When Evening Comes:
Education of a Hospice Volunteer
Christine Andreae
All proceeds from this book are donated
to Blue Ridge Hospice.
(ISBN 0-312-26871-8)
Published September 2000
213 pages
Cost: $25
This book is in stores nationwide. |
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One Woman's Death:
A Hospice Volunteer's First Case
Christine Andreae
All proceeds from this booklet support Blue Ridge Hospice.
Published by Blue Ridge Hospice
66 pages
Cost: $10
Contact the Blue Ridge Hospice office to order this booklet.
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About the Author
Christine Andreae
Mystery Author, Hospice Volunteer, and Generous Supporter
Christine Andreae is a free-lance journalist and Edgar-nominated mystery writer whose fiction has attracted an international following. Living in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, she is also a community activist and a committed patient care volunteer with Blue Ridge Hospice. "Hospice is a path that nourishes something in me," she says. "I feel I need to do this."
She first learned about hospice in 1989 while researching an article about death and dying for Virginia Country Magazine. Impressed by the hospice mission that offers physical, emotional and spiritual support to people who are dying and to their families, Christine accepted a position on the board of directors. "I was anxious to become involved, to be given a chance to help make decisions, form policy, and at the same time, be involved in a roll-up-your-sleeves kind of work," she says. While still on the hospice board, she took the training to become a patient care volunteer. Since then, she has accompanied more than 15 patients on their end-of-life journeys.
In 1995, Christine wrote One Woman's Death, the story of her first case, a young mother dying of cancer. Privately published by Blue Ridge Hospice, the book won a Virginia Association of Hospices award for Leadership and Achievement in 1996.
Now Christine has lengthened the original work into a full-length book, When Evening Comes, available through booksellers nationally. Christine is donating royalties from When Evening Comes to Blue Ridge Hospice. The funds generated by the sale of the book will help Blue Ridge Hospice expand its services in the Shenandoah Valley and to establish more local centers.
Ultimately her wish is twofold: to help bring the dying process out of the dark closet of fear and to encourage people to become hospice volunteers. Christine says, "People say, 'I can't do that kind of work.' But once you deal with your own fear of death, it's not so stressful. You're trained to really listen to what others are saying and to draw boundaries for yourself.
You will feel sad, but that's not a bad emotion."
When Evening Comes
The Education of a Hospice Volunteer
by Christine Andreae
Summary
Written in the intimate style of a diary, When Evening Comes looks into the lives of two women, Bivie and Amber, who share a common story. They both have cancer, and they are going to die.
Presented from the viewpoint of a hospice volunteer assigned to the cases, author Christine Andreae tells the story of her own experience as she helps to care for Bivie and Amber as they pass through life's last journey. Writing of her personal involvement in the lives of the women, Christine gives her touching and yet factual account of the daily experiences of both volunteer and patients.
After taking hospice training at Blue Ridge Hospice in Winchester, Virginia, the hospice volunteer coordinator assigned Christine a case that ultimately moved from pure professionalism to friendship. As part one of When Evening Comes begins, readers meet Bivie, mother, wife, and friend. Her struggle and that of her family members and friends plays out in an intense at-home drama that culminates in her death from colon cancer. This is an incredible story of the strength and character of an entire family facing extreme pressure.
Amber's story begins in part two of the book. As the volunteer coordinator describes the situation, Christine writes, "I can't help feeling as if my path has circled back to Bivie, that I'm at another beginning, and that inside the sweep of that seven-year circle, the ghosts of subsequent patients are observing me with sad, patient eyes." Though similarities exist with Bivie, this new case presents new trials; a tense and demanding husband, no spiritual resources, and worries about money. The names in Amber's story are fictitious; the story is real.
Christine's book offers support to readers looking for information on dying and serves as a guide for hospice volunteers whose unselfishness and kindness help families and individuals walk a path that can only be walked one time.
Advanced Praise
The hospice movement has immeasurably eased the burden of caring for someone as they are dying. Hospice volunteer and mystery writer, Christine Andreae, faithfully captures this time in all its complexity. With laughter and sorrow, she takes us through the last days of several of her patients. A true and thoughtful document, When Evening Comes, will join Elisabeth Kubler-Ross's On Death and Dying as an end-of-life classic.
- Mary Logue, author of the Claire Watkins Mystery Series
In her book, When Evening Comes, Christine Andreae captures the essence of the privilege of being invited into the most private periods of the lives of her patients as they share their end-of-life journey. Through Bivie and Amber and many others, Christine experiences first hand, the ups and downs, the smiles and tears, the gains and losses.
- Judy Lentz, Executive Director
Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association
Christine Andreae captures real life experiences that go far beyond the physical aspects of death and dying. She provides the reader with the opportunity to explore the emotional transformation from life to death by the courageous people spoken about in When Evening Comes. As we listen to their messages, we discover not only a positive way to make that transition ourselves, but also a more conscious way to live.
- Ernest J. Carnevale, Jr., Chief Executive Officer Blue Ridge Hospice
As volunteer managers we are often looking for creative way to recognize our volunteers. When Evening Comes is not only a fun to read feel-good book, it also addresses many of the challenges that volunteers face with some interesting outcomes.
- Gary Gardia, Chairman of Volunteers -
National Council of Hospice Professions
From the Back Cover
Her patients had two things in common: they were all terminally ill, and each influenced her outlook on death-and life.
Not all hospice volunteers are medical professionals. Many, like Christine Andreae, are there to help the patient in day-to-day ways-running errands, driving them to appointments, making phone calls, sorting out their insurance forms-all the small demands that the patient cannot undertake and no one in the family may be free, or willing, to do.
Probably most important, the hospice volunteers provide companionship. Their presence eases the long days, and helps the ill person deal with pain and fear. They learn to really listen when the patient wants to talk, and provide conversation and simple projects to distract an invalid bored with television and too tired to read.
Andreae's skill as a writer and her warm and straightforward attitude bring the varied patients and their families to life for the reader. When Evening Comes is a book that will surprise and touch readers' hearts.
Andreae is a skilled writer whose prose pounds the senses.
- Publishers Weekly on Smoke Eaters
CHRISTINE ANDREAE is the author of a highly praised mystery series and of last year's thriller Smoke Eaters. She lives with her husband in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.
One Woman's Death
A Hospice Volunteer's First Case
by Christine Andreae
From the Back Cover
"To the person just contemplating joining hospice or facing someone's death, it will give warning and encouragement."
- Dr. William Houck, Oncologist
Former Medical Director, Blue Ridge Hospice
"I commend this book because it deals frankly and honestly with real people.
Everyone matters."
- Dr. Thelma Bates, Consultant
Clinical Oncologist, London, England
"I wanted everyone...to read this book..."
- Deanne Lentz
Former Hospice Bereavement Counselor
"When I first started reading this book I thought that it was more relevant to hospice patient volunteers, but as I progressed I realized everyone can benefit from this personal account."
- Helen H. Zebarth, BSN, Med. RN.C
Assistant Professor of Nursing, Shenandoah University
"I would highly recommend this publication for all people interested in hospice..."
- Charles M. Huber, M.D.
Internist, Front Royal, Virginia
