Hello, my name is Marilyn Moldowan and I have been in health care since 1978. My first job at 18, right off the farm in Saskatchewan, was working in a long term care facility where one of my duties as a nurse’s aid was washing the bodies of the people who died, shroud them and take them to the morgue in the basement.
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This was my introduction to the profession of nursing. Nearly a half century later (just 4 years short of it!) I have transitioned from hands-on patient care to providing consulting and education services to groups, businesses and organizations who have the need and the desire for authentic communication about death and dying.
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I was taking care of the sick and the dying a full TWO decades before google. This 20 year buffer of pre-google bedside wisdom combined with recent past and current health care realities puts me in a unique position of having seen a bigger picture around death and dying, some of it good and some of it not so much. There is partial information available on social media and, of course, “Dr.Google”, however, I can bring an aspect of integration to how we navigate death and dying. Fair warning, though, we even look at humour as a healthy outlet for discussion of death and dying.
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The business model of “Death Maven” is called “bedside to boardroom” and focuses on groups, organizations and businesses rather than individuals and families. Engaging in conversation with decision makers and delivering significant health care information : they can then determine the usefulness of this content to their employees. I bring the collective conversations, whispers in dark hospital rooms at 3am, to the daylight of the business office.
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In his book, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, habit #2 is “begin with the end in mind”. The focus is on business, office leadership and productivity. We work so hard to ensure a successful business. Why don’t we plan to ensure a good death?
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I will close with a line from the movie “Blackbird” : you will die but you can never unlive.
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