Hockessin’s Patti Tillotson took the reins of the Delaware End of Life Coalition on July 1 when she was named the organization’s executive director. She sat down with the Community News to talk about the mission of the organization and how she hopes to expand its reach in the years to come.
Q) How did you get involved with the organization?
A) Through the death of my daughter by suicide, I was led to become one of the three founders of the Delaware Grief Awareness Consortium. A few board members of that organization also serve on the board of the Delaware End of Life Coalition, so it was an easy transition for me to become a part of the board.
Q) What helped you grieve after your daughter, Stephanie, committed suicide?
A) When I was coping, the biggest help was putting my energy into helping others with their grief process. I also developed something called LIFE RAFT, which is an acronym for a set of tools I can use on a day-to-day basis that helps me get through the hard days. The letter “L,” for example, is for letting other help you. Oftentimes, we feel like we need to grieve alone and sometimes the best thing you can do is call up a friend.
Q) What does the Delaware End of Life Coalition do?
A) We offer educational programs throughout the state, particularly about advanced directives, explaining what they are and how you can create one. We also educate professionals about end of life issues. This past year, we’ve been involved with helping veterans at the end of life understand what their benefits are in terms of hospice care.
Q) How do you plan to grow the organization?
A) The first thing we want to do is expand the number of educational programs that we provide to professionals and the community throughout the state. We also want to establish partnerships, which could be with long term care facilities, clergy members or even individuals who have experienced the loss of a mother or father.
Q) Why do you think the organization is important?
A) What we want is for people to have quality of care at end of life. That means families and professionals need to understand how to best help someone at the end of their life. It’s about building compassion, too. We can’t just send our family away to the nursing home or to the hospice and then forget about them. Americans in general need to become more comfortable with death. It’s not something to be afraid of.
