Ellen Long Stilwell is a registered nurse certified in hospice palliative care currently working in home hospice. She has experience in the acute care setting transitioning patients and families into the appropriate hospice setting. Ellen is a death doula trained by a Buddhist Priest and author of “Love Death Love; Embracing the Journey to Death.” She is a faculty member of Adelphi University in Garden City, New York, teaching “Caring for the Patient Nearing End of Life” along with Christine Santos, NP. www.ellenlongstilwell.com or lovedeathlove.els@gmail.com
Amir Shahid is a physician, who has worked in the field of palliative care since 2001. He has been a physician for thirty-four years. He loves spending time with his children, photography and bicycling.
Christine Santos is a palliative care/hospice nurse practitioner that loves helping others get the best information to make the best decision. She has been a nurse for fifteen years with a background in critical care. She has worked as a hospice/palliative NP for the last eight years. Christine loves cooking, baking and trying out new recipes. Christine’s biggest accomplishment is her family and going on new adventures with them.
David Kunin is a retired hospice nurse currently working as a death doula. You can find out more about him on his website www.davidkunin.com. His You-Tube channel is “Help with Death and Dying.” He also writes essays and short stories covering a wide variety of topics on his Substack “Off The Cushion.”
Ryan Loughlin was born and raised in New York, spending the first half of his life in Brooklyn and the second half in Manhattan. Social work was a second career, having worked for many years in higher education administration. His role in university financial aid often meant that people would come to his office, ask to close the door, and then share their struggles and challenges. That eventually led to a desire to be able to help people with their emotional needs in addition to their more concrete issues. As a second year graduate student in social work with a clinical concentration, Ryan was offered an internship at a hospice working with terminally ill patients and their families. There were certainly plenty of emotional issues connected to end of life (sadness, anger, and fear not least among them) but also much to learn from a diverse group of people about life, coping, acceptance, and resilience. Ryan has always been struck by the concept of death as the great leveler – whether we live in the projects or on Park Avenue, it will eventually come for us all. Every day Ryan feels privileged to meet people at the end of their lives, offer support, and hear their stories.
Lena Eorio is a longtime resident of Westchester County, NY. Lena has worked in various administrative support roles at companies in Westchester and New York City. She cared for her mother for over twenty-five years and became her mother’s primary caregiver/personal aide when her healthcare needs demanded fulltime care. Lena worked together with the hospice team assigned to her mother to provide end of life care at home. She received Ellen Long Stilwell’s book, Love Death Love, after her mother’s death. She is grateful for the gift of Ellen’s story as well as the opportunity to contribute to this new book that demonstrates the care and healing that hospice can provide for patients and their families.
Nelson Olegario has been a physical therapist since 1996. He worked as a Sports PT in Manila, Philippines before migrating to New York transitioning into homecare for VNSNY. Nelson has been devoted to hospice patients at home since 2007. He obtained his Doctor of PT in 2017. Nelson enjoys photography, videography, hiking, camping and traveling. ndodpt@gmail.com
James Chew was a hospice Volunteer Coordinator for twelve years, working at several New York area hospices. During that time he had the privilege of recruiting, training and supervising over a thousand Hospice Volunteers. He also worked with hundreds of dedicated clinicians, administrators and administrative staff to provide companionship and other comfort support to hundreds of patients and their families. While challenging, this work was immensely joyful as well.
Matthew Morse is a licensed psychotherapist with a private practice based in Brooklyn, NY. He specializes in helping his patients navigate anxiety, addiction and life transitions (deaths, divorce, a medical diagnosis, etc.) His passions include Vajrayana Buddhist practice, road cycling and reading and writing poetry. He lives with his wife of twenty-eight years and has two adult daughters. matthewmorse9@gmail.com or 646-872-6840