Homework 48- Families thoughts on the care of the dead.

For this homework, I interviewed my mother and father. I basically conducted the interviews for my parents the same way I asked them what the first thing came to mind when I said “care of the dead”. My mom had an interesting thought about this: “Caring for the dead is actually respecting the life of the person. You have to make sure you’re honoring the person the way they would have wanted.” My dad had a different type of response talking about how the phrase care of the dead is very general. That it could mean the body, or the idea of the person. Caring for the dead doesn’t literally have to mean the way the body is treated. “It is almost unnecessary to do what we do to bodies, they don’t need to be preserved like they are because the body is dead. If anything, it’s some type of spirit that lives on of the person.”
I also asked about the part religion plays in the process of caring for the dead, as every funeral from my family has involved a service at a catholic church. My mom said that most of the people in our family are very religious (we’re Irish), and they themselves request a service at a church for after they die. In our family, it is just granting the wishes of the person who has become deceased. “If somebody wants to be cremated or buried without a special service they can.”
I didn’t feel comfortable asking my parents about the deaths they had to deal with lately because there have been a lot of them. I did ask how they wanted to be cared for when they die. My mom said she wasn’t sure yet but if she died now she, “wouldn’t mind either cremation or a funeral.” That she feels like if she’s dead it shouldn’t really be up to her. She doesn’t have control over it. She just wants to have her ashes sprinkled in her favorite place in Pennsylvania if she is cremated. My dad said that he wants to have a traditional funeral and to be buried in one the family plots. He said, “that’s just what feels right.” Which makes sense to me. Most people I know do that.



I feel like nobody I interviewed had more then just a little knowledge on these topics. Which I expected considering I know close to nothing. I think that it fits into the idea that death is a taboo topic. Nobody wants to really discuss the care of the death because they feel wrong discussing death. That’s why I felt uncomfortable asking about the care of the dead within my family. That’s why I didn’t feel comfortable asking more about these topics.
The biggest divide I see in these interviews is about what “care of the dead” means to each individual. It isn’t like Birth or Food where there is a basic definition of each. Care of the dead is a broad topic and the way different people look at it is based off of their definition of it.

*Homework 47- Peer's thoughts on the care of the dead.

Interview summaries:
Mike S:
This was the first interview I conducted and I wasn’t sure exactly what to ask, so at first I just told him to tell me the first ideas that come into his head when I said, “Care of the dead.” The first thing that came into his head: you have to care for the dead to honor their life. Which was surprising to me because the phrasing was, “you HAVE to”, so I asked why it is required or something you should do, rather something you can do. He said it was disrespecting the person and their life if you don’t care for them. Which led me to ask: If they were dead why would it matter to them how they’re cared for? He had two answers, that caring for the dead with a funeral is also honoring their life, and that their life is over but their afterlife is just starting and they would be happier if they were honored properly. These answers aggravated me because I don’t agree with any of them. I asked him what he thought about the afterlife. He said he was Lutheran and believed someone either goes to heaven or hell. I didn’t know where to go from here so the interview basically died.
Danny D:
Danny is atheist so I thought that this interview would go in a totally different direction. I started by also asking him what his first thought was when I said “The care of the dead.” He said how you care for the dead isn’t that important, it’s how you present their life that matters. They’re dead, but you don’t want to remember them as they are dead, but as they were when they were alive. Which led me to ask, so how do you feel about funerals that can cost over $10,000? According to him, these funerals are unnecessary. The person is dead so they won’t know how they’re body was treated. Just have a memorial or something. After this the conversation basically continued this way with the main point: caring for the dead is about celebrating the persons life.
Jake L:
This interview basically was a mix of both of the first two. He said that in some ways it makes sense to care for the dead deeply and it doesn’t matter the cost because people are more important then cost. But he also said that should only be done if the person wants that. If the person doesn’t really care then you shouldn’t do more then the minimum. He agreed that you should always try to honor and celebrate the persons life.
My Thoughts:
I agreed with Danny the most. It shouldn't have to be a big ordeal that costs a lot of money. If the person is dead, it shouldn't matter that much. I think that there should be memorials for people, but the body physically isn't as important. I think that most of the interviews were just bubbles, because this isn't something people really think about until it happens. Some of the things they said I totally agreed with, and others I found to be totally wrong.

