Volunteers also must take the six-week in-home respite care training course. 29 through 31, Hospice will offer another training course for people interested in volunteering as end-of-life doulas. The program began with volunteers taking four-hour shifts to hold vigil for people who were in the last 48 to 72 hours of their lives but didn’t have any family close by, like homeless individuals or victims of car crashes. Tracy Sturgell, director of volunteers at Hospice of SLO County, said that since that training, volunteers have helped about six people through that process. Locally, Mercer, who also volunteers for the in-home respite care program, is among the first of about 20 newly trained end-of-life doulas. “It covers the whole spectrum I feel like, from the beginning to after the end.” “That’s part of the doula process, too just because someone’s passed doesn’t mean that we disappear,” Mercer said. She’ll sit with them during their last breaths and help the family through the process she might continue the work for six weeks to six months after a client passes. It could be really quite a beautiful experience.”Īs an end-of-life doula, Mercer helps clients plan ways that nurture a sense of dignity in a way that also eases the process for those around them. “Death doesn’t have to be horrible and struggle and pain and sterile at all. “It can be very peaceful and easy-if there can be ease in this kind of situation,” Mercer said. She’s trained to mind certain details so others don’t have to, and to help guide the experience so it becomes more beautiful, graceful, or special. Like a birthing doula-who works with the mother or parents to set up a plan for the birth-an end-of-life doula works with their client and the family to set up a plan for the death. She moved her client out into a larger room in the house, changed them out of hospital garb into their own clothes and blankets, and put on soft music.Īs guests came by, she prepared them for the interaction, encouraging them to be present and to leave any ongoing concerns or stresses from the outside world at the door. As she changed hats, Mercer helped make the process gentler by taking care of several details. Susan Mercer was there to help “soften” the process of death.įor the last few months, Mercer had been getting to know her client and their family through Hospice of San Luis Obispo County’s in-home respite care program, which provides volunteer-based support to people and their families and a few hours of relief to the primary care provider.Īs death got closer for her client, Mercer’s role gradually shifted from in-home support to that of an end-of-life doula, one of Hospice of SLO County’s newest offerings.
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