How to comfort a dying loved one

Family First | VoiceAmerica™

Click on the link above to learn a powerful way to comfort someone who is leaving this life. My new book Mothers Losing Moithers: Comfort and Reassurance in Your Time of Loss has just come out in eBook format. I am honored to have as my guest an expert on how to comfort the person who is dying. Read on please.

The largest generation ever is now in middle age and many of them are caring for elderly parents who are in their final transition. When your loved one asks, “What’s going to happen to me when I die?” How do you answer? And how do you deal with your own feelings as your loved one leaves this life? Often families are so caught up in making arrangements, giving care, and trying to comfort a dying loved one that they don’t know where to turn to get the support and answers they need.

My guest this week is Penelope Mont, who has extensive experience helping families weather this difficult time. Mont has worked for decades in the assisted living and hospice care fields, also caring for Alzheimer’s patients and training others to help families at this time. Mont has created useful tools to help. To celebrate the publication this week of my new book Mothers Losing Mothers: Comfort and Reassurance in Your Time of Loss, I am happy to welcome Penelope Mont, expert in end of life transition.  

To listen to Family First, click on this link and choose June 1. The show is live June 1 at 1 PM PT/2 PM MT/3 PM CT/4 PM PT. You can also hear it on demand and as a podcast any time afterwards. Just go to http://www.voiceamerica.com/show/1916/family-first. Share it with a friend who is losing a loved one.

Penelope Mont's work experience over the past forty years includes special education teaching; geriatric recreation therapy in a large nursing home; Director of an Alzheimer's day center program; and Director of Sales and Marketing in an assisted living community. Now in retirement, she pursues her passion for writing and speaking.  

Mont authored a booklet called “When Your Loved One Asks...What's Going To Happen  To Me When I Die?” from Premium Book Company; which  is used as hospice educational material, information for caregivers, families and clients, handouts at health fairs, and an addition to the office libraries of hospice satellites and supportive agencies across the USA. Her other publications include “Tips To Finding Alzheimer's Gift Ideas” from e-Books; and a novel called “Then What Happens?” from Infinity Publishing. Mont lives by the water in Beaufort, SC with her big dog, Bart. She likes kayaking, shrimping and especially visits from her two daughters and grandchildren. 

To hear Penelope Mont’s important insights, listen to Family First. The program airs live June 1 at 1 PM PT/2 PM MT/3 PM CT/4 PM PT. You can also hear it on demand and as a podcast any time afterwards. Just go to http://www.voiceamerica.com/show/1916/family-first.

Randy Rolfe's Take Home Tips: When you are speaking to loved ones about difficult sujbects it helps a lot if you have articulated your thoughts for yourself ahead of time. Don't shy away from difficult questions which you children or your parents may ask. If you are not ready to talk about it, ask them to give you some time to think. But then be sure to get back to them, whether it is minutes or days later.