David Plazas is the director of opinion and engagement for the USA TODAY Network Tennessee.
The philosophy of hospice care is to celebrate life, not death. Yet, as COVID-19 took an enormous toll on Americans, things changed drastically.
Social isolation restricted many loved ones ability to be with patients who yearned for their company.
Kimberly Goessele, president and CEO of Alive Hospice, said she remembers that fear and uncertainty at the start of the pandemic in early 2020 changed the energy of the room.
About 14 months later, knowledge has grown, vaccines are available and there is a gradual return to a sense of normalcy, Goessele told me on this episode of the Tennessee Voices podcast.