May 13, 2020: Let us provide hospice care to others inside

Friends,

Thank you for the encouragement. I just learned last evening that a musician friend from MCI passed away from Covid. We weren't close, I knew him through his involvement with Christmas and Easter plays and Chapel music. He was a few years older than I and was what we call a 'State Baby', meaning he had little or no outside financial support and survived on state pay, probably about $20.00 per month. He had no family relationships. How sad...to die scared and alone. How much would a kind word from a friend have helped him as he slowly died? It wouldn't have altered his outcome, but could have provided him a few moments of joy, something GOMI isn't concerned with. Just another dead inmate, plenty to replace him. Next!

There are many caring inmates who would donate time in a Hospice-type capacity to assuage the fear an inmate would have of dying alone. Much as the First Responder scenario that was posted recently, why isn't there a program or initiative to allow inmates to help one another? We are not our crimes, we are human beings with the capacity to care for others!

ODRC, let us help!