Listen to Merilynne!

Books

Articles

This LA death doula is bringing comfort to the dying and grieving during the pandemic by Kim Kelly, Insider, May 7, 2020
Interview with Merilynne Rush, by Rachel Drummond, Healthcaredegree.com, May 11, 2020 
Being With and Caring For Those Who Are Dying by Andrea Sherman, Samye Institute, February 27, 2020​
They Tell You How to Die by Candice Wang, The New Journal of Yale and New Haven, February 27, 2020
End-of-Life Issues May Not Be Honored in the Hospital by Megan Brooks, Medscape, February  21, 2020
The Movement to Bring Death Closer by Maggie Jones, The New York Times, January 13, 2020
Doulas Are Becoming Part of the End-of-Life Equation by Hannah Hagemann, Morning Edition, NPR, January 3, 2020
The Movement to Bring Death Closer, NY Times, Dec. 19, 2019
Eco-Friendly Cemeteries? More People Preferring Green… Washington Post, Nov. 30, 2019
Kate’s Still Here Esquire, Nov. 14, 2017
On End-of-Life Doulas, from Next Avenue, May 23, 2017
On Physician Assisted Dying, from New York Times, May 28, 2017
On End-of-Life Doula Training, Nov. 16, 2016
U.S. News and World Report, on Green Burial, March 4, 2016
Detroit Free Press article about home funeral, January 11, 2015
Article by granddaughter about home funeral, November, 2014
New York Times; very moving story about building your own coffin
HOUR Detroit article about Ann Arbor Death Cafe, October 2013
Full Moon Funeral, an essay by Merilynne Rush about one family’s home funeral, Ann Arbor Observer, March 2013.
Article about a workshop I presented in Montana.  A group is forming in Helena to educate families about how to care for their own dead.
NY Times article, July 20, 2009
A Final Cocoon, NY Times, Nov. 10, 2010
Chicago Tribune article about a Home Funeral Guide in Illinois
Seattle Times, 2008 article about “death midwife” Jerrigrace Lyons
Death Can Be a Moment That Connects Us, Even as it Parts Us, by Anne O’Connor, Minnesota Public Radio News
Joanne Macy’s story
What is a Death Cafe? 

Videos & Podcasts

Ask a Death Doula Interview with Lee Webster by Suzanne O’Brien, Doulagivers, January 30, 2019
A Husband’s Final Goodbye to his Wife Very beautiful 6-minute video about home funeral
28-minute video about green burial
NPR with Ellen Goodman and Lee Webster on advance planning
Podcast Interview with Lee Webster on the National Home Funeral Alliance, Karen Wyatt, MD, 8.13.15 End of Life University
#TalkDeath Episode 5: Who Owns Your Body with Tanya Marsh and Lee Webster, YouTube Qeepr
Open air cremation in Creststone, CO.  Beautiful 15-minute video of an outdoor cremation on a wood pyre.  For more info visit Crestone-end-of-life.org.
Excellent radio interview with two Buddhist women with cancer, intended to be about what it is like to be dying but instead its about how to live
The Coffinmaker, short video about the benefits of making a coffin for your loved one
Also available at some libraries is the following PBS special about caring for your own dead:
A Family Undertaking
“Merilynne met with my family at our home when my grandmother was dying. We’re so grateful that she helped us learn how to do this naturally. It was just perfect.” —Sierra 
Sign up for our newsletter and receive a free article,
​Compassionate Communities: A Public Health Approach to End-of-Life Care by Merilynne Rush, MSHP, RN, BSN