“We have a right to die in peace and with dignity” – Dagsavisen

This year I started as a volunteer in the vigilance and attendance service. This is a service that will ensure that people in hospital do not die in loneliness and offers a humane presence until the last moment of life.

Someone who can confirm that there is someone sitting there who wants to understand the dying person’s needs, and who will help them face their death. Because did you know that hearing works even when the body does not respond?

Perhaps relatives are in another city or that the person has no one around.

Then we as vigils can be the ones who hold the dying person’s hand, perhaps sing one of the patient’s favorite songs and create peace until the last moment.

Death can be slow or come quickly. Perhaps you have to watch out for contact with your family, because time is not enough and life cannot be paused when you most want it.

But what if we are needed on a day when we are not on duty?

[ Hilsen fra en som kjenner helsevesenet altfor godt: Isolasjonen er kanskje det verste ]

The UN Declaration on the Rights of the Dying states that we have the right not to die alone. Those of us who have worked in nursing homes and hospitals know all too well how there is not enough time. Time runs away from us already at the start of the shift and it is not rare that lunch has to be skipped.

The problem therefore does not lie with employees, but with resources, reduced staffing and management. We need statutory permanent duty for terminal patients!

We have a right to die in peace and with dignity. But how do we know if it was peaceful or dignified, if the patient dies in solitude?

I have experienced how peaceful and natural a death can be. But having to leave someone who knows fear and anxiety before death is far from worthy.

[ FFO: Vi kan ikke klandre eldre demente for å bråke og utagere, men vi kan klandre ansvarlige myndigheter for å plassere unge sårbare mennesker i situasjoner som dette ]

[ «De gode erfaringene tilsier at denne typen kunst- og kulturopplevelser burde vært tilgjengelige for enda flere som lever med demens» ]