Monterey, CA Nurse Gives Powerful End Of Life Gift To Students Studying Hospice

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It was heartwarming to read about a nurse who has terminal pancreatic cancer who called her alma mater, Holyoke Community College, and said, "I have cancer, and I'm wondering if you'll need somebody to do a case study on, a hospice patient."  Although many people donate their bodies to science, this is truly a noble act that Martha Keochareon is doing, allowing her to be studied while she is alive while going through this difficult process of dying.  The college was indeed impressed.  Their students practice their skills in the college's simulation lab on sophisticated mannequins that can "die" of cancer, heart attacks or other ailments, but the students rarely get the opportunity to deal with cancer and dying in person.  Two nursing students were dispatched to Ms. Keochareon's home where she said, "Sit on my bed and talk to me."  The students were hesitant, saying they had been taught not to do that because they could transmit germs.  Many nurses don't get any experience with hospice first hand, although The End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium, a project of the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, is trying to change  that.  They have provided training in palliative care to some 15,000 nurses and nursing instructors around the nation since 2000, helping terminally ill patients and their families prepare for death.  Kudos to this brave nurse who is struggling with one of the most painful types of cancers known to man, while trying to pass along meaningful lessons to nursing students.  My father died from this horrible disease and I know just how difficult it can be to do anything other than lie in bed.