Homework 46- Initial Thoughts on the Care of the Dead

    I’ve had had many experiences with death, from family to friends to pets. The first funeral that I remember attending was my grandfather’s. One thing I remember that still stands out to me is that the funeral home where my family held the wake had a playroom for kids. Now I’m sure people have mixed emotions about that because we’re taught to think that death is such a serious thing that during a time where a person has died everything has to be serious. Personally I think that younger kids usually don’t understand this social norm, as well as don’t fully grasp the concept of death. So a playroom for kids at a funeral home seems to be a good idea, it keeps the kids occupied while allowing the ones who follow the traditional mourning process to be serious about the loss they had.

    Going back to why kids don’t fully understand the idea of death is because of the way that people talk about it. People rarely ever just say somebody died. The phrase I hear most often is that somebody “passed away”. I also hear that someone “moved on” a lot. It isn’t that these phrases don’t mean that somebody died; I think it’s just that we’ve been taught that death is taboo so we try to develop different ways of talking about it to lighten the topic.
 
    My family handles the process of caring for the dead from what I know as a traditional ceremony. An open casket wake at funeral home, a memorial mass at a church, and then a burial. After the burial we go out to dinner, basically to celebrate to life of the person, after mourning the death of them.

  

    The way I’ve been taught to think and act around death is like it’s a contagious disease. That you should speak as little as possible about it.  What I don’t under stand about this is it happens to literally every single person, so why keep it silenced?  If we aren’t talking about it, do we really care?

Questions:

1. How does religion influence the care of the dead? (Different ceremonies, ect.)

2. Why is the way we care for the dead different the past cultures? (Like the Egyptians with mumifcation)

3. How is the way the dead are cared for varied among different regions of the world? Now and historically?

4. Where do the social norms we use come from?

5. Why is cannibalism so stigmatized?

Homework 45- Comment Responses

To Lucas, thanks for taking the time to read my blog post! I'm glad you found the format I used to be easy to read, I feel like the more simple the format, the easier it is to read. And I took your advice, I made the font larger, it was on the small side. Thanks again for reading my project.
-Kevin

Jose, thank you for reading and commenting. I appreciate it. What I've been learning is that people are generally uneducated when it comes to birth and other things happening around us. Yeah I wasn't surprised to find that there are only two male midwives, but I thought it would be a good idea to share it. I also made my font larger. Thanks again!
-Kevin

Dad, thanks for keeping up on the commenting. I should have defined what an Abc is. It's an alternative birthing center that's staffed by midwives. I'm glad you agreed with my arguments and found them interesting. Thank you again
-Kevin

Amhara, your commet was very insightful. I appreciate the time you took to comment. I agree that the outlook of OBs would have to change as well. You sped a good question that I don't have the answer to. You seem very insightful and passionate about this topic. Thanks again for the comment and reading my blog!
-kevin

Homework 44- Final Project Comments

For Abdul:
This project focused on comparing the benefits of home and hospital birth. In the project you support home birth as a good alternative for hospital birth. You also show other people's opinions and education about home birth.
As someone that doesn't support the home birth movement, the way you presented information, as well as the range of sources created a pretty persuasive paper.
This paper matters to me because it advocates for home birth, which is basically the opposite of my project. It is nice to read what some other people think on the same issue.
Bianca said some of what you wrote was cliche, but as Andy will soon realize cliches make the world go round. Keep the cliches, but watch out for grammar mistakes, and keeping your ideas easy to follow.


For Beatrice:
Your project consisted of a SOF "I plan" video about student's (and wex) future plans. This coinsides with an informative article about planned parenthood and the government's plans to cut funding. It discusses that the bases for these cuts is not what Planned Parenthood is about.
This project was the best written, most creative, and over best post I've read so far. What I valued the most was taking a big, real world issue and taking it back and connecting it to the school and students around us.
This matters to me because it educated me on what Planned Parenthood is, and what it does, but it didn't stop there. This project justified why Planned Parenthood deserves funding and how many people it helps.


