About COPE

Envisioning a Compassionate Path to the End of Your Loved One's Life

The HEAL Project's Community Outreach Program in Education (COPE) curriculum provides a knowledge base and future information resource for families who are or will be embarking upon the caregiving journey for a terminally ill loved one.

Through COPE families will learn how they can make their own choices and insist that their loved ones receive end-of-life care that preserves their dignity with a wisdom that affirms all aspects of their life, including their death, and provides this care in a loving and compassionate manner.

Hospice volunteers often experience the frequent expressions of awe and disbelief by the dying and their families that such a place as a hospice could even exist. The care and support they received was often a new experience and it was accepted with intense gratitude. As a result it became quite clear that a grassroots public education effort was needed to make more families aware of hospice and its benefits.

The COPE series strive to initiate that grassroots effort by offering the public an online resource of free information on caring for dying adults and children. We will be presenting each issue of these two series to provide an ongoing dialogue with you about the various topics listed below.

• Series I - Caring for a Terminally ill Loved One - Making Compassionate Choices: this series focuses on the various facets of caregiving starting with the diagnosis of a terminal illness through to death and the bereavement period that follows.

• Series II - Caring for a Child Approaching the End of Life and Keeping the Family Together: Families that are caring for a child with a life-limiting or life-threatening illness face formidable emotional, psychological and spiritual challenges. This series provides useful information that will help guide and support them on their journey, easing the uncertainty of what lies ahead.

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Series I :
Caring for a Terminally ill Loved One - Making Compassionate Choices

Managing Editor:
Greg Schneider, Executive Director, HEAL Project

TOPICS

• Series Overview

• You and the Health Care System

• Legal Considerations - Advance Directives

• What is Hospice?

• Understanding the Dying Process

• Comfort Management

• Nearing Death Awareness

• Belief Systems - Faith & Spirituality

• Grief of the Dying Person

• Rituals Around Death

• Bereavement Support - Continuing Your Life After Their Death

• Life After Caregiving

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Series II :
Caring for a Child Approaching the End of Life and Keeping the Family Together

Managing Editor:
Greg Schneider, Executive Director, HEAL Project

Series Contributing Editors:
Pat Frasca, Certified Child Life Specialist
Andrea Bass, Marriage Family Therapist and Board Certified Art Therapist

TOPICS

• Being Aware of the Diverse Needs of the Family Unit

• A Child's Perceptions of Illness & Death

• Ways Dying Children & Their Siblings Communicate Their Needs

Come join us next time as we explore Series I.