Staff and Teachers
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Merilynne Rush, MSHP, BSN Ann Arbor, Michigan Founder I love teaching. In addition to being a midwife, I have been a hospice nurse, a companion caregiver, natural after death care (home funeral) educator, and health-care volunteer in India, Nicaragua, and West Africa. It has been an extreme honor to work with numerous families in the area of birth and death. I have an MS in Hospice and Palliative Studies and a Nurse Educator Certificate from Madonna University, a BS in Nursing from the University of Michigan, and a BA in Humanities and Women's Studies from Michigan State University. I am a Certified Respecting Choices® First Steps Advance Care Planning Instructor. In service to nonprofit organizations, I was president of the National End-of-life Doula Alliance (NEDA) from its founding in 2018 to October, 2020, am a founding member of the NHPCO End-of-life Doula Council, and served on the board of directors of the Green Burial Council, the National Home Funeral Alliance, Michigan Doula Connection, and the Washtenaw Health Initiative Advance Care Planning Committee. I received my SageUSA "Caring for LGBT Older Adults" endorsement in 2020. Se habla Espanol. I hope to hear from you! |
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Star Fallin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin Teacher & Team Member Star, the mother of 7, lives in Milwaukee. A wannabe photographer, drummer, writer, and consummate, hyperactive “oddball,” she has been part of the death industry for 12 years as an autopsy technician, disaster site clean-up specialist, end-of-life planning guide, zoomeral facilitator, search and recovery diver, EOLD, and memento-mori artist. While she continues to work off and on as a home birth midwife, EOLD work is what she is most passionate about, teaching her community to welcome death and dying into mainstream conversation and celebrate departures in ways that create peace for those crossing the veil, and offer comfort, compassion and love for those who remain. “I would that every one of us are prepared for and unafraid of death, which, in turn, offers the space to create beautiful lives in the present.” Services: EOL Doula, perinatal loss, sudden death support Contact: Startwaddle@gmail.com |
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Olivia Hunter
Baltimore, Maryland Teacher & Team Member Olivia Hunter is a student of the mystical and metaphysical. She is a Reiki Master and ordained minister serving a multi-denomination church in Washington, D.C. Recently retired from 30 years as a Human Resources professional, she currently consults with small businesses in the WDC-metro area. Introduced to the Death Positive movement while volunteering for hospice, Rev. Olivia is pursuing a next chapter career as both a life- and an end-of-life doula. By applying her professional and ministerial expertise, she seeks to serve those entering any type of transition with listening, coaching, counseling, companionship and ritual. Services: EOL Doula, EOLD Mentoring, Group Facilitation Contact: Oliviakhunter@gmail.com |
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Lisa Conine
Mount Shasta, CA Team Member Lisa has been involved in heart-centered service and advocacy for over 13 years. She studied social work and family systems and is passionate about community-based care. In earlier years, she worked on campaigns advocating for environmental justice and drug policy reform. Lisa is now a yoga instructor and serves as an end-of-life doula by weaving in the wisdom of plants, movement, and story medicine. She supports folks by providing spaces to explore death, transition, and loss by honoring transitions as sacred gateways into the innate wisdom of our bodies, our hearts, and our humanness. Services: EOL Doula, Yoga Instructor, Grief Support, Plant Medicine Guidance Contact: belovedgateway@gmail.com |
Supporting Teachers & Doulas:
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Toula Saratsis
Ann Arbor, Michigan Teacher & Team Member Toula’s mission is to assist clients and their families by providing services that promote well-being for end of life and after death care. Her daughter Angelica had a life-limiting condition that was diagnosed at three days old; she lived fully and with purpose until almost 6. Angelica provided the inspiration for Toula to be an end-of-life doula and home funeral guide. Toula is a certified EOLD, a member of the National Home Funeral Alliance and the Pediatric Palliative Care Coalition of Michigan, and a volunteer in both pediatric and adult care with Michigan Medicine in Ann Arbor. She writes and speaks frequently to medical students, parents and staff about supporting changes in how we help others achieve a meaningful final rite of passage. Toula has been a high school Spanish teacher for 21 years, is proud of her Greek-American heritage, maintains family connections in Greece, and is deeply involved in her Greek Orthodox faith community. Services: Pediatric EOL Doula care, home funeral guidance Contact: toulasaratsis@gmail.com |
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Jessica Kilbourn
Ypsilanti, Michigan Teacher& Team Member Jess (she/her) lives in Ypsilanti, MI. As an embodied entrepreneur in the healing arts for 25 years, she offers Reiki, massage therapy, and BodyMind method Coaching, and will soon complete an Aromatherapy certification. Jess has taught Women’s and Gender Studies at Eastern Michigan University (for 23 years), Reiki at the Evenstar Institute, and grief work at the Institute for the Study of Birth, Breath, and Death. She has been a certified EOLD since 2016, has a deep interest in nature, anti-racism and social justice of all kinds, grief, and community death care, and believes that death is an integral part of life. Services: EOL Doula, Grief education, bodywork, home funeral guidance, working on aromatherapy certification Contact: jessicakilbourn73@gmail.com |
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Robin Bow
Belleville, Michigan Teacher& Team Member Robin Bow is a registered nurse with 26 years of patient care experience - 12 years as a hospice nurse and 14 years as a nursing assistant. Robin is the Nurse Clinical Coordinator at Angela Hospice. She previously owned and operated a non-medical home care business dedicated to working with hospice patients. Robin received her EOLD training in 2016 and is also a Reiki practitioner. Robin has a true passion for end-of-life care and ensuring that dying patients and families receive the support and care that is needed at such a crucial time. Services: EOL Doula, EOLD mentoring Contact: regnur1@aol.com |
