Additional Support for People and Families Living with Serious Illness
NWRC Family Caregiver Support: Provides caregiver training and support to families in Whatcom, Skagit, and Island Counties.
Dementia Support Northwest: Supports families and friends of persons affected by Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia-related illnesses. Previously known as Alzheimer Society of Washington, their mission is to educate people about dementia-related diseases and support caregiving partnerships.
Ineffable Healing: Leanne Kramer is an Energy Healer who guides clients on how to support their energetic body as well as their physical body. By sharing practical tools and insights to encourage listening to one’s body, Leanne is able to help facilitate the prevention, the healing and the harmonizing of both bodies.
Northwest Center for Creative Aging: A small but mighty organization in Seattle that provides trainings and presentations about how to live well as we age.
End-of-Life Support (Hospice, Medical Aid in Dying, and VSED)
Whatcom Hospice: One of two Medicare-certified Hospice programs in Whatcom County. Whatcom Hospice provides holistic support to people who are medically determined to be in the final months of life and who want care aimed a provided comfort when curing their illness is no longer possible.
Eden Hospice: One of two Medicare-certified Hospice programs in Whatcom County. Eden Hospice believes that through effective and compassionate care patients can approach the end-of-life with dignity and comfort.
End-of-Life Washington: Provides advocacy, information, and support in accessing Death with Dignity (Medical Aid in Dying) in Washington State.
VSED Resources Northwest: A Bellingham-based group of activists, educators, and care providers seeking to increase community awareness of Voluntarily Stopping Eating and Drinking (VSED) as a conscious end-of-life choice and to further its availability and access.
Canadian Virtual Hospice: A comprehensive collection of resources and information from Canada related to hospice/palliative care and Medical Aid in Dying.
Other Advance Care Planning Resources
Worry-Free Wednesdays: A wonderful consulting group based in Seattle that offers trainings and guidance related to advance care planning and end-of-life planning.
PeaceHealth Advance Care Planning: The PeaceHealth system has resources to help get advance care planning (ACP) documents completed for Washington, Oregon and Alaska.
Counseling/Grief Support
Lisa Yeager, MSW, LICSW: Lisa is gifted in guiding clients through their grief journey in a way that honors their cultural and spiritual identity. Lisa has received certification and training as a ketamine assisted therapy practitioner and psychedelic assisted therapist/researcher. These modalities may also offer support related to grief and anxiety. In addition to her private practice she is a provider at Bellingham Ketamine Clinic.
Alene Zander, MSW, LICSW: Alene brings many years of experience working with older adults and caregivers around issues related to aging, grief and loss, and mental health support.
Whatcom Hospice Bereavement Services: Offers support groups, remembrance events, and other services related to grief and loss.
Films, Podcasts, and Books on Aging, Living With Serious Illness, Death and Dying, and Grief and Loss
Being Mortal (Frontline Documentary available on YouTube)
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (available on AppleTV)
Take Me Out Feet First documentary series (available on Amazon Prime Video)
Last Flight Home documentary (available on Amazon Prime and other streaming services)
Death with Dignity (podcast)
All There Is with Anderson Cooper (podcast)
Wiser Than Me with Julia Louis-Dreyfus (podcast)
Being Mortal (book by Dr. Atul Gawande)
This is Assisted Dying (book by Dr. Stephanie Green
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (book by Jean-Dominique Bauby)
In Love (book by Amy Bloom)
When Breath Becomes Air (book by Dr. Paul Kalanithi)
Between Two Kingdoms (book by Suleika Jaouad)
My Glory Was I Had Such Friends (book by Amy Silverstein)
Final Arrangements
Wildflower Funeral Concepts: A full-service funeral home in Whatcom County providing advanced, ecologically sound death care options. Their vision is to heal relationships with death, grief, and nature to create compassionate, sustainable communities intentionally engaged with the work of living.
Whatcom Cremation and Funeral: Since 1983, Whatcom Cremation and Funeral has provided compassionate, caring cremations and burials in Whatcom, Skagit, Island, and San Juan County, as well as throughout Northwest Washington.