NODA~Vigil Training

Sacred Dying Foundation Presents:

 

No One Dies Alone ~ Vigil Training

One heartfelt idea from critical care nurse Sandra Clarke has been building momentum since 2001: no one should die alone in a hospital. Not if Sandra can help it: and help it she has! Her award-winning No One Dies Alone program is sweeping the country, and it is poised to sweep the world.

The concept is simple and elegant, and the NODA program is practical and adaptable. And now, just in time for NODA’s tenth anniversary, Sacred Dying Foundation introduces the Vigil Training series as a tandem training program for volunteer vigilers in NODA hospitals. Vigil Training instructs on-demand, with content that inspires awe: for beginners as well as continuing education for professionals. With superb video segments and a built-in forum for social networking among like-minded volunteers, this Vigil Training is like nothing you’ve seen before in online training!

 

BACKGROUND:

No One Dies Alone is a hospital-based organizational template for assuring bedside presence for the dying. NODA is adaptable to most institutional settings (i.e., hospitals, nursing homes, etc.) and was created by Sandra Clarke, CCRN.  NODA is in the public domain and can be purchased for a minimal amount via Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene, Oregon. The NODA template has been requested and/or implemented in 400+ hospitals/institutions across the USA to date.

Since its inception in 1996, Sacred Dying Foundation (SDF) has been training healthcare professionals, chaplains, hospice volunteers, etc., in the art, craft, and skill of vigiling at bedside when death is imminent. Until now, this training has been done in onsite workshop formats which involve travel, logistics, and a great deal of time regarding site coordination and volunteer coordination.

To seamlessly integrate the efforts and intentions of both NODA and SDF, SDF presents No One Dies Alone~Vigil Training. This training series weaves Sacred Dying content and applied Sacred Dying Philosophy of a peaceful death into NODA’s practical logistical structure. The series begins with the basics for vetted novice bedside volunteers of any background in an online, on-demand, interactive format that is efficient, time and cost effective, and immeasurably comforting to the dying and their families. The program supports the needs of the hospital staff, the patients, the families, and the greater community while assuring that the vigil volunteers are instructed and supported.

Phase One: HOSPITALS

NODA~Vigil Training is in-depth, focused, interactive, and available on-demand with a subscription.

  • This training can be implemented as an add-on for current NODA hospitals or as a combined package for hospitals not yet utilizing NODA.
  • The training subscription will include unlimited access to our one of a kind, educational e-learning content: which includes written material and video as well as interactive features such as scheduled webinars, etc.
  • An essential and unique support system for volunteers around the world will be built in using social networking platforms. Self-care is important for volunteers to keep from becoming “burnt out” or depressed.

 

BENEFITS for Hospitals:

  • This program’s primary role is to train volunteer vigilers and their trainers. In addition, many of the vigil volunteers are professional healthcare staff members, so they will be increasing their understanding of the NODA~Vigil Training Sacred Dying Philosophy in end-of-life cultural and religious beliefs and concerns. The program will enhance your staff’s awareness and skill-set twofold: as volunteer vigilers and as healthcare professionals.
  • The on-demand nature of the program will simplify training logistics for any hospital, thus taking a workload off trainers (generally in palliative care or chaplaincy).
    • Less time spent for volunteer coordinators in palliative care or chaplaincy means less stress for these paid staffers.
  • Calm presence:
    • When death is imminent in a hospital, a trained volunteer willing and able to do emotional and spiritual triage with family and staff is an obvious asset, and truly helps to unload a heavy burden from hospital staff.
    • The calm and caring presence of a trained volunteer vigiler will promote a less stressful and less sterile culture for the dying, their families, and the staff who are affected by their deaths.
  • Good public relations from a hospital death?
    • Families often blame hospitals when a chaotic death occurs. And, conversely, families recount stories of peaceful deaths with much gratitude to the staff and the hospital itself. These stories, both good and bad, live on for decades.
    • The domino effect of this “good PR” will bring in more business for the hospital. In this way, an excellent and efficient volunteer program for the inevitable deaths at a hospital can become fiscally beneficial.
  • A volunteer vigiler makes all the difference for those who do not have family available in their final moments. That said, our training also instructs volunteers on family dynamics in the hospital rooms. The goal is to ultimately create and hold peaceful space around the majority of hospital deaths. The benefits of calm around tragedy and death are exponential: the calm benefits staff, family, and — most importantly — the dying individual.

CONTINUING EDUCATION INCLUDED

  • Although even our novice piece of the NODA~Vigil Training can and should be offered as Continuing Education Units, SDF will be building from the basic components of Vigil Training. These modular components will be added to satisfy requirements for nursing, MSW, counseling, and chaplaincy Continuing Education Units.
  • By offering Continuing Education Units, a hospital’s entire nursing staff and psychological staff will benefit from this end-of-life information and training through the lens and special emphasis on NODA and the Sacred Dying Philosophy of a peaceful death. Staff will be getting facts and information in a way that honors the dying. NODA~Vigil Training hospitals will be known for their compassionate care. Hospital clients and their family members will see this as an extraordinary experience: one of respect and one that serves the community.

NOTE: Most Continuing Education Units for end-of-life educate in terms of either palliative care or bereavement. NODA~Vigil Training fills the gap between these two important end-of-life phases: the gap is the death itself. NODA~Vigil Training Continuing Education instructs regarding the hours of imminent death: the physical as well as the all-important psycho-social and spiritual manifestations.

Sacred Dying Foundation

Lives well spent. Souls well sent.