Profiles in presence: JENNIFER ELLSWORTH

Interview with JENNIFER ELLSWORTH IN HER OWN WORDS:

As a Geriatric Case Manager and partner/owner of Bend Senior Care Management, Jennifer Ellsworth has a different connection and perspective to the end-of-life doula model of care.

To backtrack a bit, Jennifer explains the path that led her to providing care management: “I’ve been in the health care community in Bend since 1993. I have a background in health care administration and later became a certified case manager. Many years ago my business partner, Jeanne Merritt, an LCSW and I were working at the facility that is now Bend Transitional Care. I was the Admissions Director and she was the Discharge Planner. We were seeing seniors falling through the cracks after getting discharged from the hospital or a skilled facility. We knew that this follow up care was available in Arizona, and so we took a leap of faith and now it’s been twelve years. Jeanne and I are both care managers and we have three part-time care managers as well. Most of our clients come on with us and we follow along through their end of life. When Erin, Kari and Elizabeth started The Peaceful Presence Project, we were aware of them from early on.”

“Entering this earth is a very important process and so is exiting this earth. Your mission and motto is making it a peaceful experience, and bringing in trained people who can help people through this very difficult process is just wonderful.”

What follows are Jennifer’s words about the collaboration between Bend Senior Care Management and The Peaceful Presence Project to serve a client’s wishes:  “Erin and I had a mutual client who I worked with for about five years. A man in his early 90’s, he had been working with Erin for quite some time as he had a great fear of suffering. His biggest fears were about being in pain, and being in bed or having to go someplace because he wanted to die at home. Over a year or two, Erin did everything she could do to ease his fear. He wanted to use “death with dignity” and kept asking about when he could take the “milkshake,” as he called it. We worked together to explain everything involved in the Medical Aid in Dying process. He also had a male doula who provided socialization because he lived alone, surrounded by female caregivers and needed that male company. 

“Ultimately, he had the dreaded fall that started the whole process of his really going downhill. He was in stage five kidney failure which qualified for hospice and he set a date for taking the medicine. In the meantime, his condition changed and he needed more care, so we got him into Hospice House. Erin was there a lot, reassuring him that he was going to be okay and that he could let go. She helped give him the peace of mind that he needed. He actually died naturally on the day he had been planning to take the medicine!”

Jennifer discusses the ability to have doula services with all of her patients who are in hospice care, explaining the extra support and education that is provided is as much for the family members as the person. In her experience, “this support can be huge for someone.” For her male client, “it really helped ease his fear of dying. The conversations the doulas had were priceless and so valuable. In those last days Erin was right at the bedside talking to him, calming him. He was able to have a peaceful death.”

“Working with death doulas is great teamwork for me. You all are well trained in these conversations and skills. I think it is so important for us to have these dialogues in our community. I still think there’s a lot of room for people to understand this. People are still very uncomfortable and don’t want to think or talk about death and dying. You are getting the word out there and it’s great to see the different programs being offered now, especially for the family going through this too.”

In this world where “it takes a village” on many fronts for people to be properly and lovingly supported to move through life's challenges, we are thrilled to collaborate with skilled providers like Jennifer and Bend Senior Care Management.