Community AZURA

04/16/2025

This week's blog is about the evolution of our relationship with death, according to French historian Philippe Ariès. Since he died before the advent of medical aid in dying, I've extrapolated his thoughts slightly.

For social scientists, this is a powerful revelation of our times: a time when death, though medically assisted, is still seeking its place in a culture that has difficulty in thinking about it collectively.

Since the mid-20th century, Western societies have experienced a radical transformation in their relationship to death. French historian Philippe Ariès described this shift as a true moral revolution. By identifying four major cultural regimes, tamed death, one's own death, the death of the other, ...

04/03/2025

A thought about the ordinary death that is quickly disappearing from our post-modernist societies

In our modern societies, death has quickly been relegated to the wings, removed from the collective stage, confined within the sanitized walls of hospitals and other healthcare settings. We almost no longer die at home, surrounded by loved ones, but rather more often in a medical bed, surrounded by....

03/23/2025

Ten years after the legalization of medically assisted death in Canada, experts from around the world point to Canada as a counterexample when it comes to regulating the practice. The civil liberties group from British Columbia that originally led the decriminalization of medically assisted death (M...

02/24/2025

This week's post is about the power of art creation in reducing anxiety and improving mood at the end of life. Thanks to Bassim Sabawi for the research and writing!

Facing death is one of life’s most profound challenges, not just for the dying but for their loved ones. In hospice palliative care, where the focus shifts from curing to comforting, art therapy has emerged as a powerful tool to help patients and families navigate this emotional terrainCreativity ...

02/18/2025

Religion, with its long history, has helped us understand and cope with death. It brought comfort, meaning, and community, but it also set strict rules and created tough moral choices. Let’s explore how different religions view death and the afterlife and the ways they help, and sometimes hurt, us...

02/04/2025

For several decades now, experts have been arguing that we should stop planning end-of-life care in such a way as to ignore the fact that end-of-life and values are dynamic elements. Read more in this week's blog!

ACP is intended to help individuals understand and express their values, goals, and preferences regarding future medical care, choose and prepare a trusted surrogate decision-maker, and document their wishes so they can be followed when they lose decision-making capacity. Advance Care Planning (ACP)...

01/27/2025

First of all, it's important to know that, in the U.S. and Canada, without an explicit note in the medical record, every person is subject to all life-sustaining interventions, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation, mechanical ventilation, and admission to an intensive care unit. So it's crucial t...

01/27/2025

With non-communicable diseases accounting for a growing share of the global burden of disease, palliative care is becoming an urgent priority, particularly in low-income countries in Africa. These services, essential for relieving pain and improving the quality of life of terminally ill patients, ne...

01/13/2025

A common misconception persists: “Why offer palliative care to Westerners in Guatemala that everyone in the West already have access to it?” Unfortunately, this assumption couldn’t be further from the truth.

Access to palliative care remains riddled with challenges, even in developed nations. Disadvantaged groups, particularly ethnic minorities and individuals with limited formal education, face significant barriers, from inadequate insurance coverage for palliative care to a widespread lack of awareness about its availability and importance.

Globally, the situation is even more dire. While 80% of those needing palliative care reside in low- and middle-income countries, a mere 14% actually receive it.

Community AZURA emerges as a beacon of hope to tackle these inequities. Here’s how it aims to make a difference:

Affordability: Guatemala’s lower cost of living and healthcare services offers an opportunity to extend affordable palliative care to more people, including underserved populations.

Cultural Sensitivity in a Peaceful Setting: Guatemala provides a serene environment for healing, coupled with a culturally respectful approach that acknowledges and integrates patients’ spiritual and emotional needs, key elements in quality palliative care.

Empowering Local Communities: Community AZURA will introduce culturally tailored training programs in elder care, palliative care, and end-of-life care. By equipping local women with these skills, the initiative fosters awareness and builds a network of trained caregivers, empowering the community while addressing a critical need.

Community AZURA’s impact will extend far beyond Western expatriates. Training caregivers and promoting a culturally inclusive approach to care has the potential to benefit local populations and inspire global efforts to address palliative care inequities. This initiative could pave the way for innovative international partnerships that reduce barriers to this essential care, ensuring no one is left behind.

With compassion, collaboration, and culturally informed solutions, we can reimagine palliative care as a universal right, not a privilege.

01/06/2025

Going to Guatemala during the Christmas vacations of 2024 was a total impulse. I wanted to celebrate the end of my postdoctoral fellowship, the launch of my palliative and End-of-Life care consulting business, and, above all, to take some time for myself. After 10 years of higher education and the birth of 2 of my 4 children, this break was well deserved.

Guatemala seemed like the ideal place: not too far to travel, only an hour's time difference, and a new place never explored before. Once the destination was chosen, I started looking for a place to stay on Airbnb. Until I came across a blue house. This blue house in the middle of the jungle—I had to get there no matter what. It was calling me!

When I landed in the village of Jaibalito after a short boat trip, I fell in love with the village. There are no roads, just a few tuk tuks. Lake Attitlan, surrounded by volcanoes. It's known by the Mayans as a place where energy comes out, a place that inspires and brings us back to life.
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On December 31, as I was leaving after 4 very inspiring nights spent in my little blue house, I approached the person renting the house next door to mine to offer her what I had left of the food. We started chatting. She was a 75-year-old American woman, Rachel, without children, who travelled around the lake and elsewhere in Central America several months a year, certainly for the love of the place but also to save money, as her pension didn't allow her to have a dignified life in the United States. Weakened by severe epilepsy, she now had some cognitive problems. When I asked her about her wishes in the event of a serious illness, she said she had never thought of them. After exchanging contact details and saying hello, I had a real epiphany: I had to create a living and end-of-life environment for Rachel, as well as a stable and respectful workplace for the Mayan women of the village and surrounding area! And so, ever since, I've been working day and night to make this vision a reality!