What Being a Hospice Nurse means To Me

As a nurse I have worked in critical care, mental health, long term, medical surgery, school nursing and case management, but none has been as rewarding as my current position with Hospice of Palm Beach County. As a Hospice nurse, I am charged with caring for patients at their end-of-life. I am able to watch the peaceful process of dying and able to console a grieving family.

To me, there are two important events in a person’s life, their birth and their death. As a rule when we are born there is someone other than our mother to bear witness and support our grand entrance into this world. On the other hand, many people might not have any significant others to bear witness to the second most important event in their life, their death.

Consequently I cannot think of a more important reason to be a Hospice nurse, than having the privilege of bearing witness to the peaceful dying process of a fellow human being and their grieving family. No other person does what a Hospice nurse does for the dying patient. And always, my feelings are the same, the mixed feeling of gratitude and awe to bear witness to the second most important event in a person’s life.

~ Lester Bavegehims is the Continuous Care Manager, Hospice of Palm Beach County