For Lucas:
This project involved sharif and yourself exploring two hospitals, as well as interviewing a wide variety of students at Hunter.

I wish the video had sound so I could understand what was being said in the video.

I do appreciate the perseverance and creativity that was involved in this project. This project is significant to me because you interviewed college students, who are supposed to be one level up on the learning food chain from us. It made it possible to compare knowledge about this major aspect of living that I have to these supposedly educational superiors.
I think something that would have been interesting for you to do is to interview older people and compare it to the younger college students responses. 


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From Jose; hunter college student:
I found this article very informative as well as interesting. I had no idea that the percentage of C-sections was actually so high among doctors. I also didn't know there were only 2 male midwives in the entire United States. It seems like a field that is underpopulated by men and understandably so.

Your article was insightful in getting the basic idea of how many different paths there are to birthing a child, and also in realizing how many people it actually takes in order to give birth to a healthy human life.

Other than the previous comment about font size being to small there is really nothing I would change about this article. It was insightful and well written.


From Lucas; classmate:
Hey Kevin,
I found your project very interesting and relevant because it was also the topic I began to research for HW 41. I agree that doctors definitely should not be cut out of the system, their job is actually necessary in emergencies/complications, but midwives should be used in non-dangerous births.

You obviously did a lot of research and I really like the question/answer format because it is easy to pick up. The only criticism I have at the moment is the font size, it's way too small for the amount of writing you did.


From Leon; Dad:
Well written article, you backed up your points with research very well. I absolutely agree in a perfect world the combination of the three different birth providers would be ideal.Midwives and Doulas are certainly a nice way to go if there are no complications. But doctors are an absolute necessity if something goes wrong.

The only real thing that stood out was there was no definition to an abc birth.
From Amhara:
This was a very good topic to write about and you had a very interesting approach. Your ideal birthing system sounds very beneficial but if OBs have a different outlook on birth than I believe that would always cause a conflict between them.
They should each study more on each others practices so they know who is needed and when. Many midwives have a good grasp on this but, as you said, most OBs look at pregnancy as another one of their medical procedures because they are not even required to look at a home birth. A question I would ask is if the lower maternal and infant mortality rate provided by midwives is due to the small amount of midwife attended births in this country (9%). I know that in other industrialized countries this isn't a case, but the population of these other countries are also generally healthier due to their better health care regimens.

Homework 42- The Ideal Birth System (and why)

What this is:

The original project I had in mind was an academic paper, but as I was writing it, I realized it was a better reform proposal. 

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The Birth System in America Today

In America, most births are delivered by a doctor, nearly 90%. This may seem logical, but it’s not. Doctors force many interventions upon women during birth such as: pitocin (to induce labor), episiotomy (to making getting the baby easier), forceps and vacuum extractors (to remove babies), and the very popular Caesarean-section (also to remove babies). These interventions aren’t bad when they’re needed, but the problem is they are being forced upon women who don’t need it. The national C-section rate is 32% and births with any intervention are near 85%. This is alarming because there are midwives who have much lower rates then these but they only attend 9% of births.

The Major Players In The Birth System:

Obstetricians (OB):

Overview: OBs are the biggest force in the birth system. They are certified doctors, who have special training to specialize in Obstetrics and Gynecology. According to The College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the organization holds over 51,000 members and, more than 90% of American board-certified ob-gyns are affiliated with ACOG.” This means that there are close to 56,000 OBs in the country. These doctors work out of private practices and work in hospitals, making them widely accessible.

Certification Process: Obstetricians-to-be are required to complete medical school and a 4-year residency underneath a licensed OB.

Contribution to birth: OBs are essentially baby catchers, or in many cases baby extractors. The way that most OBs practice, they aren’t there for the whole birth, they come in at the end when the mother is close to giving birth, or if the woman is taking to long to deliver, after a point where they think it has been too long. The national C-section rate is 32.2%, and is much higher with OBs then midwives.

Midwives:

Overview: Midwives are seen as the holistic approach to childbirth. They encourage natural and home births. Midwives are predominantly female, with only two male midwives in America.  OBs are usually against midwives, mainly because midwives are competition for the doctors. The C-section rate is significant lower with Midwives then with OBs.

