The Mini Mobile Suite (MMS) can be used in a variety of ways.  Following are a few to consider:

1. As a private place for Medical Aid in Dying.  The MMS can be transported to a specific location (private property) that is special and significant to the client who chooses MAID to mitigate prolonged suffering.  They choose the last sights, sounds, smells, and tastes they want to experience.
2. As a private, quiet neutral zone.  The MMS can be set up on a client’s property.  It is very important that the property be level, and strictly out of sight from onlookers and the general public.  It is available if or when the family feels unsure about keeping their loved one’s body inside the home for the time that it takes to obtain the disposition paperwork which is usually 3-5 business days.  The MMS can be set up on someone else’s private property with prior written approval from the property owner.
3. As a temporary honoring, holding space.   The MMS provides a place to keep a loved one nearby under the family’s care and protection awaiting final disposition.
4. As a preparation space.  The MMS provides a private place to bathe and shroud the body.
5. As a visitation space.  The MMS provides a private place to hold an intimate family led visitation event, experience or ceremony.
6. As a mode of transportation.  The MMS provides a safe way to transport the body to the crematorium or burial.  The MMS allows a family to move the body in and out on their own at the crematorium or cemetery.

While this is not the complete list of all of the services that I offer, it gives potential clients an idea of the types of services I offer. I enjoy collaborating with clients, with hospices, with funeral service providers, and with senior living communities to normalize discussions of death and dying and to demystify it. I especially like to guide small groups or communities of people as they support individuals they care about through the dying process.

As someone who has been with those when they are dying, I know how isolating and alone one can feel. Often clients and their caregivers don’t want to burden their loved ones with their heavy feelings and emotions. I am an objective outsider who offers help to ease these burdens.

The dying process can be a time of intense emotion, transformation and healing. It is an intimate, time-limited rite of passage.  As an End of Life Doula, I work with clients and their families and friends to create an intentional and heartfelt journey that is infused with as much beauty and meaning as possible.  I do this by companioning clients on their path, using the wisdom I’ve gathered from serving others through this process. 

I became interested in preparing and guiding others through the dying process following the death of my father in the Spring of 2012.  He was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in April and died at home one  month later.  He was surrounded by family and friends who cared for him and we had hospice services available.  However, none of us were adequately prepared.  That month was a chaotic and tumultuous time that in hindsight could have gone more smoothly had we had the presence of a calm and wise End of Life Doula to help us leverage the excellent but limited time that hospice had available for us.