Klamath County resident becomes 'Death Doula' in response to pandemic fatalities
by Ambar Rodriguez Tuesday, April 12th, 2022 KLAMATH COUNTY, Ore. — After Klamath County resident Marci McEnroe lost her job at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, she decided to switch careers and help meet the need for supportive services for people dealing with death by becoming an end-of-life doula. “Being a medical assistant for ten years in our community, a first responder in our community, I just saw that there was a need for someone to start a movement here in my community to be death-positive,” McEnroe said. “Living through a pandemic and seeing death all around us, I had to do something.” McEnroe began researching her new career idea during the pandemic lockdowns, remembering her family's experience losing her grandpa, Chuck Nigh in 2012. “When my grandpa passed away, it was unexpected, and it was at home. We didn’t know once we made that call that he had passed away what the next steps were,” McEnroe said. McEnroe said after completing two different 12-week courses virtually, she is now a certified end-of-life doula. The International End-of-Life Doula Association describes the role as caring "for the dying and those close to them with compassionate engagement and open-hearted presence." According to the organization, end-of-life doulas provide support and strategies to help ease the transition of those experiencing death and their families while emphasizing the beauty of the person's life story and honoring their wishes and cultural traditions. Now, McEnroe is focused on helping others and their loved ones through the process of death. “Western culture doesn’t like to talk about death; we make it such a taboo topic and it shouldn’t be a taboo topic. I knew I wanted to get in there somehow to break the stigma to it,” she said. Wanting to share her knowledge with the community, McEnroe began hosting Klamath Basin ‘Death Cafes’ to help people coping with a death in the family, a terminal illness, or who need support processing a past death. The monthly meetings are held at the Klamath County Library at 126 S. 3rd St. in Klamath Falls. “I think sometimes the worst is after the celebration of life has happened, and realizing then that your loved one is gone, sometimes that’s when it hits the hardest,” she said. McEnroe’s newly established company, ‘Until Then End of Life Doula Care’ is hosting an End-of-Life
Expo, where several local organizations who assist with the death process will be on-hand to inform residents of resources in the community that is available to them. The expo is on April 23rd at the Klamath County Fairgrounds in exhibit hall #2 from 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
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