Ep. 79 Enhancing Care and Decision Making at the End of Life with Chaplain Hank Dunn

Jan 14 2024 • 31 mins

Ep.79

Enhancing Care and Decision Making at the End of Life with Chaplain Hank Dunn

Facing the end of life can be really tough for both patients and their families. There are many hard decisions to make, like what kind of medical care to have or not. These decisions are not only hard emotionally but can also be confusing. Finding the right balance between respecting the patient's wishes and caring for the family's needs can be challenging, but it can become easier with the right education and information. In this episode, Chaplain Hank Dunn shares his journey and ministry to patients at the end of life, the importance of end-of-life education, and how he helps patients and families with end-of-life decisions.

Chaplain Hank Dunn has been ministering to patients at the end of life since 1983. He served as a nursing home chaplain at Fairfax Nursing Center and as a staff chaplain for the Hospice of Northern Virginia, now Capital Caring. To help him explain end-of-life decisions to patients and families, Hank wrote a booklet to hand to them so they could reflect on the issues discussed. As an afterthought, he sent the book out to other institutions to see if they would be interested in purchasing it for the people they serve, which led him to his first book, "Hard Choices for Loving People,"

Hank Dunn is also a frequent speaker on topics related to the end of life. He enjoys backpacking, kayaking, and hiking.

Tune in!

Key Highlights from the Episode;

[00:01] Episode intro and a quick bio of the guest, Chaplain Hank Dunn

[02:05] Hank's backstory and how he got into ministering to patients at the end

[04:07] Hank’s findings on people's knowledge of the end-of-life decision

[07:10] Why people are still struggling with the end of life decisions

[08:27] The one thing that Hank finds people has the least knowledge on

[10:21] How to improve hospice experience for patients and families

[11:45] What Hank does as a Chaplain at the end-of-life care

[16:34] How Hank practices emotional self-care

[19:01] Hark books and the information they provide for the end of life

[20:57] Tips on how to get the hard conversations rolling

[23:21] Hark’s favorite patient memory and story

[27:38] The pediatric side of hospice care

[29:32] How to reach out and connect with Hank

[31:01] Ending show and calls to action

Notable Quotes

Get in the hospice sooner rather than later. [09:26]
The most important question you can ask a patient or a family is, “What is important to them.” [20:06]
Extending life might not be the most important thing to a family or a patient; sometimes, the most important thing might be their family staying together or the patient being comfortable. [21:31]