The Books
As Good as Goodbyes Get
A Window into Death and Dying
Joy Nugent left a comfortable life as the wife of a successful orthodontist to follow a calling and vocation. For more than three decades she was a student at the bedside of people who were dying. It is her belief that in order to live a fuller and more meaningful life we need to become more open in our conversations about death and dying. This belief has the potential to lead a person to die with confidence and faith in a cosmic purpose rather than fear of the unknown. As Good as Goodbyes Get is a bridge from a traditional medical approach to an approach that considers the eternal soul of the person.
-Andrew Harvey, editor of The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Sogyal Rinpoche, internationally acclaimed author, and mystical scholar and teacher.
“And I benefitted from having your book, which is written in a very sensitive, sensible way and provided an easy read with very valuable advice. I hope you market it internationally to oncology nurses, oncologists, medical oncology departments, and nursing homes”
-Jorge F. Cassir, MD, An oncologist from New York
There is no greater endorsement I can give of Joy Nugent’s work than to say when it’s time for me to make my transition she is someone I would choose to accompany me to the threshold. Joy is a person of deep wisdom, intuition, and grace. She knows how to listen and reflect to others their own truth. The gems shared in As Good as Goodbyes Get help the reader learn what is healing and beneficial for those who are approaching the end of their physical lives. Hope, peace and love are the treasures that can be mined in a good death experience. With compassion and kindness Joy helps people find the path that will lead them “home.”
-Sarah G. Schwartz, Music Educator: Cellist and Therapeutic Harpist in Medina, Ohio
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My Way
One nurse’s passion for end of life
Author Joy Nugent has spent three decades in the role of a private, palliative care nurse, being with people at the end of their life—part of a lifetime of caring for others. She left a comfortable life as the wife of a successful orthodontist to follow a calling and vocation.
In My Way: One Nurse’s Passion for End of Life, Nugent shares not only her personal history but also her model for end-of-life nursing. Her career and education spanned many countries, from her home in Adelaide, Australia, to Canada, the United States, the UK, India, Singapore, and Malaysia. She encourages nurses to follow in her footsteps, urging them to become midwives of the soul and to take charge of their own professional lives. Throughout, Nugent details her life experiences and travels and offers recommendations on the attitude, knowledge, and skills essential for building trusting patient-nurse relationships. Although she has had to face many challenges and struggles along the way, she acknowledges that her life has been divinely guided.
This memoir recalls one nurse’s personal and professional life, provides guidance for others in gaining the confidence to die without fear, and advises those comforting them at the bedside.
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Parting the Veil
In this book I share my soul’s journey and like so many people in the last phase of life I may repeat events and previous writings that I have not fully integrated into what is my truth.
“Parting the veil” is a common metaphor for the transition from life to death. When I visited the Scottish Island of Iona I was told that Scottish kings liked to be buried on the island as it was considered that the veil between worlds was the thinnest in that part of Scotland. Many religious texts and myths would have us believe that the souls of all mankind lived with God (however one perceives the unknowable cosmic energy that gives energy to life) before their birth. Going home or returning to where we came from is a common instinctual desire which is expressed in many ways. It seems to be in our DNA. Many of us when in a stressful and frightening situation turn to God in prayer or cry out for the archetypical mother. I know in my own life as a mother of four and grandmother of twelve that I receive more visits when my children and grandchildren are experiencing uncertainty. When I receive no messages from family I take it as a sign that all is well with them. I strive to let go and my daily prayer is for God to hover over them and to protect them. So often at the bedside of a person who is dying have I said to those at the bedside that to love is to let go.