Resources
Below, please find many helpful links and educational resources on hospice, caregiving terminal illness, and grief.
AARP Grief and Loss
Toll-free Support Line: 866.797.2277
Alzheimer’s Association
Blue Ridge Chapter: 540.563.1618
Toll-free: 800.272.3900
American Cancer Society
Toll-free: 800.ACS.2345
American Hospital Association - Put it in Writing
English/Spanish website that provides consumers and providers with information on advance directives. Contains downloadable information, instructions, and wallet cards.
Children of Aging Parents
Toll-free: 800.227.7294
Council of Community Services
Roanoke: 540.985.0131
Toll-free: 800.354.3388
Eldercare Locator
Toll-free: 800.677.1116
Family Caregiver Alliance
National: 415.434.3388
Good Samaritan Hospice
Roanoke: 540.776.0198
New River Valley: 540.381.3171
Toll-free: 888.466.7809
Palliative Care Partnership of the Roanoke Valley
540.776.0198
LOA (League of Older Americans) Area Agency on Aging
Roanoke: 540.345.0451
New River Valley: 540.980.7720
National Alliance for Caregiving
National: 301.718.8444
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization
Red Cross Caregiving Courses
Roanoke: 540.985.3550
Senior Navigator
Virginia Advanced Medical Directive
opens pdf attachment
Grief Resources
General Grief
These thoughtful articles provide guidance and direction for anyone touched by grief.
Helping Yourself with Grief
If someone you love has died, you are now faced with the difficult, but important, need to mourn. Mourning is the open expression of your thoughts and feelings regarding the death and the person who died. It is an essential part of healing. The following articles provide many practical suggestions to help you move toward healing in your unique grief journey.
- Helping Yourself Heal When Someone Dies
- Helping Yourself Heal When Your Child Dies
- Helping Yourself Heal When Your Spouse Dies
- Helping Yourself Heal When a Parent Dies
- Helping Yourself When a Baby Dies
- Helping Yourself Heal During the Holiday Season
- Helping Dispel 5 Common Myths About Grief
- Helping Yourself Live When You Are Seriously Ill
- Helping Yourself Live When You Are Dying
Helping Others with Grief
If a friend has experienced the death of someone loved, how can you help? The following articles provide many practical suggestions for helping others with grief:
- Helping a Friend in Grief
- Helping a Man Who is Grieving
- Helping a Friend Who is Dying
- Helping a Friend Who is Seriously Ill
- Helping a Suicide Survivor Heal
- Helping a Homicide Survivor Heal
- Helping a Grandparent Who Is Grieving
- Helping a Grieving Friend in the Workplace
- Helping AIDS Survivors Heal
- Helping SIDS Survivors Heal
- Helping Your Family When a Member is Dying
- Helping Your Family When a Member is Seriously Ill
- Helping Your Family Cope When a Pet Dies
- Helping Your Family Decide if Organ and Tissue Donation is Right for You
For and About Grieving Children and Teenagers
Children and teenagers have special needs following the death of a friend or family member. The following articles provide wonderful insight in helping children and teens understand and express their grief.
- Helping Children Cope with Grief
- Helping Teenagers Cope with Grief
- Helping Infants and Toddlers When Someone They Love Dies
- Helping Children with Funerals
- Helping Children Understand Cremation
- Helping a Child Who is Seriously Ill
- Helping a Child Who is Dying
- Helping Grieving Children at School
- Helping Bereaved Siblings Heal
Funerals, Memorials, Cremation and Related Topics
The days following the death of a loved one can be filled with sadness and confusion. The following articles can help you understand the importance of the rituals surrounding death.
- Helping Your Family Personalize the Funeral
- Helping Create a Meaningful Eulogy
- Ten Freedoms for Creating a Meaningful Funeral
- Why is the Funeral Ritual Important?
For Funeral Directors
Effectively meeting the grief needs of customers in an increasingly impersonal world takes special effort on the part of professionals in the grief industry. The following articles are designed to help funeral directors gauge their own effectiveness and meet the challenges of serving customer needs.
- It's the Experience That Counts: Funeral Home Customer Service for Today's Families
- And We Wonder Why People Question the Need for Funerals...
- Creating Excellence in Customer Service
- The Dirty Dozen of Customer Service
- E-Serving Families: How Your Website Should Help Your Customers
Resources for Grief Caregivers
Caregivers have special needs of their own. The following articles are designed to help caregivers take care of themselves as well as those who are suffering from loss.
- Companioning the Bereaved: An Introduction
- Tenet 1: Companioning Principle
- Tenet 2: Companioning Principle
- The Awesome Power of "Telling The Story": Why I'm Proud to be a Grief Counselor
- Caregiver as Gardener: A Parable
- Companioning vs. Treating: Beyond The Medical Model of Bereavement Caregiving
- Growing Through Grief: The Role of Support Groups
- Responding to Problems in the Support Group Setting
- The Bereavement Caregiver's Self-Care Guidelines