to Peace: A Personal Hospice Story

Host Marie Betcher, a registered nurse and former hospice nurse, shares her father-in-law's hospice experience to illustrate that end-of-life care is not always smooth. As his cancer progressed, he experienced severe, escalating pain at home, compounded by a medication supply breakdown and the family's stress, including her mother-in-law's vascular dementia. Marie called hospice and then 911, but multiple responders were unable to transport him due to regulations, creating delays until paramedics provided pain medication and a transport team arrived. A wrong route extended the ambulance ride, and the hospital had not been notified by hospice. In the ER, IV medications and palliative sedation finally brought comfort; he slept peacefully for several hours and died without suffering. Marie reflects on learning from imperfect hospice stories and announces a shift to less frequent episodes for work-life balance.

00:00 Podcast Disclaimer

00:29 Meet Your Host

00:43 Father-in-Law Hospice Setup

02:12 Pain Crisis at Home

03:36 Calling Hospice and 911

07:00 Transport Roadblocks

10:11 Ambulance Ride Gone Wrong

11:06 ER Arrival and Palliative Sedation

13:38 Peaceful Passing

14:38 Lessons and Imperfect Stories

16:44 Listener Invitation and Wrap-Up

If you want to help, you can donate to help support Hospice Explained at the Buy me a Coffee link https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Hospice

Hospice Explained Affiliates & Contact Information

Buying from these Affilite links will help support this Podcast.

Maire introduces a partnership with Suzanne Mayer RN inventor of the cloud9caresystem.com,
When patients remain in the same position for extended periods, they are at high risk of developing pressure injuries, commonly known as bedsores. One of the biggest challenges caregivers face is the tendency for pillows and repositioning inserts to easily dislodge during care.(Suzanne is a former guest on Episode #119)

When you order with Cloud 9 care system, please tell them you heard about them from Hospice Explained.(Thank You)

Marie's Contact
Marie@HospiceExplained.com
www.HospiceExplained.com

Finding a Hospice Agency

1. You can use Medicare.gov to help find a hospice agency,

2. choose Find provider

3. Choose Hospice

4. then add your zip code

This should be a list of Hospice Agencies local to you or your loved one.

184 Hospice Explained: Lisa Snyder on Legal Psilocybin Facilitation, Grief Support, and Designing End-of-Life Conversations

Host Marie Betcher, a registered nurse and former hospice nurse, interviews Lisa Snyder, a state-licensed psilocybin facilitator in Oregon and member of the Portland Grief House Death Collective. Lisa shares how losing both parents to cancer led her to found the Losing Your Parents online community and to support others through grief, trauma, and life transitions. She explains why guided psilocybin "journeys" emphasize preparation, trust, and "set and setting," and discusses potential benefits for PTSD, depression, anxiety, and end-of-life anxiety, while noting legal-model limitations and timing considerations for terminally ill clients. Lisa describes death doula training, the importance of normalizing truthful end-of-life planning conversations, and balancing a dying person's wishes with survivors' needs. She outlines Oregon's medical screening process and key contraindications, and provides her website and email for inquiries.

00:00 Welcome and Disclaimer

00:29 Meet Host and Guest

02:36 Lisa's Story and Work

03:36 Who Psilocybin Helps

04:14 Journey vs Trip and Facilitation

05:28 Set and Setting Explained

07:02 Psilocybin at End of Life

09:58 Designing Your Death

14:51 Lisa's Parents and Hospice Memories

17:30 Why Death Doula Training

21:34 Cannabis and Other Supports

23:18 Siblings and Shared Grief

25:49 Starting the Death Conversation

27:37 Advocacy and Family Dynamics

29:49 Funerals Are for the Living

33:09 How to Reach Lisa

33:57 Medical Screening and Safety

37:02 Death With Dignity and Closing

lisa@liberadiate.com

https://liberadiate.com/

If you want to help, you can donate to help support Hospice Explained at the Buy me a Coffee link https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Hospice

Hospice Explained Affiliates & Contact Information

Buying from these Affilite links will help support this Podcast.

