English and Gender & Women’s Studies professor Dr. Sally Chivers argues that age-friendly communities do not go far enough to prepare us for the end
Death is the only absolute truth of life and something everyone will face. Why then, do we spend so little time becoming friendly with death?
Along with professors from the University of Lethbridge and St. Thomas University, Dr. Sally Chivers believes that death-friendly communities might be the way to soothe our fears of aging and dying.
“There’s a lot we can learn from the palliative care movement: it considers death as meaningful and dying as a stage of life to be valued, supported and lived,” writes Professor Chivers, professor of English and Gender & Women’s Studies, et al. “Welcoming mortality might actually help us live better lives and support communities – rather than relying on medical systems – to care for people at the end of their lives.”
Starting in the 1950s, Canadians moved from dying in their homes, to hospitals and other health-care institutions. The impacts of this on society are immense – fewer people now witness death than ever before.
“The dying process has become less familiar and more frightening because we don’t get a chance to be part of it, until we face our own,” explains Prof. Chivers, et al.
Aging and dying are inextricably linked – we can’t think of one without thinking of the other. This is where the separate ideas of age-friendly and compassionate communities have a key role to play in changing our relationship with death.
“We propose that age-friendly initiatives could converge with the work of compassionate communities in their efforts to make a community a good place to live, age and, ultimately die,” shared Prof. Chivers et al. “One of the benefits of death-friendly communities is that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all model; they can vary across jurisdictions, allowing each community to imagine and create their own approach to death-friendliness.”
Death-friendly communities ease fear of aging and dying
Mar. 30, 2021
Source: National Post
