I have never thought of myself as any kind of life saver. Not in any philosophical term, I’m a mom so I have saved my kids lives many times over, the forgotten book, homework assignment, sports uniform, cleats, you get the idea. But I mean REALLY literally saving a human life by intervening. I highly respect those who have answered the call to be an EMT or firefighters or police officers, or emergency room personnel. But I was recently told that I had saved the life of another person through my calling and gift; writing. If you are new to this site and aren’t aware I wrote and published a book last year (2024) about my mom and how her loss affected me deeply. It also is about how the medical community unfairly treats the medically vulnerable, those that cannot speak for themselves. If you are interested in reading my story, the book can be found at Amazon, as well as Barnes and Noble, and Walmart, Target and other online book sites. Look for Undone: Letting Go of Perfection, What Grief Taught Me About Faith by Nancy Jalbert.
It has slowly been gaining traction and readers through a grass roots effort as I do not commercially market the book. One of the readers, a co-worker of my husband read the book and has now purchased and passed books on for others to read because she witnessed for herself a similar incident with two elderly relatives. It is because of her story that I share this blog. I believe it can make the difference in many more lives and might even save a life as it did for her family.
She had been given the book by my husband to read because she had an older relative that was sick and it had been recommended that the family commit the relative to a hospice center, but she was feeling unsure. Once she had the book she realized that hospice was not going to be the right decision for the relative and said she would pass the book onto other family members who could learn for themselves the sometimes horrific and painful truth of for- profit medicine in the United States.
That sounds pretty good, but wait a minute until I share the REST of the story. A few months later she related that my book had saved her grandfather’s life. Her grandfather has taken ill suddenly and wasn’t quite himself, and the medical professionals were believing he was suffering from dementia or some other terminal illness while he was in the hospital. The man’s son(her father) questioned the medical team and their recommendation that the gentleman be moved to a hospice center to die. He pulled his father from the hospital and went to another medical facility to be checked out and what’s crazy is it was a completely different prognosis. The elderly gentleman, the grandfather of my husband’s co- worker had a UTI or Urinary Tract Infection. In elderly folks the effects are often cognitive, rather than physical as with younger patients.
So when my husband called from work one day he was excited to share that I had saved a life! His co-worker after reading my book, was well prepared in advance as to what was about to happen after a patient is recommended for palliative or hospice care. ( I realize there are still some hospice related services that are legit, but since it was deregulated in the United States there is a shocking increase as well as reduction in time for patients to spend in hospice) The longer the patient requires hospitalization or hospice care the cost to the insurance companies and medicare/ medicaid increases, so there is a push and a specific terminology used in the cases to provide a smokescreen for what is really happening. Families are blindsided as I was with my mom, who entered the hospital with a fractured hip and was told we needed to put her into a palliative care protocol, rather than operate to repair her hip. We didn’t know what was happening to her but were given a scripted protocol that attempted to explain it to us in a way that made it seem like the right thing to do. Sadly, by the time we figured out what was happening to my mom it was too late. I was shocked, angry and hurt and my story describes the struggle I had going through this experience.
But, as I see it now, God did have a reason for my trial and pain, to help others who are either going through it, or hopefully to bring awareness to this tragedy happening daily in hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living centers and hospice centers. Remember, when you have a hard story to tell, share it, you just might save someone else’s life or help them through their difficult time or maybe prevent it. We need to share our stories and ourselves. Jesus commanded that we should observe two greatest commandments to love God and love our neighbor. Who is your neighbor? Who can you demonstrate the love of God toward? Maybe it will be to share your story, maybe it will save the life of your neighbor. God Bless- Nancy
Moving Forward 