Maire introduces a partnership with Suzanne Mayer RN inventor of the cloud9caresystem.com,
When patients remain in the same position for extended periods, they are at high risk of developing pressure injuries, commonly known as bedsores. One of the biggest challenges caregivers face is the tendency for pillows and repositioning inserts to easily dislodge during care.(Suzanne is a former guest on Episode #119)

When you order with Cloud 9 care system, please tell them you heard about them from Hospice Explained.(Thank You)

Marie's Contact
Marie@HospiceExplained.com
www.HospiceExplained.com

Finding a Hospice Agency

1. You can use Medicare.gov to help find a hospice agency,

2. choose Find provider

3. Choose Hospice

4. then add your zip code

This should be a list of Hospice Agencies local to you or your loved one.

183 Creating Digital Legacies with Reflekta AI (with Grief Specialist Dawn DeLaloye)

Hospice Explained host and former hospice nurse Marie Betcher interviews grief specialist Dawn DeLaloye about Reflekta AI, an intergenerational storytelling platform that helps people create a "reflection" of themselves or loved ones—living or deceased—by adding photos, voice recordings, and memories guided by an AI biographer. Dawn explains it takes about 20 minutes to start, has launched seven months ago, and already includes about 15,000 stories; listeners can try it by talking with sample elders Virginia and Arthur. She describes how reflections can preserve details beyond photo captions, support hospice and terminally ill patients by affirming they are more than a diagnosis, and may be healing for grief, sharing her experience creating a reflection of her father who had Lewy body dementia. Dawn outlines sharing and subscription access, and how voice can be preserved using recordings or a close relative's voice.

00:00 Podcast Disclaimer

00:29 Meet Your Host

00:42 Introducing Dawn DeLaloye

02:02 What Is Reflekta AI

03:42 Early Traction

04:04 Try Talking to Elders

05:23 Why It Was Founded

07:05 Legacy for Hospice

07:34 Creating After Death

10:21 Setup Time and Prompts

11:50 Healing Through Story

13:53 Everyone Has a Story

16:13 Sharing and Subscription

18:07 Meaning at End of Life

22:11 Preserving a Loved Voice

24:49 Final Thoughts and Wrap

https://reflekta.ai/

If you want to help, you can donate to help support Hospice Explained at the Buy me a Coffee link https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Hospice

Hospice Explained Affiliates & Contact Information

Buying from these Affilite links will help support this Podcast.

Maire introduces a partnership with Suzanne Mayer RN inventor of the cloud9caresystem.com,
When patients remain in the same position for extended periods, they are at high risk of developing pressure injuries, commonly known as bedsores. One of the biggest challenges caregivers face is the tendency for pillows and repositioning inserts to easily dislodge during care.(Suzanne is a former guest on Episode #119)

When you order with Cloud 9 care system, please tell them you heard about them from Hospice Explained.(Thank You)

Marie's Contact
Marie@HospiceExplained.com
www.HospiceExplained.com

Finding a Hospice Agency

1. You can use Medicare.gov to help find a hospice agency,

2. choose Find provider

3. Choose Hospice

4. then add your zip code

This should be a list of Hospice Agencies local to you or your loved one.

182 The Timely Presence: Year-Long Grief Support and Showing Up After Loss

Host Marie Betcher, a registered nurse and former hospice nurse, interviews Kelly Edmondson, RN, a bereaved mother and certified grief counselor who founded The Timely Presence, a year-long grief support service. Kelly shares formative experiences with death in trauma ICU, including an 18-year-old dying on Christmas as his family arrived, and later the death of her son Darius in 2023, which led her to focus on supporting people through milestone days. She explains how The Timely Presence provides one-time-purchase collections tailored to relationships (parent/child, spouses/partners, infant pregnancy loss, and other close relationships), delivering 3–6 heirloom-quality personalized gifts over a year, ending on the loss anniversary, with reminders to the gift giver. Kelly discusses practical gift examples, expanding interest in pet loss, and guidance for supporting grieving people: say the loved one's name, listen without trying to fix grief, avoid comparisons, and recognize grief has no timeline.

