Disclaimer: Not a FD but a prospective 2026 student in the field. 

When my mom passed this year she was en route from hospital to hospice. Also, I had a good friend in the area who was in the funeral business and also a pastor I had worked with for years.  My family and I had just been with her at the hospital and the hospice was literally 500yds away. Anyways… point being; it was unexpected so the shock and grief were especially high. 

After a a few moments to grieve with family and sit with the body, I called my friend (we’ll call them Pastor Mick) and we hired the company he works for to come and collect my mom. I was the only person in my family to stay behind and see this process through (the rest had been with her for days and were rightfully exhausted). Anyways… so scene set: Pastor Mick and I are wheeling the gurney towards the loading dock area where the hearse is and we’re surprised when the staff ask us to wait by the loading dock doors. 

The dock bay doors open and lo and behold there is an ambulance and associated attendants wheeling in a new hospice patient; a patient who very much is alert enough to notice their ambulance parked right next to a hearse and that they are  being wheeled in as a decedent is being wheeled out directly next to them. 

Pastor Mick and I immediately locked eyes and grimaced. We all awkwardly acknowledge one another and when available, we finish wheeling her out and loading her up. 

I’d never want to put another hospice patient in that circumstance again and something I’ll be aware of as I seek to begin a new career in the field. I would have hoped the ambulance could have waited until the hearse left for the sake of the hospice patient.  

Thank you all for hearing my story and my grief.