Cradle to the Grave

UMTV Web Brief #43 3/19/03 

Death with Dignity – Intro:

Welcome to another UMTV Web Brief. I’m Reed Galin. 

Death is an inseparable part of life, but that doesn’t mean we want to face it …deal with it. Only about a quarter of Americans have taken the time to make out a “living will” – their desires regarding medical care, should they become unable to communicate.

Retired United Methodist minister Marshall Lindsay says that’s a big mistake. His mission is to help people plan for the inevitable and make their own choices about their last days on earth.

Death with Dignity – Story:

“Thank all of you for your support and love.”

A few words of appreciation from a man who doesn’t mince words.

“It’s not a sad occasion. Dying is part of living.”

Dr. Hugh Woodward is living however many days he has left at Hospice of the Valley in Phoenix …a place he feels will allow him to die in the way he has lived.

Dr. Hugh Woodward / Patient, Hospice of the Valley: “It allows people to die with dignity.”

Death with dignity sounds so simple, but the philosophy is often at odds with modern medicine’s approach to life at all costs.

Marshall Lindsay / United Methodist minister: “When a person is dying and terminally ill, with no hope of coming out of it, we should allow them to die.”

Marshall Lindsay, a retired United Methodist minister, knows this subject intimately. He has long worked with people facing the toughest part of their lives – the end.

Marshall Lindsay: “Most of the people that you encounter in this process are hurting so badly that they want out.”

And so he preaches a personalized theology about giving people control over their deaths.

Marshall Lindsay: “They're being awakened to the idea that they don't have to be a victim in their dying.”

Lindsay encourages people to make their own decisions about resuscitation orders – end-of-life care. In some cases, he’s counseled people who “want” to commit suicide.

Nat Sound: “Well, Doc, how are you doing?”

Hugh Woodward says Lindsey helped him find relief from his pain, beyond medicine.

Dr. Hugh Woodward: “It's been very helpful, very beneficial, for me to renew my faith.

You know, death should be a celebration of life. You don't live your life as a victim.”

Death with Dignity – Tag:

Hospice of the Valley also provides bereavement support for surviving families after a death, for up to 13 months. It offers one-on-one counseling, telephone support and other services for families.

Angels for Preemies – Intro:

400,000 babies are born prematurely every year in the U.S. They can face critical perils at the beginning of life, sometimes needing incubators, ventilators, everything modern medicine can muster. Starting out in a sterile hospital crib, surrounded by bright lights and the sounds of machines and a bustling hospital staff, doesn’t lower an infant’s level of stress. And so the women of a United Methodist church in Alaska began to apply their talents with needle and thread for such babies. Kim Riemland says it gives them a warmer welcome to the world.

Angels for Preemies – Story:

Amanda Danielle Comeaux – all one pound, 10 ounces of her – arrived more than three months early. Her world, like that of other premature babies, is filled with beeping monitors, bright lights and nurses ‘round the clock.

But across town, these babies have friends, working to soften the hard edges of life in neonatal intensive care.

Peggy King organizes this sewing ministry called “Angels for Preemies.”

Peggy King: “God brings these little babies with problems and tiny little bodies into the world and even though I don’t know them, I kind of feel like maybe they know that we love them.”

Once a month, ladies lug their sewing machines to St. John United Methodist Church in Anchorage to make tiny clothes, blankets and colorful eye patches that protect developing eyes.

Peggy King: “I just pray for the health of these babies. I pray that God will watch over them, that He will keep their parents in his care also.”

When the finished products are delivered, parents find comfort in the handmade gifts.

“You go through quite a bit when you’re here.”

Amanda’s mom says it means a lot to know that people care.

“Thank you. Tell a lot of those people thank you. Thank you for the prayers.”

Little Amanda may have been born with obstacles to overcome, but she’s a fighter – and she has angels on her side.

Peggy King: “Every stitch is made with love.”

In Anchorage, Alaska, I’m Kim Riemland reporting.

Angels for Preemies – Tag:

The Angels for Preemies program has been going for nine years, helping hundreds of infants and their families.

On the next UMTV Web Brief, what people face when their loved one goes to war.

Thanks for watching. Make it a good week.