by Renate Varriale, RN The questions around how we care for our elders are many, and they grow more urgent as the number of retirees and their need for care increase dramatically each year. In his recent acclaimed book, Being Mortal, Atul Gawande, MD, takes a sober look at aging and death in our society and the harms we do ... Read More ►
By Renee Meyer, MD Even if we are enjoying a vigorous middle age, somewhere in our sixties we begin to sense our mortality. A quiet, persistent reminder arises from deep recesses of our thoughts, or stirs the air behind our shoulders. It breathes “but time may overcome you,” when we indulge in long-term planning or think fondly of undertaking a ... Read More ►
Stephen E Usher, Ph.D On May 28, 2016 a three year old child fell into the gorilla habit at the Cincinnati Zoo. He fell 15 feet into water that was about 1 foot deep. The silverback male, Harambe, weighing some 400 pounds, came to the child and seemed to shelter him. Next, he dragged the child rapidly through the water, ... Read More ►
By Michael Lipson, PhD Spring 2001: Death and Rebirth - Issue #23 Though it sounds a bit snappier in German, Goethe's great slogan of transformation, "Die and Become!"(Stirb und werde!) can still serve as our own. It contains the secret of spiritual development, which is a succession of deaths to what has been and a series of openings to the ... Read More ►
A Community Coming Together for Viroqua Teens By Charlene Elderkin On a Sunday afternoon in early June I headed to the Chula Vista Resort in Wisconsin Dells to give a presentation on Home Funerals. I had been invited to speak to the Wisconsin Coroners and Medical Examiners conference by the Columbia County Coroner who located me through the organization I ... Read More ►