Our Celebration To Life

• Spreading Our Message on the Local News February 14, 2012
  Check out the Channel 6 Morning News broadcast that spreads our message to the community. I joined Rob Merritt to talk about the seeds of our mission to celebrate the end of life that began with my book Parting Ways, my column at the  OC Register and this blog–a collaboration with Hospice Care of the West. Our... [Continue Reading]
  denise
• Hospice Social Worker Transforms Life’s Final Frontier February 11, 2012
  In the early 1980s, Gemma Heffernan greeted an elderly couple entering her office at Leisure World. As the Director of Social Services, she often met with seniors to discuss their special needs. As they walked in and sat down, the husband took off his Captain’s cap. He hung his head while his wife talked about him... [Continue Reading]
  denise
• Last holiday with Mom underscores tradition December 31, 2011
  As the holidays approached, I opened the kitchen cupboard and pulled out the green box holding all my mother’s holiday recipes. I carried it like you might carry the family jewels into her bedroom where she lay on a hospital bed. We’d learned before Halloween that the chemotherapy stopped working, and the IV keeping her alive... [Continue Reading […]
  denise