Honoring Those Who Learn, Serve and Share
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THEJOURNEY Our Lady of Peace Honoring those who learn, serve and share VOLUME 8 - 2017 VOLUME 10 - 2019 PAGE 3 PAGE 6 PAGE 7 LIFELONG LEARNING BY LISA SWEENEY My colleagues and I brainstormed the theme for this newsletter as stores were rolling out their back-to-school supplies. Though my own teaching career has come to a close and my daughters are now past school age, there’s something about the sight of those sharpened pencils and blank notebooks that still fills me with the sense of possibility. And soon we had identified a number of stories that tapped into that same feeling: tales of lifelong learning. In these pages, you’ll find Frezgi Hiskias (page 5), a longtime nurse here at Our Lady. His incredible story as an Eritrean immigrant brought him back to the very classroom he once sat in as a student at St. Paul College – this time to teach. He was recently given an Outstanding Nurse Award from Mpls.St.Paul Magazine. Lisa Sweeney, You’ll read about Eunice Milbrath (page 2), a patient whose 28-year career as a kindergarten Development Director teacher in Minneapolis public schools was lauded by district administrators. Eunice took her students on nature walks, taught them poetry and helped them put on puppet shows. “I believe in play!” she once said. She also believed in lifelong learning, and she took writing classes and piano lessons in her 80s. The staff at Our Lady of Peace set a high bar when it comes to ongoing education. Two were recently awarded scholarships from the Minnesota Department of Health in order to advance their education (page 14). Our volunteers are also lifelong learners. Ruth Markowitz (page 7), a skilled St. Paul psychologist, enrolled in an end-of- life program 25 years into her practice in order to deepen her knowledge reserve; our patients and their grieving loved ones are now the beneficiaries. Meanwhile, Jane Whitlock (page 3) is pioneering a new field as an end-of-life doula, compelled to share hard-won lessons in the wake of her husband’s death. Last year Jane gave a widely viewed TEDxMinneapolis talk titled “What I Learned About Life From Death” and began volunteering at Our Lady. Her gentle, intuitive approach here has had a profound impact as our patients near death. To work in hospice care is to be a student of humanity – to observe, reflect and respond. And that desire to keep learning is propelled by the gift of perspective: that life is short. I hope these stories inspire you to keep an open mind and heart. There is something precious in that combination, when listening and learning give way to loving. It happens here daily. To share a story about Our Lady or make a donation, contact Lisa Sweeney at lisas@ourladyofpeacemn. org or 651-789-6826. 1 THE JOURNEY ENTERPRISING KINDERGARTEN TEACHER DECLAIRED: ‘I BELIEVE IN PLAY!’ PATIENT PROFILE Eunice Lindberg Milbrath packed a wealth of learning into methods. “I always, always wanted to be a teacher – not her 94-year life, feeding her creative soul at every turn. just a teacher but one grounded in the philosophy of why I taught the way I taught,” she said. District administrators The celebrated kindergarten teacher – also a quilter, a praised her as an innovative teacher. gardener, a pianist and a poet – passed away peacefully July 1 after spending 10 weeks at Our Lady of Peace. That same enterprising spirit made her a wonderful mother. Eunice was inspired to launch a teaching career after “Mom possessed a creative raising her first two children and successfully developing force that was always with a two-hour Sunday school program for kindergarten-aged her,” her daughter Karen children at her church, Bethlehem Church in Minneapolis. Schoenrock wrote. “Not content with the ordinary, She went on to teach kindergarten at Minneapolis public there was always a way schools for 28 years. Her discovery-based teaching inspired to embellish her peers. She fostered her students’ sense of wonder. or improve She had learning stations with puzzles, math and science anything. Whether activities, wood blocks, painting, musical instruments, decorating her Eunice Lindberg a sandbox, and a doll corner. Her classes wrote poetry own home, Milbrath in 1946 together, went on nature walks, and performed plays and creating a garden, (left) and in 2015 circus shows. preparing a special (above). meal including “I believe in play!” she proclaimed. “My great joy is to create roast goose and a rich learning experiential environment, then helping and lutefisk for Christmas or turning an old cabin into a Swedish observing as children make their own discoveries.” stuga, she made it happen.” She once