Certification Process: There are two ways to become a midwife; the first is becoming a nurse-midwife. This process involves becoming a registered nurse with special midwife training, and to pass a test to earn certification. There are also just midwives. To become a certified midwife, the same certification test as nurse-midwives needs to be passed, on top of passing an Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education (ACME) course.

Contribution to birth: Midwives are trained to deliver babies completely naturally. No epidurals, no c-sections, and no drugs. Midwives are there for the whole birth, helping the woman through the painful process step by step.  Midwives also make the decision, that if something is going wrong, to have a doctor intervene. The C-section rate with midwives is much lower then with OBs. “99 percent of ABC births were spontaneous vaginal births, compared to 55 percent in hospitals.” (Wagner, 135)

Minor Roles in The Birth System:

Doulas:

Overview: Doulas are birth aids that woman can hire for their birth. Doulas are present during many times during the pregnancy though, helping create birth plans, educating the woman on how things will happen, and even attending maternity classes with the women. During labor, a woman’s doula will be with her for the whole process.

Certification Process: Read required readings provided by DONA (Doulas Of North America), take attend birth and pregnancy workshops, and attend at least six births.

Contribution to birth: A doulas job as a birth aid is to help guide the mother-to-be through birth. This starts early, when the doula meets routinely with the mother-to-be during pregnancy. Doulas are like an extension of family as described by Dr. Jacques Moritz. They are there for the woman, and know her, but also are very knowledgeable when it comes to birth.

The Way it should be:

The ideal birth system for America is having women give birth in hospitals, attended by midwives, with doulas as supplements, and supervised by obstetricians.

Why it should be that way?

In hospitals:

Woman should be in hospitals because it cuts down steps in case there is an emergency. As Doctor Jacques Moritz explains, “Childbirth is 97% boring, and 3% terror. Doctors don’t need to be there for most of the time, but when there are those rare complications, they need to be there.” Which means most of the time childbirth is routine and simple. But it isn’t always routine and simple. Which is why it should happen in the hospital, where when a procedure needs to be done, it can be done faster then anywhere else.

 Woman may argue that a hospital isn’t a comfortable place to give birth. Under this system, they would pick out a room during a later stage in pregnancy and have that room, or one identical to it available for the weeks around her due date.

Attended by midwives:

Midwives have been proven to be the best low-risk birth provider. “Compared with physician-attended low-risk births, midwife attended low-risk births have 33 percent fewer newborn deaths.” (Wagner, 108) They let birth flow, and will do anything they can to allow a natural birth, they don’t push unnecessary interventions upon women. They are very well trained for what they do and usually know their limits.

With A Doula:

Births should be supplemented by a doula that the woman has been working with throughout her pregnancy. With doulas present, all intervention rates, including c-sections decrease. Also with a doula, the woman has somebody that repeatedly sees births and can use those experiences and apply it to her. The doula also knows the woman, as doulas meet with woman often during their pregnancy.

Supervised By a Doctor:

Doctors can’t be cut out from the birth system because when emergencies come up, they are the only ones that know how to perform the procedures that are needed to correct the situation. Obstetricians are specialists, so they should be available to use their specialized skills. Also doctors need to be the midwives insurance, making sure the midwives they are supervising aren’t messing up.

What has to happen to allow this system?

There are problems with midwives and doctors working together. Doctors attempt to be dominant over midwives; they feel threatened by them. Doctors and midwives have to accept their clear roles in this system.

There has to be a major midwife movement, where the rate of midwife-attended births is more significant then 9%. Midwives need to be supported and trusted.

Doctors need to be trained differently, so they don’t expect to deliver regular births, just to act when needed.

Women need to be educated about the differences in birth options they have. They need to be given facts about midwives vs. doctors.

Bibliography 

1. Wagner, Marsden. Born in the USA How a Broken Maternity System Must Be Fixed to Put Women and Children First. Berekely and Los Angeles, California: University of Berkely, 2006. Print.*

2. "The Credentials of CNM and CM's." American College of Nurse-Midwives. American College of Nurse-Midwives, 2008. Web. 5 Apr 2011. <http://www.midwife.org/The-Credential-CNM-and-CM>.

