Welcome to the podcast! Today I’m very excited to be joined by Katie Ortlip, RN LCSW & Jahnna Beecham, authors of the book “Living with Dying: A Complete Guide for Caregivers.”
At this moment in the U.S., nearly 10 million people over the age of 50 are caregivers for a parent or loved one. They are often overwhelmed trying to handle health emergencies, confusing legal matters, and prepare for the worst, while trying to live their own lives.
Given there wasn’t a guidebook for death, Katie always wanted to write a sort of “Death for Dummies,” because it was sorely needed by her patients and their families. Being a writer, Jahnna said, “Let’s do it together.” It was at this time that Jahnna’s 90-year-old father was told his long-dormant prostate cancer had spread to his bones. She became his caregiver; Katie became his hospice social worker; and their writing journey began.
Katie Ortlip is a Hospice Expert on SHARECARE, Dr. Ahmet Oz’s online health and wellness platform that provides consumers with expert information to help them lead healthier lives. She is also the co-author of Spiritual Tools for the Dying, a booklet distributed by Asante Health Care of Oregon to patients on hospice.
She received her nursing degree from Santa Barbara City College in 1982 and then spent three years working in neonatology at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital in New York City and Mary Dartmouth-Hitchcock Hospital in Hanover, New Hampshire.
Jahnna Beecham most recently edited National Geographic’s Science Encyclopedia, which was released in the fall of 2016; and was a contributing editor for National Geographic’s The Ultimate Explorer Field Guide: Birds.
For the past 15 years she has been a contributing writer and editor for Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader—both the adult books and For Kids Only. Under the pen name Jahnna N. Malcolm, Jahnna Beecham and Malcolm Hillgartner have written more than 130 books for juveniles and young adults for Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, Random House, HarperCollins, Bantam and others.
Full show notes available at lourdesviado.com/womenindepth