A Lovely Death

This week we interview Pittsburgh-based trauma therapist Casey Swartz. Casey shares her thoughts on what we are all experiencing during the Covid pandemic. You can find Casey’s hilarious Instagram: @caseyswartzlpc Here’s the Huffington Post article that quotes Casey: “For Those Who Lost Someone To COVID, There Is No 'Returning To Normal'” https://www.huffpost.com/entry/people-who-lost-someone-to-covid-talk-about-what-returning-to-normal-feels-like-britt_l_60c3d69de4b0583aec44a375 Thanks for listening! Want to support ALD? Consider becoming a Patreon sponsor at: https://www.patreon.com/alovelydeath.

Welcome to the second half of our minisode on end-of-life advance planning! There was so much to talk about when it came to planning our own funerals that we broke this into two episodes. This is the funeral planning questionnaire we refer to in this episode: https://www.funeralwise.com/files/Pre-Need-Questionnaire2009.pdf Thanks so much for listening!

This week we interview Amy Weisgerber, the In-House Coordinator from CORE (Center for Organ Recovery and Education). CORE is one of 57 federally designated not-for-profit organ procurement organizations (OPOs) in the United States. CORE partners with more than 150 hospitals and health care facilities to deliver the gift of life by coordinating the surgical recovery of organs, tissues and corneas for transplantation. CORE also facilitates the computerized matching of donated organs, tissues and corneas. www.core.org We hope you will consider being an organ donor too! Resources: Donate Life America & Local State Teams Mission: To drive individuals, organizations and communities to increase the number of designated organ, tissue, and cornea donors to save and heal lives. Donate Life America https://www.donatelife.net/ Donate Life West Virginia https://donatelifewv.org/ Donate Life Pennsylvania https://donatelifepa.org/ Association of Organ Procurement Organizations (AOPO) https://www.aopo.org/ Mission: To help member OPOs maximize the availability of organs and tissues for transplantation and enhance the quality, effectiveness and integrity of the donation process. Thanks for listening! Want to support ALD? Consider becoming a Patreon sponsor at: https://www.patreon.com/alovelydeath.

Welcome to our third minisode on end-of-life advance planning! There was so much to talk about when it came to planning our own funerals that we broke this into two episodes. This is Part 1 of funeral planning. This is the funeral planning questionnaire we refer to in this episode: https://www.funeralwise.com/files/Pre-Need-Questionnaire2009.pdf Look for upcoming episodes discussing organ donation, green burial and more. Find us on all the socials @alovelydeathpod/podcast. Support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/alovelydeath. Thanks for listening!!!

Welcome to the second part of our multi-part minisodes on end-of-life advance planning! In this minisode we talk about writing your own obituary! Here are some of the main resources we refer to in this episode: https://www.funeralbasics.org/write-great-obituary/ https://www.fearlessculture.design/blog-posts/write-obituary-exercise https://www.nbcnews.com/better/lifestyle/how-write-perfect-obituary-according-professional-writers-ncna1055996 https://www.myfarewelling.com/article/obituary-examples Fascinating stories; https://www.history.com/news/did-a-premature-obituary-inspire-the-nobel-prizehttps://www.legacy.com/news/culture-and-history/the-nyt-is-publishing-great-black-americans-obituaries-after-the-fact/ World's oldest obituary: https://www.npr.org/2016/09/10/493399769/professor-translates-1-700-year-old-obituary-from-ancient-greek Look for upcoming episodes discussing funeral planning, organ donation and more. Find us on all the socials @alovelydeathpod/podcast. Support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/alovelydeath. Thanks for listening!!!

