I wanted to first share with you the link to my interview on The Frontline Industry Podcast.
Talking with Joel Onyshuk and sharing my story was an honor. Being vulnerable and sharing my personal story was not easy. I revealed things about myself that I never shared before, but I felt it was important for me to continue my healing and my hope is that I can help others do the same. I have come to realize that when I was given the opportunity to lead, I had a choice. I could make this about me and my ego or I can take the opportunity to try and help uplift others? I am choosing to uplift those around me. I want to thank Joel for giving me this opportunity to continue to heal and provide hope for others.
On Thursday I had the opportunity to meet an amazing group of people. I spent about a half hour with the team from Hospice Care of the Berkshires. I am always a little nervous when I first meet people, especially when it is a group of people that I am just meeting. When I walked into the meeting room there was something about the atmosphere and the faces in the room that made me feel welcome. I sat down in front of those amazing people, and I felt at home. I have a feeling that is how they make the people they care for feel at peace in a time where finding peace for the patient and their families can be difficult.
I worked as a visiting nurse for Noble Visiting Nurse and Hospice. There have been times when I have had to care for people who are at the end of life. If there is a time in someone’s life where it is important to honor dignity it is at the end of life. I felt a sense of honor when I was invited to be a part of this time in that person’s life. I was able to help them and their family in that moment when they took their last breath. It was hard but nothing compared to what the family was experiencing. As a nurse for 29 years, I have seen people die but it is different in a home as compared to a hospital. One of the things I appreciated from being a hospice nurse was that I owed that person the same dignity when they died as when they were alive. I did my best to honor their beliefs on how they saw death. I made it my mission to learn all I could from the family. It was my responsibility.
I honor those amazing people at Hospice Care of the Berkshires because they are doing a job that takes a special gift. They are there for the end of life. We are taught to be healers but that also means not only saving a life but in creating an end-of-life experience filled with dignity, hope and the greatest quality of life possible. You are healers for your patients and their families. You even helped me by allowing me to share with you the last two days of my mother’s life. I knew you would all understand even though we just met.
Thank you for all you do and thank you for the lives you touch. You are healers.
I also want to send prayers to my friend who recently lost her mother. I hold you in my thoughts and prayers
Charles Redd RN and Hospice Care of the Berkshires
Dignity Freedom Fighter
Dignity Freedom Fighter 
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