We try to talk to people who are doing good and having an impact on our show, but rarely do we get to talk to someone who is truly doing as much as today's guest is. On this episode, we talk to Ashley Johnson, who is a death doula and nurse working at a hospital in Central Florida, one of the areas that is getting hit the hardest by the coronavirus pandemic right now. A death/end of life doula is a person who advocates for those who are dying and walks them and their family through the end of life process from a place of compassion, very similar to the way a birth doula advocates for pregnant mothers. 

Ashley is in a very unique position as a death doula in that she also works as a nurse, meaning that because hospitals across America are currently suspending hospital visitation rights to friends and family to prevent spread of the coronavirus, she is one of the few death doulas who still has access to hospitalized patients. In fact, her role as a doula is so much more critical right now, in a time when families can't be there for their loved ones. She talks with us about her experience as a doula in the midst of the current pandemic, how she got into this work, and why continued education around the death doula movement is so important.

Links:

Loyal Hands End of Life Doulas Website: https://loyal-hands.com/

Loyal Hands Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LoyalHands

Music is The Beauty of Maths by Meydän.