02 Aug Holding Our Own: DVD explores how art can support end of life

Did you know our volunteers & staff were in a movie? Vermont filmmaker Camilla Rockwell’s 2007 “Holding Our Own” is a beautiful exploration of the power of art on end of life. It highlights the work of Hallowell & Deidre Scherer, as well as staff and Dr. Ira Byock. It’s available to check out at the Hospice Office–stop by!

From Sandra Bertman on LitMed:
“Holding Our Own: Embracing the End of Life is a documentary film that shows aging and dying as anything but morbid, and death as the final healing in the hospice way. Art and music are combined as a way to bring people into a subject that they’d rather resist.

The film begins with an art opening in New York City and with the commentaries of curator and others as they view Deidre Scherer’s large fabric and thread paintings of people at the last moments of their lives. The artist has captured for us, even in the midst of suffering, genuine moments of tenderness.

An interview with palliative care physician Ira Byock guides the conversation, presenting a most refreshing doctor’s perspective. The commentaries of hospice personnel, artist, and members of the Hallowell singing group punctuate the profoundly intimate scenes, filmed in institutional settings and in homes. The singers, who sing to the dying patients, see beyond their own fears; they recognize and want to honor dying persons for who they are: “This is not about singing it right for an audience…its about being totally present for the people you’re singing for…and wanting it to be a gift.” They model the magic of human connection called by Byock “the ground substance of therapeutics” The healing is mutual: “I can feel sad, cry, I can feel a heavy heart…but it’s not depressing….It’s a wonder…you can feel love, joy, sorrow, but so alive…. you feel the blessing of your own life.”