3. Nettekoven, Cami. "Value and Purpose of Labor Support." Babies Online. Babiesonline Inc., n.d. Web. 31 Mar 2011. <http://www.babiesonline.com/articles/pregnancy/valuepurposeofdoulas.asp>.

4. "The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists." The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 2010. Web. 5 Apr 2011. <http://www.acog.org/from_home/ACOGFactSheet.pdf>.

5. Winters, Heather. "Intervention involving traditional birth attendants and perinatal and maternal mortality." World Health Organization. WHO, 2011. Web. 5 Apr 2011.

6."Hospital Based Doula and Midwife Programs - A Guide For The Professional." Birthsource,com. Perinatal Education Associates, Inc., 2010. Web. 1 Apr 2011. <http://www.birthsource.com/scripts/article.asp?articleid=94>.

*Most of the information was from this book, it wouldn't let me transfer my notes into blogger.

**Some of the statements were made in an in-class speech

Homework 41- Independent Research- Doulas

Simkin, Penny. "The Birth Doula’s Contribution to Modern Maternity Care." DONA. DONA International, 2008. Web. 1 Apr 2011. <http://www.dona.org/develop/birth_cert.php>.


This is an extensive article on what Doulas are, and how they help mothers-to-be. It states how Doulas are an effective birth aid and it is proven by how there are less complications, and c-sections in births with doulas. It makes claims that Doulas are well educated, trained, and are extremely passionate about  what they do, making them great birth aides.It explains that Doulas aren't there to deliver the baby, but to support the mother in delivering it herself.  


Nettekoven, Cami. "Value and Purpose of Labor Support." Babies Online. Babiesonline Inc., n.d. Web. 31 Mar 2011. <http://www.babiesonline.com/articles/pregnancy/valuepurposeofdoulas.asp>.


This is an article on what a doula does during birth and the benefits of having one. This Article explains how Doulas are a good birth aid because of their knowledge and passion. It also states how a Doula is there for the pregnancy too, showing full support, and knowing a lot about the women.


"Should You Become A Doula?." Doula.com. Western Belt Buckles, 2006. Web. 1 Apr 2011. <http://www.doula.com/become-a-doula.shtml>


An article on deciding whether or not becoming a Doula is right for person. It's main points were that you need: A flexible lifestyle, calmness under pressure, to be able to assert yourself without offending, substantial birth experience, and the ability to give support physically and mentally.This article is basically saying that becoming a doula can be rewarding, but it is a stressful job, and it's not for everyone.


"Becoming A Doula." DONA. DONA International, 08 Aug 2007. Web. 1 Apr 2011. <http://www.dona.org/develop/birth_cert.php>.


This is not necessarily an article, but a brief outline for getting certified to be a Doula. It is from DONA, which is an organization that authorizes Doulas in North America. It lays out steps that can be broken down as: Read the required reading, attend childbirth and Doula work shops, then start attending births. It shows that the training is much different then the actual job, but the education for it is appropriate, and helpful.


"Hospital Based Doula Programs - A Guide For The Professional." Birthsource,com. Perinatal Education Associates, Inc., 2010. Web. 1 Apr 2011. <http://www.birthsource.com/scripts/article.asp?articleid=94>.


This article was about bringing Doula programs to hospitals, and how to help do that as a medical professional. This article is a progressional article stating how at this time it is possible to have a new medical system with doctors and birth aids working in one place; co-existing. It talks about past attempts, and their failures, while reinstating that it can work now, with new strategies It gives a few hospital based Doula Program options.. 
The sources I found during this research could be part of a bigger academic project exploring different birth models. Doula's can be a supplement to hospital as well as home births with OB/GYN's or midwives. A possible argument that I could make would be something such as: Hospital births, attended by a midwife, assisted by a doula, and supervised by a OB/GYN are the best kind of births. After making this statement I could go on to talk about the advantages of having this combination. The research comes in here, where I can state that while midwives themselves attend the full birth, and have extended visits with patients making them the top delivery choice. But at the same time, Doulas are effective supplements to birth because they are like an extension of the woman's family, but have training to help the woman cope with birth.