Episode 5: Barbara Karnes, What She Didn't Know About the Grief of a Widow

Barbara Karnes RN, What She Didn't Know About the Grief of a Widow

Barbara Karnes, RN, is an internationally respected speaker, educator, author, and thought leader on matters of end of life. She is a renowned authority on the dying process and a leading educator for families, and healthcare professionals, so we might think she would have known exactly what to expect when her husband Jack died last September. Well to her surprise, she has had a lot to learn as a new widow and has come to appreciate how the grief of a widow looks very different than any other grief. In her own words, Barbara says “I thought I knew about grief, but I didn’t know about this grief.” 

Barbara is opening to a vulnerable conversation about her experiences as a widow, and some of the things she didn’t fully appreciate or understand until now. Through her storytelling, Barbara hopes to help those working in end-of-life care to become more educated and compassionate in the ways they support caregiver partners who will soon become widows/ers, or new widows. This is a unique form of loss, and therefore their needs are different too.  

With a belief that life is our teacher, Barbara is committed to embracing her new role as a “single” and is learning every day how to discover who she is in this new place in her life. 

 

About Barbara Karnes, RN:

Barbara Karnes, RN Award Winning End of Life Educator, Award Winning Nurse, NHPCO Hospice Innovator Award Winner 2018 & 2015 International Humanitarian Woman of the Year   

Barbara Karnes, RN, is an internationally respected speaker, educator, author, and thought leader on matters of end of life. She is a renowned authority on the dying process and a leading educator for families, healthcare professionals, and the community at large. 

Barbara's award-winning DVDs and books about death and dying are changing lives - in this country and around the world. In her work, Barbara compassionately explains stages of the dying process, living with a life-threatening illness, pain management, and how people grieve. She explains how important it is to take care of yourself as a caregiver and offers guidelines for professionals.   

Barbara has held both clinical and leadership positions, including staff nurse, clinical supervisor, and executive director at Hospices and Home Health Care agencies.   

Since 1994, Barbara has traveled the country speaking about end-of-life issues and the stages of dying at national and state hospice and palliative care organization conferences, state associations, colleges, nursing schools, hospitals, and hospices. She is the expert that hospice and other healthcare professionals count on to teach them how to explain the dying process to families. 

Barbara has dedicated the last 40 years of her life to the education, care, and support of dying people and their loved ones. The most useful and important things that she's learned along the way have been distilled into her materials. 

 

Purchase Barbara Karnes Educational Materials in Canada from www.ddnint.com - Exclusive Canadian Distributor 

Or  in the USA www.bkbooks.com 

https://www.facebook.com/barbarakarnesrn 

www.instagram.com/barbarakarnesrn 

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Contact us at admin@ddnint.com for any feedback or suggestions on podcast guests or topics.  

 

Music provided by Dee Flat and the Benz, used with permission.