Hospice in the Hood

Knowing the lyrics to a Stevie Wonder song sealed the deal for one of Tia Rees’s hospice patients and his mother. Their surprise at a white nurse knowing such things is a daily fact of life for Tia, who tries to provide top-notch care for her African-America patients, even though it involves travel through tough inner-city streets and rough neighborhoods. Gunshots, gangs, violence, guns, drugs, poverty and racial tensions provide the backdrop for stories about her patients and their families.

Hospice in the Hood covers three years of Tia’s latest job taking care of hospice patients, and her stories range from stolen moments of laughter to the final breaths of a patient. Read about relatives who are startled by (and sometimes admire) her sharply dressed security men, poignant celebrations, quiet moments with her charges, and sometime-sunsettling encounters with neighborhood residents.

The riots in Ferguson, Missouri, brought a new note to the conversations Tia had with patients and their families when they confronted their deepest feelings about race. As their situation grows worse and hopelessness sets in, she and the families she serves develop close relationships. Tia also shares moments of insight gleaned from conversations with her dying patients in their final days and their struggle to cope with pain.

In the end, she finds it is the small things that can sometimes make the biggest difference, such as the music that ties her to her patients, providing a bridge between cultures with toe-tapping tunes, moving melodies and lyrics of love.