When Autumn Comes: Creating Compassionate Care for the Dying

by Mary Jo Bennett

When Autumn Comes will help you appreciate and respond to the important needs and delicate issues of our final passage through life. With wisdom and sensitivity, it gives practical keys for creating a holistic, comforting environment for those nearing the end of life so they can face death with peace and dignity.The author shares her intimate relationship with death in the loss of her lover and close friends and in her many years of experience at the bedside of the dying as a hospice volunteer. Her moving journey through grief, tears and companionship shows how we can find greater compassion and understanding in caring both for the dying and for ourselves in our time of loss."When Autumn Comes shows us that, with compassionate care, the end of life can be a time of personal growth and healing for the dying and their loved ones."Dannion Brinkley, chairman and founder of Compassion in Action and author Saved by the Light"Borrowing from her years of experience as a hospice volunteer, Mary Jo Bennett offers both practical advice and thoughtful reflection on the art of caring for the terminally ill. When Autumn Comes is invaluable to hospice volunteers and other caregivers, who are struggling with the nitty-gritty details of care and the deeper questions that often arise through such loving work."James Hallenbeck, M.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine and author of Palliative Care Perspectives

212 pages, Paperback

First published April 18, 2004

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must-read for anyone working with dying people in a professional, volunteer, or personal capacity. Bennett draws on her decade of hospice volunteering to write a compelling, engaging, and helpful book. I was turned on to this by the volunteer coordinator at the hospice I am volunteering for, but this book also would have been very helpful to me as I helped my dad through his death. Bennett has many vignettes and case studies in which she illustrates how to be of maximum service to people as they are dying, and includes many tips on how to care for yourself during that process to avoid caregiver burnout. Besides her sage advice and obvious compassion, the thing that most impressed me about "When Autumn Comes" is Bennett's willingness to admit her own mistakes while doing this work. She is very candid about times she goofed, and this is to all our benefit. We can learn from her mistakes. There is also a very helpful appendix with a bibliography for suggested reading and resources for patients/caregivers.