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November 28, 2007

Art bags help children cope with death
 
Bereavement Counselor Claire Stoeckel of Haywood Regional Medical Center Hospice has developed a new tool for social work staff to assist children in coping with the death of a loved one.

“Our five social workers did not have any materials for working with children while the patient is dying at home or at a nursing home. At best, the parents were getting written information on how to assist children in understanding death,” Stoeckel said.

Stoeckel decided to put together bags containing markers, paints, stickers, yarn, paper bags, glue, sticky alphabet letters, glitter, small boxes (to make memory boxes), clip art, buttons, felt and other art supplies and activity sheets for all age levels. The bags, which are ready for use, will be kept with the hospice staff at all times.

Children often have not developed the language skills to discuss the death and dying, therefore, art and games are an essential way of communicating, she said.

“Now, we have had the freedom to fully equip our staff and myself with tools for working with children. The extra benefit is that we can use these tools as a model to parents so that they can provide help to their children,” Stoeckel said.

“My bag, as the bereavement counselor, contains the games, activities, stories, which can be offered after the death has occurred. My work is much more intense and can occur over a longer period of time, generally a year post death,” she said.

The art bags have been hand-crafted by Geri Causarano of Waynesville. Causarano became interested in creating the bags after learning of the need. She experienced the death of her husband, Sal, in August 2006, and was an active participant in the HRMC bereavement program for the first year after his death.

Causarano said she wanted to “give back” to the hospice program, and saw this project as something she could do herself. She donated the materials, and gave her time and talent in the creation of each of the five art bags.

The art materials and curricula were purchased with a grant from Grace Episcopal church of Waynesville. The $500 grant from Grace Episcopal was the second grant Haywood Regional Medical Center’s hospice program has received from the church. In 2006 another $500 grant was provided to assist with the bereavement library.

“After many years in working with bereavement in hospice, I understand the critical importance of children participating in the experience of the dying patient. Children have different capacities for understanding death, dependent upon their age and relationship with the person who is dying,” Stoeckel said.

“The social workers are attempting to plant the seed with families that death and dying are a normal occurrence in any family My hope is that parents will have assistance from our social work staff to allow the children/teens to participate in the death experience as much as is possible. As a result, after the death, children do not experience the anger of being left out or removed from the situation. This alone is a tremendous asset in the grief process," Stoeckel said.

The bereavement program of HRMC Hospice provides supportive counseling and grief education to family members of hospice patients as well as the community, after the death of a loved one. This is inclusive to children and adults and is at no cost.

For more information about hospice services, contact Jenny Williams, program coordinator, at 452-8760. For information about the art bags or bereavement services, contact Claire Stoeckel at 452-8564 or Claire.stoeckel@haymed.org