00:00 Welcome and Disclaimer

00:44 Meet Kelly Edmondson RN

02:15 Christmas ICU Turning Point

05:18 The Call That Changed Everything

07:27 Mother's Day and Finding Purpose

10:37 Building The Timely Presence

15:07 How the Service Works

17:28 What's Inside the Gifts

21:08 Grief Counseling and Pet Loss

23:58 Say Their Name and Remember

30:29 What to Say to Grievers

34:14 Where to Find Timely Presence

35:52 Closing Thanks and Subscribe

https://thetimelypresence.com/shop/

If you want to help, you can donate to help support Hospice Explained at the Buy me a Coffee link https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Hospice

Hospice Explained Affiliates & Contact Information

Buying from these Affilite links will help support this Podcast.

Maire introduces a partnership with Suzanne Mayer RN inventor of the cloud9caresystem.com,
When patients remain in the same position for extended periods, they are at high risk of developing pressure injuries, commonly known as bedsores. One of the biggest challenges caregivers face is the tendency for pillows and repositioning inserts to easily dislodge during care.(Suzanne is a former guest on Episode #119)

When you order with Cloud 9 care system, please tell them you heard about them from Hospice Explained.(Thank You)

Marie's Contact
Marie@HospiceExplained.com
www.HospiceExplained.com

Finding a Hospice Agency

1. You can use Medicare.gov to help find a hospice agency,

2. choose Find provider

3. Choose Hospice

4. then add your zip code

This should be a list of Hospice Agencies local to you or your loved one.

181 Feeling Supported and Prepared for Death on Hospice

In episode 181 of Hospice Explained, host Marie Betcher, a registered nurse and former hospice nurse, shares a listener story about a new nurse who felt unsupported and unprepared for his mother's death on hospice and still carries a negative memory 16 years later. Marie reflects on the need for hospice staff to assess families' education and experience levels, ask leading questions, clearly explain what to expect, and ensure people know who to call and feel safe doing so. She also shares her own experience with her oldest brother's death, realizing she stayed in "nurse role" to support others and didn't emotionally prepare herself to grieve. She invites listeners to be a guest and share positive or negative hospice stories so others can learn and do better in the future.

00:00 Welcome and Disclaimer

00:29 Episode Intro and Purpose

00:47 Listener Story Feeling Unsupported

01:48 Hospice Staff Must Assess Needs

02:24 Personal Story Brother's Death

03:48 Check In and Teach Caregivers

04:52 Share Your Story and Closing

IF You want to share your story please email me: Marie@HospiceExplained.com

If you want to help, you can donate to help support Hospice Explained at the Buy me a Coffee link https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Hospice

Hospice Explained Affiliates & Contact Information

Buying from these Affilite links will help support this Podcast.

Maire introduces a partnership with Suzanne Mayer RN inventor of the cloud9caresystem.com,
When patients remain in the same position for extended periods, they are at high risk of developing pressure injuries, commonly known as bedsores. One of the biggest challenges caregivers face is the tendency for pillows and repositioning inserts to easily dislodge during care.(Suzanne is a former guest on Episode #119)

When you order with Cloud 9 care system, please tell them you heard about them from Hospice Explained.(Thank You)

Marie's Contact
Marie@HospiceExplained.com
www.HospiceExplained.com

Finding a Hospice Agency

1. You can use Medicare.gov to help find a hospice agency,

2. choose Find provider

3. Choose Hospice

4. then add your zip code

This should be a list of Hospice Agencies local to you or your loved one.

180 Hospice Buddy: Practical Symptom Support, Caregiver Logbooks, and Grounding Prompts with Jamie Haberman RN

Host Marie Betcher, a registered nurse and former hospice nurse, interviews returning guest Jamie Haberman RN, a hospice nurse with nearly 20 years of end-of-life experience and founder of Hospice Buddy. Jamie describes her hospice background and explains Hospice Buddy as a caregiver support platform offering free resources, a Facebook support group, and paid one-on-one support calls. She outlines her publications: six caregiver logbooks designed for the six-month hospice timeframe to track medications, symptoms, vitals, and notes, plus simple activities like reflections, puzzles, and coloring; a five-minute caregiver grounding journal focused on gratitude, breathing, and letting go; and a Christian faith-based symptom management guide covering common hospice issues (pain, shortness of breath, anxiety, congestion, falls, DNR) with practical, nonclinical tips. They discuss why information is hard to absorb during crises, the need for overnight support, and how some patients seem to time their death when family briefly steps away.

