Peace at Last: Stories of Hope and Healing for Veterans and Their Families

For her two-plus decades as a hospice nurse at the Department of Veterans Affairs, Deborah Grassman has often heard the comment, Isn t your work depressing? Like many others, she had begun her hospice career with that same prejudice. She feared death itself, and because of that fear, she was unaware that she could find peace, joy, and fulfillment in caring for people at the end of their lives. She had no special training in caring for veterans, and she had no reason to think that veterans needs were any different from nonveterans. With time and experience, however, she began to realize that these veterans had experiences and training that made them different from other hospice patients. Likewise she began to understand that she could learn lessons about peace from people who were trained for war; that warriors often have wisdom that, paradoxically, shows us how to live in peace with each other and within ourselves.
In Peace at Last, Deborah Grassman takes the reader on a journey of understanding and growth. While caring for thousands of veterans in a hospice setting over a 25-year career in a VA hospital, she gathered the veterans stories of pain and redemption, personal awakening, and peace. Then she crafted these stories into an unforgettable book. Designed to help caregivers, family members, and veterans themselves understand the impact of war and military culture on lives and emotions, Peace at Last contains veterans stories, hospice experiences, and a series of appendices providing sample materials that can assist with healing.



First comments...

As President of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, I commend this book to you as both instructive and inspirational. Deborah Grassman paints a picture of loving clinical care for veterans and their families. All American caregivers who are involved with veterans (professionally and personally) must read this book. It is a gift to us all.
Donald Schumacher, Psy.D.
President and CEO,
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization

Over the past 25 years, I ve cared for veterans of World War I and every war since. If I had had the insights I now have through Deborah and this book, I d have been a better doctor and a better son. For every person who cares for veterans, knows a veteran, loves a veteran, or is a veteran, this book will bring enlightenment, healing, or both. Frankly, our nation needs to read this book, prepare to cry, and let the healing begin.
Thomas Edes, M.D., Director, Home and Community-Based Care, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Washington, D.C.

... presents important information for healthcare providers and family members. It will help all of us to better understand the unique experiences and characters of veterans....this book explores various ways that serious trauma can be integrated into a healthy life. Daniel R. Tobin, M.D.
Director, The Center for Advanced Illness Coordinated Care
Author, Peaceful Dying, From the Foreword