corresponded with Fred Rogers, who wrote that Eunice and her beloved husband, Elwood, lived near the she was a “creative teacher.” He ended the letter by saying: Mississippi River in south Minneapolis, where she enjoyed “I feel deeply that we are all working together to help hundreds of hours of walking, biking and cross-country children grow in a heathy way.” skiing. “Mom introduced us to nature and the wilderness through yearly camping trips throughout Minnesota and Eunice reflected often on her approach in the classroom, and other states,” Karen said. “We had many adventures at age 50, she went to England to study innovative teaching involving bears, skunks, snakes and other woodland creatures, some of which joined us in our old umbrella tent. She was the instigator of our canoe trips and was fearlesss “My great joy is to create a rich even when we got hung up on rocks in the middle of a lake learning experiential environment, and nearly tipped over.” then helping and observing In her retirement years, Eunice embraced the beauty in her as children make their own midst, making dried-flower wreaths and beautiful quilts. She never stopped learning; taking writing classes and discoveries.” piano lessons in her 80s. Eunice Lindberg Milbrath (Continued on page 4) 2 END-OF-LIFE DOULA PIONEERING SERVICES AT OUR LADY VOLUNTEER PROFILE It stems from a humble desire: to do for others what she wishes someone had done for her. Jane Whitlock was only 47 when her husband, Rob, died from kidney cancer, an experience for which she felt “totally unprepared.” Looking back, she realizes that she and Rob both could’ve used a companion who knew the ins and outs of the dying process and could provide support every step of the way. Not a doctor, a nurse, a social worker or a minister. Not any kind of expert bound by a schedule or driven by an agenda. Someone who could make them feel seen, heard and understood. Jane Whitlock visits with Jim Foster in his room at Our Lady of Peace. So Whitlock launched a practice and, in doing so, helped pioneer a nascent field: end-of-life doulas. The term doula, Greek for “female servant,” has become widely Death is natural and totally unavoidable, so why are we so known for its front-of-life application helping women give afraid to talk about it?” birth. But wouldn’t it be just as helpful – perhaps more – to usher people through their final moments? And just as Whitlock is not afraid. She’s not afraid of death, of silence, a postpartum doula can make a huge difference to a new of asking questions, of answering them. She has well- mom recovering from labor and tending to a newborn at honed instincts to read each patient at Our Lady, where all hours, couldn’t a death doula provide invaluable help she volunteers every other Friday. She gently draws them to a disoriented spouse tasked with planning a funeral and into conversation, listening to what is said and what is left returning to work in three days? unsaid. The answer is yes. “You have to be entirely vulnerable with every single person – that Buddhist concept of a soft front. I just walk in and Whitlock – formerly a social-studies teacher and athletic introduce myself and say, ‘I’m a hospice volunteer. Are you coach from St. Paul – is now a trained end-of-life doula who interested in a chat? Do you have any worries about this volunteers twice a month at Our Lady of Peace. Outside experience? The reason I’m here is because my husband the hospice, she offers paid services for the dying and their and I have been where you are.’ That usually opens a lot loved ones, including phone consultations and caregiver of doors, and people are like, ‘Well, sit right down.’” respite. She told her story at a TEDxMinneapolis talk last year: a story of personal loss and of the pathway forward, Jim Foster, a 72-year-old furniture salesman from River helping others meaning in the bleakest times. Falls, was sitting on the edge of his bed one August afternoon gazing out the window when Whitlock arrived. That requires an unblinking confrontation with death, He had expected to live longer, he told her. His parents which many people avoid. “By denying death all the way up had both reached their 90s. until the minute it happens, we lose out on the opportunity to mend ourselves and to heal our relationships, to find purpose in our lives and to leave a legacy,” she said in her TED talk. “These are all things that prepare us to die. (Continued on page 4) 3 THE JOURNEY (Doula cont. from page 3) Sometimes Whitlock plays a patient’s favorite music: folk music from their native country, Gregorian chants. Sometimes she learns about the most popular dish they used to cook and helps them share the recipe with loved ones.