Life and death are the two most powerful transitions we experience, the place-times when all who we are become transformed forever. To feel whole we—individually and collectively—must fully participate in these events. Otherwise all of life in between loses its context. It is here where the contradictions of civilization have become most apparent. Once treated as spiritual peak experiences grounded in the loving, intelligent embrace of nature and community, Life and Death have become ever more institutionalized, routinized non-experiences, outsourced like our laundry, education and elderly homes. A place where women were instrumental has become a time for men to dominate. Awareness has been replaced by sedatives, wisdom by technology, ultimate acceptance and comfort by fear and alienation. Diane and Julia will share with us their historical perspectives, personal stories and spiritual insights, and will invite the same from us, as we contemplate the integration of our full nature, including the advances of culture.
PRESENTER: Diane Schade and Julia Chachere
Diane Schade’s path to being a certified hospice and palliative care nurse has been a winding one. She studied Art History at NYU, catalogued prints at Sotheby Parke Bernet, owned Dede’s Dog-O-Rama in Greenwich Village, traveled for a year through Asia, lived in Madrid, and then moved to Brooklyn to have her child at home and to settle into being a mom. Yoga, meditation and service brought her back to nursing school, where Hospice care became her passion. She now lives in Sag Harbor with her husband, daughter (Ali-14) and dog, Candy, and is developing a new palliative care service at Southampton hospital.
Julia Chachere is a Certified Nurse Midwife and Women's Health Nurse Practitioner. Before joining Hamptons OB/GYN in 2009 Julia worked as a CNM with the Stony Brook Midwives and as a staff midwife at Brookdale Hospital in Brooklyn, NY. She received a Masters in Public Health from Columbia University in 1993 and worked as a perinatal health research analyst in the London from1993 - 2000. She lives in Sag Harbor with her husband, Gerard Doyle and two children, Adin (14) and Elia (11).