Grief expert visits flooded Red River Valley
Hospice positions itself as loss resource
Grief expert Kenneth J. Doka, PhD, MDiv, conducted a series of meetings, May 12-13, with employment counselors, mental health professionals, relief volunteers, educators, and broadcast news media in the flood-ravaged Red River Valley spanning North Dakota and Minnesota.
The trip, co-sponsored by Hospice of the Red River Valley in Fargo, ND, and the Washington, DC-based Hospice Foundation of America, began with an informal meeting with about 50 hospice staff from the Red River hospice and several other nearby hospices. United Hospice in nearby Grand Forks, ND, hardest hit by this spring’s record flooding, was operating in a survival mode at the time of Doka’s visit, reports Lisa McGahey, vice president for Programs at the Hospice Foundation.
Counselors recognized long-term impact
The trip grew out of conversations between the foundation and counselors at Hospice of the Red River Valley and reflects recognition of the enormous long-term issues of grief and loss of community, homes, and livelihoods resulting from such disasters, McGahey explains.
Other hospices have responded to similar challenges following hurricanes, earthquakes, and the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.
Doka, professor of gerontology at the College of New Rochelle (NY) and author of three books on living with grief, credits the Red River hospice for having "a real vision of itself as a grief resource for its community. And because of that, it enlarged everyone’s vision of the hospice. The community now has a greater understanding of what hospice is and what hospice can do," he says. "It was a lot of help to us," adds Mary Lou Dahms, director of public relations and marketing for the Fargo hospice. "We’d love to have Ken come back in a few months," when life gets back to normal and more serious grief issues start to emerge.
The foundation printed and distributed 25,000 copies of A Time to Take Care, a brochure on basic grief issues related to disasters, and plans to edit and produce an educational video based on Doka’s Fargo presentations.
[For more information, contact Lisa McGahey, Hospice Foundation of America, at (202) 638-5419.]
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