End of Life Education is for everyone.
The next program for End of Life Education will be presented on Thursday, April 30, beginning at 1 p.m. at the Community United Methodist Church at 434 Lewis St. beside the large parking lot.
Use the side door right off the parking lot, which takes you first into the kitchen and then the large fellowship hall. Usually, the front doors to the church sanctuary are locked if no staff is around.
Our speaker will be Brad Hunt, our Archuleta County coroner. There also are assistant coroners.
State laws have changed and a coroner must be more involved with every death case in each county.
We tried to have a different coroner come to speak with us several years ago, but he had to cancel at the last minute due to the emergency nature of his work. Hunt promised me that we will be his No. 1 priority on Thursday, April 30, from 1:15 to 2:15 p.m. It might turn out to be the most important thing you do on that day also.
If you ever need to work with him, it can be beneficial to have met him and know what to expect. He is diligent and caring. He will share with us the nature of his work and spend time answering all our questions about end of life.
We will find out by Monday, April 27, if the emergency medical response team will be doing informal training (not for certification) on resuscitation, possibly at 2:15 p.m. on April 30, also. The team was supposed to be there at 2 p.m., as advertised on Thursday, April 23, but communication was not perfect about the delay from 1 to 2:15 p.m. They will be bringing large dolls or dummies for everyone to practice on. If they do not come, there will be another possibility later.
The emergency medical response team for Archuleta County recently added a new staff member, Andrew Spangler, who is focusing almost solely on education. He will be speaking as often as possible to the public.
His comments are often for senior citizens, but he will also include material for the general public, sharing what they need to know about emergency education. That is why everyone is invited to attend. Knowledge about an emergency medical program is beneficial to everyone.
Did you know that every law enforcement car in Archuleta County carries an emergency defibrillator for resuscitation? And there are several at public buildings around town, like the library, schools and the community center. That is valuable information to keep in mind.
We are fortunate to live in a culture that values human life. But, there is also a cultural understanding that we are not doing as well with — that life has an end point. Even stars die, to be born again as new stars. It is a process where life keeps recycling itself. Many people who come to these programs are striving to accept the reality of how life happens. This is something that our culture in America needs to work on.
We have so much that we need to learn. On May 21 we will have a speaker who we’ve had in the past because new information is being developed in the area of natural funerals.
Last year, Karis Meskimen presented the new ideas of green burials, natural burials, human composting and water cremation. Many of the newest ideas were started in other states and then are first presented in Denver and/or suburbs. Meskimen did a great job of sharing new methods of handling our bodies that are much better for the environment.
We have not yet spent much important time on Colorado laws that aid a person at the end of their life to shorten time of possible great pain or serious discomfort by personally taking a “home-delivered” “cocktail.” The process needs to be doctor-monitored and must follow our state laws precisely.
The time for presenting this information has not been determined. We will need to set a special time for these meetings other than our regular meeting days and time. It should be set up by next Monday. The doctors involved in this process are very busy, but it will happen.
These are emotionally challenging programs, but with caring and sensitive people working together, we can handle almost anything. You may get to practice asking for help. We have several medical doctors and several counselors who have been part of End of Life Education. Plus, there are many other amazingly caring people at our meetings.
We hope to see you there for an important learning experience and something that you will find to be most helpful. We almost always find that we are more capable and stronger than we ever thought we were. We will be learning a great deal at each of these programs and will become better stronger people.
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