No One Dies Alone

Hospice is a concept which has been around for several generations. In general, it was an outcome of the 1950's push to build hospitals, and the inevitable deaths which occurred in hospital beds (rather than at home). The sterility, detachment, and aloneness of dying in a hospital bed, made the advent of hospice a much more human way to help those transitioning to the other side.

A story, which is currently making the rounds on the group e-mail circuit, emphasizes the very personal interactions of hospice, through the eyes of a cat.

Oscar, the cat, lives in a nursing home, which houses several hospice patients. Every day, Oscar wakes up, stretches, and eyes the adjacent West and East Wings. He then begins his rounds. Quietly he pads by Mr. J who is sleeping soundly in his wheelchair which lines the corridors. He peers into one room where a woman is obviously in a the terminal stage. A nurse is asking the daughter if she feels more morphine is needed. Oscar walks on.......

The next room also has a woman who is approaching death. The wall is lined with pictures of family, and a picture of the woman's wedding day. No one waits with the woman. Oscar enters the room and jumps on the bed. After quietly sniffing the air, he decides this is the spot, and curls comfortably at the side of the woman's bed to wait.

A nurse enters the room and sees Oscar. Quickly she leaves the room to make several phone calls. She is requesting that family who may wish to see the woman come to the home quickly. They do. In a matter of hours, the woman dies.

"On his way back to the charting area, Oscar passes a plaque mounted on the wall. On it is engraved a commendation from a local hospice agency: "For his compassionate hospice care, this plaque is awarded to Oscar the Cat." Oscar takes a quick drink of water and returns to his desk to curl up for a long rest. His day's work is done. There will be no more deaths today, not in Room 310 or in any other room for that matter. After all, no one dies on the third floor unless Oscar pays a visit and stays awhile." (Dosa, 2007)

The story of Oscar is true. Many times, there is no family who come, as there is no one left to call. At times like that, Oscar assures that no one ever will die alone.

How Oscar has the prescience to know if someone will die that day is unknown. Animals, we all acknowledge, do have intuitions that humans have either not developed or lack entirely. However, this story is not about animal intuitions, but the intimacy an animal offers in a person's last moments on earth.

Oscar symbolizes the Hospice philosophy probably better than any study of Hospice could ever do.