Grieving Conversations: Cultural & Spiritual Practices for End-of-Life Care

PC: Catherine Birdsall

Grieving Conversations: Exploring Cultural & Spiritual Practices for End-of-Life Care 

with Catherine Birdsall, Johanna Cabrera, Abuela Kunanate, and Nija Rivera

Grieving Conversations is scheduled for Saturday, October 26, from 4-6 PM. The FREE session takes place at Puentes De Salud, 1700 South St, Philadelphia, PA. Parking is available in the South Street Parking Garage. Metered parking is also available on South Street and the surrounding block. This event is fully wheelchair accessible and will be primarily in Spanish with English interpretation provided. Grieving Conversations is organized in conjunction with , an immersive art installation by artist Pepón Osorio at Thomas Jefferson University. 

Join us for an intimate guided conversation exploring the diverse cultural and spiritual perspectives on dying moderated by Catherine Birdsall, a Philadelphia-based death educator and doula. Joining her, the panel will include Johanna Cabrera, an artisan diagnosed with uterine fibroids and breast cancer; Abuela Kunanate, a New York-based death doula; and Nija Rivera, a caretaker for her grandmother who recently passed. Attendees are encouraged to hold space and participate in conversation about providing care to people at the end of life. The speakers and participants will share their rituals and practices to shed light on diverse ways communities honor life and navigate the death transition. Through this dialogue, we will also examine and address how healthcare systems can offer more support for these cultural practices for the sake of the patient facing fatality and their grieving community. Light refreshments will be served at the event.

“Having worked in both institutional medicine and alternative death care, I am deeply interested in exploring the ways that patients can be supported to die differently within our medical institutions,” says Catherine Birdsall. “I am excited to be joining Abuela, Johanna, and Nija in a conversation regarding the challenges and benefits of bringing familial and cultural practices of end-of-life care into hospital settings in Philadelphia.” 

Catherine Birdsall has spent her adult life understanding the practice of medicine in many forms: western/allopathic medicine, clinical and earth-centered/wise woman herbalism, and the many forms of medicine that touch all lives in the form of food, community-building, ritual, and the arts. She’s been a clinical herbalist of nearly 25 years, and nurse practitioner with a focus on adult and geriatric patients. She spent many years working in geriatrics and palliative care/hospice. Currently, Catherine works serving Philadelphia’s Hispanic immigrant community at Puentes de Salud in South Philadelphia, and as a death educator and doula with Threshold Collective, an organization she co-founded with Dr. Rebecca Maury. 

Inspired by her own healing journey, Johanna Marie Cabrera is a dedicated facilitator of modern day Women's Circles. Her service is rooted in over a decade of studies from her Afro-Taino Lineage and the teachings of the grandmothers of the Moon Dance; a woman’s four night ceremony originated in Mexico. She is an artisan by trade and makes unique clothing and accessories that are inspired by a connection to the natural world. Her personal experience with uterine fibroids and breast cancer has led her to a deeper understanding of the energetic and consequently the physiological root of these conditions. Reflecting on her mortality, Johanna attended online Death Cafes and participated in a few Death Doula training courses with the understanding that this education is significant in her healing process. Having more peace with the certainty of her nature (to be born is also to die) is enriching her quest to be more present, to live more fully and with purpose. 

Abuela Kunanate is a New Yorker raised by her immigrant Dominican mother, grandmother and European father in a melodic home where Spanish was the first language before “Americanizing”. As the first born, her protective nature played a role in most of her career choices. In particular, her work with yoga and meditation prepared her for "dying doula" service that changed her perception of death. Her first experience was helping her younger brother transition when he died from the HIV virus, during the epidemic in 1988. Many more friends and memorials shortly after, convinced her to help usher more transcending souls. Abuela’s Taino roots, spiritual traditions, ceremony and ritual has become her way of life, preparing her for that moment when she returns home to the stars. 

Nija Rivera, MPH, was born and bred in the vibrant city of Philadelphia, PA. She is an actor grant writer, and the lead consultant at her enterprise Gritty Grants, LLC. She worked in the nonprofit sector in Greater Philadelphia for the past 15 years. One of the most profound experiences of Nija's life was helping her grandmother through her final days after a terminal cancer diagnosis. She approaches this conversation with deep compassion and hopes to offer love and understanding to those who are navigating similar transitions with their loved ones. 

Thank you to our community partners, Puentes De Salud and Threshold Collective, for making this event possible. Major support for Convalescence has been provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, with additional support from the Wagner Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Questions? Contact Chelsea-Mia Pierre, Public Programs Manager for Convalescence, at [email protected]. 

About Threshold Collective

Threshold Collective offers clients aging, death and dying support. They support adults with aging parents, aging in place, medical system navigation, medical system navigation, end of life planning & paperwork, direct support to the dying, and more. To learn more about Threshold Collective, go to thresholdcollective.org.

About Puentes De Salud

Founded in 2004 by Steven Larson, MD, and Jack Ludmir, MD, Puentes de Salud is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that promotes the health and well-being of the immigrant Latino community in South Philadelphia through high-quality medical services, innovative education programs, and community development. The mission of Puentes de Salud is two-fold: First, to partner with Philadelphia’s rapidly growing Latinx immigrant community to build long-term prosperity by addressing immediate education, health and social service needs. Second, to create a responsible learning environment for future generations of advocates, educators, and healthcare providers to examine Social Justice and Structural Violence, and to explore their impacts on the Social Determinants of Health within a marginalized community. To learn more about Puentes De Salud, go to puentesdesalud.org.

About Convalescence

Thomas Jefferson University presents Convalescence, an immersive installation by internationally renowned, Philadelphia-based artist Pepón Osorio. Convalescence is free and open to all from September 3 to November 1, 2024, on Jefferson's health sciences campus in Center City Philadelphia, continuing Osorio’s practice of premiering works in the environments that inform them. Convalescence is rooted in the artist’s personal experience of cancer diagnosis and treatment. The project highlights systemic health and health care inequities in the U.S. and includes stories from other Philadelphians of color who have lived through, or are currently experiencing, life-threatening illnesses. Drawing on relationships with groups typically underserved by the health care system, Osorio’s installation explores the nature of community-based care. The project extends Jefferson's ongoing medical humanities program, which engages students in the arts and humanities in parallel with their health professions education. A series of public programs created with community-based partners will be coordinated in conjunction with the installation. To learn more about Convalescence, go to Jefferson.edu/Convalescence.

Host or Publisher Jefferson Humanities & Health