As a Zen Hospice Project volunteer, Alastair Shanks sits at the bedsides of people who are dying at the Laguna Honda, a public hospital in San Francisco that serves the indigent and homeless. Many of those he accompanies are lost to the world through dementia. In this installment of StoryCorps, Shanks speaks with fellow volunteer Mary Doane about the care he takes to make sure each person has a “good death.”
ALASTAIR SHANKS: "A good death can mean so many different things to different people ... So it's important for me as a volunteer not to try to impose on them."
To find out how to share your story, visit the San Francisco StoryCorps website.
