Maybe it is still days, perhaps only hours. As soon as the rattle of breathing sets in, however, is clear: death is coming inevitably. It is a labored gurgling air, as if choking the Person. With each breath, it’s bubbling in the lungs, the mouth is rigid, semi-open, it breaks comes to longer breath. In such moments, the members of panic. How much of the dying father suffers? He’s choking maybe? You must get a Doctor now? Or prefer to stay, wait, and simply Hand-hold?
Before the death no one is sovereign. This is the around 20 Participants of the course “last help” in Zurich, Uetikon on the last weekend very well aware of. Some of them already were sitting helpless at the deathbed of her spouse, until today, they plague guilt, to have, in these last hours of failure. The other, the dying of people close to imminent in the first place. Parents and parents-in-law are elderly, you want to inform and emotionally prepare for. Some of those present are in the care of terminally ill and hoping for suggestions from this free six-hour course.
With their own mortality
The “last aid” is concerned, in contrast to the First aid is a relatively new phenomenon. Actually surprising, when you consider that emergency relief is a citizen’s duty, the omission can even be punished. As good as any in Switzerland, a First-aid course completed, the stable side position would do the most, even years later. How to help when to Die, know the least of all. Death is still taboo. But why have we Relieve suffering at the end of life should not belong to General knowledge? The interest in the population is large, the last-aid courses have rain inlet. The Participants learn not only what you can do for members. They deal automatically with the help of one’s own finiteness.
In Switzerland there is this originally from Germany, is master of the offer since one and a half years. It is coordinated by the Reformed Church of Zurich, which also provides training in other cantons, course leaders and course leader. So far in Switzerland took place far 32 last aid courses, which were so booked up very quickly, that there are already lists for this year. “We are constantly working to expand the course offerings,” says Eva low man of the Church of Zurich. The 53-Year-old nurse with training in Palliative Care, you know how you can enable the incurable to relieve Suffering and Dying until the end, a good quality of life. Together with the pastor, and pastor Matthias Fischer for the last aid courses responsible.
Anything Pleasant
The death is no longer a question of fate. Thanks to the rapid pace of medical progress, more and more diseases can be treated and the final end are delayed. In about 70 percent of the cases, death occurs suddenly. “To die is becoming more and more a conscious decision,” says Roland Kunz, palliative physician and the chief physician of the clinic for acute geriatrics at Zurich’s waid city. In concrete terms, this means that The person Dying or their family members need to determine what life-prolonging measures you want or not. According to the latest studies of such decisions in Switzerland have to be taken close to 60 percent of the expected deaths. “Self-determined Dying is now reduced to the assisted suicide,” says Kunz. “In fact, but almost everyone itself must set the boundaries and decide how and when he or she leaves the life.”
?To Die to the desire is still a lot but more. No one wants to be surrounded at the end of the life of a bunch of strangers professionals. The many unfamiliar faces can be intimidating, you will feel lost and lonely. “Even if the Mortality is not more respond, very much,” explains Eva low-man, which leads, together with the social deacon Monika Kaspar through the course in Uetikon. “It is important to be in the vicinity. I want you to know that you will continue to be among us and we learn from them how to die.” Not infrequently, members have fear to do something wrong, or the dying process unbearable, and therefore they delegate the prefer death to personnel. This Trend will counteract the last help with very practical assistance.
you can Save his loved one will not
want to know A course participant, why it is causing the lung secretions, the einflöss the fear of the end of rattle breathing, when her mother vacuumed. Eva low man calmed down. You could assume that your mother have not suffered from shortness of breath. A Suction would have been much more onerous and would have only caused even more Secretions. The student nods, relieved. Your question brings me to the topic of “How to die?”. Many see a dead Person for the first Time, when the parents die. The group of 55 – to 65-Year-olds is represented in the courses, therefore, particularly strong. Niedermann explains the dying process in a calm and very specifically: Increasing awareness of change, irregular or rattling breathing, weak response to touch. “And it is important to know: your family will not die, because they drink or eat. You can drink and eat more, because you will die.” Concise sentences that stick to.
you can’t Save his loved one, but you can make your last days comfortable. Allowed is everything that is good for. Low man encouraged the participants, things that will help you when you are sick. The round comes quickly into the Chat: drink tea, a neck or foot massage, a warm cozy scarf, a familiar scent, soft music, no bright lights, someone to tell you something dear. “The same simple things to help Dying,” says Niedermann and all nod. Kind of obvious. Slowly, we wonder why you had so much fear of failure in the face of death.
The atmosphere is so relaxed that Eva low man dares to take an interactive excursion in the oral care of the Dying. The mucous membranes and lips from drying, namely, as soon as one can no longer swallow. “The feeling of thirst is not relieved by an Infusion, but the fact that it keeps moist of the lips and the oral cavity,” explains the nurse. Everyone is allowed to do the test with a kind of foam-Schleck stem itself. Previously, you could dip the foam in tea, today it’s supposed to taste really good. Champagne, beer, Cola, coffee, syrup, wine – everything that the terminally ill Person’s desires.
The children are often not aware of their elderly parents
“The individual dealing with the Dying wishes of today’s lifestyle reflects”, says Eva low man. It’s less about strict rules, but to make the remaining time as pleasant as possible. The 53-Year-old suspected that the last aid courses are also run so well, because you want to prepare the spirit of the times according to an optimal and secure. Information about living wills and advance care directives are therefore also at the last aid Kit. “We live in a self-determined and always want to have a say more often how we die.”
But not everyone can or wants to deal with this new freedom. “A patient, which would be a lot of rules, very specifically, only about 30 to 40 percent of my patients,” says the palliative care doctor Roland Kunz. Most of them want to die without pain, but when it comes to concrete measures, such as artificial ventilation, many are unable to cope. “Often, it means that my children should decide that,” says Kunz. He then ask there, they have no idea at all what the parents want, because you’ve never talked about this.
A course participant confirms that they still have today a terrible guilt, because they had to decide about the life and death of her father. “My own children I’m not going to do that,” she says. For the palliative physician, it is clear that the new death options also bring new obligations: “We have a moral responsibility to take our Die himself in the Hand and not on others.” After the last aid course that seems to be the Participants ‘ awareness. Some are upset, others reassured, some will want to talk to you now finally with her parents and a couple of things. Die seems more familiar than six hours previously.
The cantons of Zurich, Aargau, Basel-Stadt, Graubünden and Bern offer last-aid courses. Other courses are currently in the pipeline in Zug, St. Gallen and the Canton of Vaud. The offer is being coordinated by the Reformed Church of Zurich: www.zhref.ch/themen/palliative-care/letzte-hilfe-kurs
(Sunday newspaper)
Created: 06.04.2019, 19:27 PM
