Insights about Grief and Death from Hospice
Worker John Hughes
John Hughes, for 13 years a spiritual care provider and bereavement specialist treading the
challenging path of providing solace and understanding to the dying and the bereaved under hospice
care. His journey culminated in creation of a powerful novel, "Heart Like a Bonfire," published on
Amazon.
A gathering of poignant, sometimes gut-wrenching & heartbreaking tales. Hughes
vividly amalgamates poignant, heartrending tales that unravel the realities of dying,
death, grief, and bereavement from several perspectives, facing these with a blend
of gritty honesty, humor, and loving spirituality.
“So many people are burdened by lack of knowledge about hospice,” Hughes says. “I
see this several times a day on my job, as well as our culture-wide fear of death and
illiteracy about grief. We go into the dying process with these burdens holding us
down. I felt strongly I had to write a book.
What I was most enthused about was
the opportunity to put my evolved
thoughts, perspectives, and attitudes
into practice in the often all-too-real
context of hospice.
To hold hands with 3200 people as they went
through their dying process and with their 10,000
family members as they went through their grief,
loss, and bereavement, called strengths of empathy
and steadiness from me that I didn't know I had but I
grew them to suit."
“Dying, death, bereavement, and grief, are areas of challenge which we all must face, and yet our culture
and society, avoid the topics out of phobia. Hughes says. “We try to evade that which cannot be evaded, at
great cost to ourselves, but we can embrace the reality of our situation with wisdom.
We are weighed down by grief phobia and ignorance of
the dying process and of the grief process. This book,
with its amusing and poignant stories and it's pointing out
instructions, helps people access some of that wisdom.
Readers will benefit after laughing and crying," Hughes
assures.
He views his book as an antidote to society's evasion of the
unpleasantness of dying and death. The patients and their
outspoken family members, plus the chaplain and aide, are
strong, outspoken advocates for awareness of the dying
process and the grief that follows.
I wrote "Heart Like A Bonfire" about hospice work-dying, death, grief, and bereavement in the
context of a corporate structure that depends on adhering to governmental regulations for
Medicare funding-but also as a voice for common valuing and loving of the human condition.
My heart beat with love for these
patients and most of their family
members, and when the last of the
patients died, my heart was broken,
and I cried.
Grief is not something to get over and get through so
that you can get back to "Normal." Grief itself is the
healing. , "Readers will benefit after laughing and
crying," Hughes assures. He views his book as an
antidote to society's evasion of the unpleasantness of
dying and death.
Buy it at
https://www.amazon.com/Hear
t-Like-Bonfire-John-
Hughes/dp/B0C2SG6BNN/