Step-by-step advice for individuals or Dharma centers who want to work with the dying, by Ven. Pende Hawter. See the FPMT Center Directory for FPMT project contact information.

1.      HEALING MEDITATION GROUPS

Groups for people with life-threatening or chronic illnesses could be offered at a Dharma Center every one to four weeks, ideally weekly. They could also include the carers. They could be started as a separate activity or as a follow-up to healing courses (see 2.)

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has said that it is useful for people leading these groups to have some counseling experience, but that the most important thing is for the leaders to have a strong foundation in the lam-rim, the teachings on the path to enlightenment.

2.      HEALING MEDITATION COURSES

Courses for people with life-threatening or chronic illnesses could be held at centers. They could be either one to two day courses or five to seven day retreat-style courses. A title like Methods and Meditations to Help Heal Mind and Body makes it quite clear about the nature of the course and prevents people having the wrong expectations about healing.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche has said that although these courses should ideally be restricted to people with life-threatening or chronic illness and, if necessary, their carers, they could be made open to anybody, depending on the situation at the individual center.

Rinpoche suggests running these courses at least once every six months, more often if there is the demand for them.

Tara Institute in Melbourne, Australia, has prepared a Healing Course Kit, which explains how to set up and organize such courses.

3.      VISITING SICK AND DYING PEOPLE

People could be visited either at hospitals or at home. This is often a natural extension of healing groups and courses, as above. Tara Institute, for example, does this.

4.      MEDITATION SUPPORT

Centers could offer meditation support to selected patients who have been nominated by existing nursing services in the community; this is a service offered, for example, by Hospice of Mother Tara in Bunbury, Western Australia and Karuna Hospice Group, part of Atisha Centre in Bendigo, Victoria.

5.      TRAIN WITH EXISTING HOSPICE SERVICES

In order to gain experience, individuals could train with existing hospice services (members of the Karuna Hospice Group do this).

6.      ESTABLISH YOUR OWN VOLUNTEER SERVICE

You could set up your own volunteer service with a volunteer coordinator, training programs, etc. (for example, Zen Hospice Project in San Francisco, USA).

7.      HOME-CARE HOSPICE SERVICE WITH VOLUNTEERS

Such a home-care service would rely totally on volunteers, with back-up from local nursing and medical services (for example, Amitayus Hospice Service in Mullumbimby, NSW, Australia. They have also cared for several people without a primary carer in the home, which is a huge undertaking for a voluntary service because of the twenty-four hour a day commitment).

8.      FULLY-FLEDGED HOME-CARE HOSPICE SERVICE

This service would offer 24-hour care to the terminally ill in their homes, employ trained nurses, volunteer coordinators, counselors, professional administrators, etc; also it would utilize trained volunteers (for example, Karuna Hospice Service in Brisbane). This is a large and expensive undertaking, but has the advantage of being more likely to attract government funding (which Karuna has), obtain charitable status, etc.

9.      A 24-HOUR CARE IN-PATIENT FACILITY FOR THE DYING

This service could either:

(a) Provide its own nurses and volunteers (Karuna Hospice Service and Cittamani Hospice Service have plans to develop such a service, possibly at Chenrezig Institute in Eudlo, Queensland); or,

(b) Utilize the nursing care provided by other organizations (Maitri, who run a hospice for AIDS patients, and the Zen Hospice Project, both in San Francisco, do this).