What Is A Good Death?

Wow, that's a loaded question, and I wish I knew the answer to it! I was thinking about the role a COTA would play in a good death, and after doing some research, it seems that therapeutic touch would be most beneficial at this stage in one's life. After learning about Dementia, Alzheimer's & Parkinson's disease, I now know and have experienced the language barrier in these diseases, but one thing always seems to still be understood and that is being empathetic and applying therapeutic touch.

Click on the title for a very informative article on the benefits of therapeutic touch. It has some great information, including, in 2005, the College of Nursing at the University of Arkansas studied therapeutic touch and came to the conclusion that it decreases prevalent symptoms like restlessness and unrelenting vocalizations.

Guy McCormack is an OT who wrote the book Therapeutic Use of Touch. In this book, he states that the most powerful therapeutic tools ever invented are our hands. Wow, that's a powerful statement! Dolores Krieger is a nurse who developed the treatment modality, Therapeutic Touch which means "the use of hands by the caregiver with the intent to help or heal." Another way to describe this is "touch with intentionality."

I know from my past experiences that I am not good at speaking to people or saying the "right" things in difficult or trying times in one's life, but I can always use therapeutic touch. Also, when one is having visual difficulties, therapeutic touch is almost a necessity in treatment. I believe this is a great treatment modality to use with the client's family as well, because as difficult as it is for the patient, the family is losing a member of their family, and we don't want to leave them out. Even though someone is dying, as long as they are still here, they need to be treated with dignity and respect, just like we would want to be treated!

Last semester, my supervisor and I went to see this gentleman who was dying. He was suppose to receive OT so that he would be strong enough to go home and pass away, but after a heartfelt, honest discussion with him, everybody involved came to the conclusion that, at this point in his life, OT was only going to tire him out, put him in unnecessary pain and decrease his time even faster. It was hard to hear this conversation but it was nice to see the honestly. He was then turned over to Hospice and passed away before I came back the next week. I don't know what kind of individual it takes to work with Hospice but they must be special people. I guess they take solace in knowing that they help make an individual's life as pleasant as possible in their last days.