00:00 Welcome and Disclaimer

00:29 Meet Host Marie

00:55 Introducing Jamie Haberman

01:50 Jamie Hospice Background

02:36 Hospice Buddy and Books

04:25 Five Minute Grounding

06:45 Faith Based Support

08:51 Symptom Management Guide

10:16 Formats Pricing and Calls

13:57 Why Extra Support Matters

16:17 Night Shift and Passing Timing

20:25 Caregiver Logbooks Activities

24:17 Where to Find Jamie

25:25 Final Encouragement and Wrap

https://hospicebuddy.com/

If you want to help, you can donate to help support Hospice Explained at the Buy me a Coffee link https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Hospice

Hospice Explained Affiliates & Contact Information

Buying from these Affilite links will help support this Podcast.

Maire introduces a partnership with Suzanne Mayer RN inventor of the cloud9caresystem.com,
When patients remain in the same position for extended periods, they are at high risk of developing pressure injuries, commonly known as bedsores. One of the biggest challenges caregivers face is the tendency for pillows and repositioning inserts to easily dislodge during care.(Suzanne is a former guest on Episode #119)

When you order with Cloud 9 care system, please tell them you heard about them from Hospice Explained.(Thank You)

Marie's Contact
Marie@HospiceExplained.com
www.HospiceExplained.com

Finding a Hospice Agency

1. You can use Medicare.gov to help find a hospice agency,

2. choose Find provider

3. Choose Hospice

4. then add your zip code

This should be a list of Hospice Agencies local to you or your loved one.

179 Hospice Is About Living: Honest Conversations, Palliative vs. Hospice, and Supporting Nurses with Gina Harris MSN, MSQT

Host Marie Betcher, a registered nurse and former hospice nurse, interviews Gina Harris MSN, MSQT, Chief Clinical Officer at Marisol Health in South Carolina, about hospice education and reducing fear around end-of-life care. Gina shares her career path from mortgage banking to 25 years in nursing, including critical care leadership and work as a CMS-certified surveyor, and explains how hospice nursing is emotionally demanding and often undervalued. The conversation centers on the need for honest communication about dying, including a story of a woman with recurring cancer who pursued a third major surgery before choosing hospice and dying days later, highlighting "chasing normal" and the limits of prognostic estimates. Gina describes hospice as support for living with comfort and dignity, outlines palliative care versus hospice, and explains how Marisol trains staff through in-services, role playing, interdisciplinary visits, and certification.

00:00 Welcome and Disclaimer

00:29 Meet Host Marie

00:45 Introducing Gina Harris MSN, MSQT

02:11 Gina's Nursing Journey

04:09 Why Hospice Matters

06:05 Coaching Nurses to Talk

08:29 Chasing Normal Story

13:42 Hard Truths and Hospice

18:21 Hospice Is About Living

20:23 Palliative vs Hospice Care

23:32 Training Staff for Truth

26:44 Hospice as a Choice

28:15 Signing Up and Opting Out

29:42 Closing Thanks and Location

30:21 Final Wrap Up

https://mirasolhealth.org/

If you want to help, you can donate to help support Hospice Explained at the Buy me a Coffee link https://www.buymeacoffee.com/Hospice

Hospice Explained Affiliates & Contact Information

Buying from these Affilite links will help support this Podcast.

Maire introduces a partnership with Suzanne Mayer RN inventor of the cloud9caresystem.com,
When patients remain in the same position for extended periods, they are at high risk of developing pressure injuries, commonly known as bedsores. One of the biggest challenges caregivers face is the tendency for pillows and repositioning inserts to easily dislodge during care.(Suzanne is a former guest on Episode #119)

When you order with Cloud 9 care system, please tell them you heard about them from Hospice Explained.(Thank You)

Marie's Contact
Marie@HospiceExplained.com
www.HospiceExplained.com

Finding a Hospice Agency

1. You can use Medicare.gov to help find a hospice agency,

2. choose Find provider

3. Choose Hospice

4. then add your zip code

This should be a list of Hospice Agencies local to you or your loved one.