For many people it is a specter. But what is it like to stay in a hospice, in the knowledge that the end is approaching? For about ten days, Margriet Beemster is a guest at the Hoornse Hospice, when she gets a camera crew from NH. “When will it be broadcast?” She asks. “On the weekend? Oh, then I have to let it go out,” it sounds cheerful.
The sober West -Friese – born in Zwaagdijk -Oost – has a hold on her Catholic faith in the last days of her life. “When the time comes, I know that I am going upstairs. My husband and others wait there. Then we can finally do the polonaise again. I believe in that, I trust that.”
Care in a domestic circle
The mother of three children was hit by cancer three years ago and in the meantime her husband Cor died. After a final hospitalization, she ended up in the hospice, the place where terminal patients are cared for in a domestic circle.
Margriet: “It sounds strange, but it is a party. You will be surrounded here with so much love and warmth. I could never have imagined that. If I want an ice cream, they bring an ice cream. Lactose -free, with a flag in it. What a boffard I am experiencing this, I think.”