This week we talk to the one-and-only Gail Rubin: The Doyenne of Death®, owner of A Good Goodbye - Funeral Planning for those who don’t plan to die, certified funeral celebrant and pioneering death educator. Gail is author of the award-winning book A Good Goodbye: Funeral Planning for Those Who Don’t Plan to Die. She is also a popular speaker who uses humor and films to get end-of-life planning conversations started. She also hosts the award-winning A Good Goodbye TV interview series and Internet radio program. Rubin is a Certified Thanatologist (a death educator) a designation granted by the Association for Death Education and Counseling. She’s also a member of ICCFA the International Cemetery, Cremation and Funeral Association. A Certified Celebrant, she’s also President of the Jewish-Christian Dialogue of New Mexico, serves on the cemetery committee for Congregation Albert and volunteers with the Chevra Kaddisha, which ritually prepares bodies for Jewish burial. You can learn more about Gail at www.agoodgoodbye.com and the Before I Die NM at www.beforeidienm.com. Thanks for listening!

Welcome to the first part of our multi-part minisodes on end-of-life advance planning! In this minisode we talk about Healthcare Directives & Living Wills. You can find more information at The Conversation Project which is a “public engagement initiative with a goal that is both simple and transformative: to help everyone talk about their wishes for care through the end of life, so those wishes can be understood and respected.” You can learn more at https://theconversationproject.org/ Five Wishes is a “complete approach to discussing and documenting your care and comfort choices. It's about connecting families, communicating with healthcare providers, and showing your community what it means to care for one another.” You can find the materials to start your own planning at https://fivewishes.org. Look for upcoming episodes discussing funeral planning, organ donation and more! Find us on all the socials @alovelydeathpod/podcast. Support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/alovelydeath. Thanks for listening!!!

This week we have an interview with funeral director Kristin L. Hauman. Kristin is the owner of The Natural Funeral Company in Pittsburgh, PA as well as a traditional funeral home. In this episode she shares her thought on funeral service, green burial and her role in helping bereaved families. Want to support ALD? Consider becoming a Patreon sponsor at: https://www.patreon.com/alovelydeath.

This episode features an interview with Martie McNabb. Martie is a personal historian/visual artist who creates visual narratives from client’s photo, document & memorabilia archives through her business Memories out of the Box (https://memoriesoutofthebox.com/). She's also an interactive story-sharing artist who created Show & Tales (http://www.showandtales.com/), a series of story-sharing events that help people create connections by holding space for them to share the stories of the things they keep. You can also find her on social media: @showandtales. Want to support ALD? https://www.patreon.com/alovelydeath

This episode features an interview with Nisha Bowman, a Pittsburgh-based palliative care social worker and death doula, who shares many compelling thoughts about her work, motherhood and how lack of access to resources at end of life can impact POC and marginalized communities. You can find Nisha on Twitter: @reelirishdancer Want to support ALD? https://www.patreon.com/alovelydeath

A Lovely Death is back after a long hiatus! My friend Sarah Siplak will be partnering with me on the podcast moving forward. This season teaser fills you in on all our news!

Episode 8 Part 2 of my conversation with Bryan Ghingold. Bryan talks about attending Death Cafe Pittsburgh, struggling with his fear of death, some significant losses in his life and how it relates to his Jewish faith.

Episode 7 The first part of my conversation with Bryan Ghingold. Bryan talks about attending Death Cafe Pittsburgh, struggling with his fear of death, some significant losses in his life and how it relates to his Jewish faith.

Episode 6 The second part of my interview with Elizabeth Erbrecht - a licensed massage therapist who works with geriatric patients and hospice patients.

Episode 5 An interview with Elizabeth Erbrecht a licensed massage therapist who works with geriatric patients and hospice patients.

Episode 4 The second half of my interview with Helen Stickney. I hope you will enjoy the second half of our conversation. I found Helen's thought about dying and the afterlife so moving and inspiring!

Episode 3 Part 1 An interview with Helen Stickney who is a hospice volunteer, certified End of Life Doula, Reiki practitioner, meditation instructor, and grief support volunteer. Listen in on a conversation about her calling to deathcare and her thoughts on hospice and other related topics.

This episode includes a conversation with fellow Pittsburgh Deathie, John Davis. I hope you enjoy this introduction to A Lovely Death!

Episode 1 - Memento Mori - an introduction to A Lovely Death by Carolyn Fletcher.