Finishing Well, a Way to Face Death

There's a list of topics that most people avoid talking about; one being death. However, Hospice Midland is putting the topic on the table.

The more you ignore something, the larger it can get and dying is no exception. That's why facing death is such an important topic to discuss because we never really know when it's our turn to go. Look at it this way, the mortality rate in Texas is 100 percent.

Susie Mauldin with Hospice Midland helps teach a class on death.

"We don't intentionally make people sad, but we do intentionally expose people to the end of life issues," explains Mauldin.

Death is not unexpected, it will happen.  And, that's what this class is about.  It's about looking ahead and facing death when it does happen. The class is called Finishing Well. It's designed for all stages of facing death. Whether it be you, personally, dealing with your own death or you dealing with a family member's or a friend's death.

"We present it with the goal of, we want you all to see this.  We present it out there and you take from it what's useful to you," says Mauldin, who says the class most importantly, is about people talking about something most people can't.

"I think it's partly because we don't want to.  We don't want to think about our mortality or other people's mortality and sometimes I think it’s because we feel like we'll become too emotional. We scared we’re going to cry. Last time I check no one melted from tears," says Mauldin.

Facing emotion and the comfort of knowing other people go through this same experience, like you, are just some of the end of life issues the Finishing Well class addresses.

The class starts Monday, June 14th at Rays of Hope. It runs from 6 to 9 each night. Again, it's open to anyone, any age.