InTouch with Southern Kentucky January 2020 | Page 15

Sherry Sabine, Hospice Commu-
nity Liaison, and Euretha Godby,
Executive Director, explained that
anyone would be able to set up an
account, name two executors to
that account, and begin recording
their video messages or writing
thoughts in a journal.
Those messages will then be de-
livered to the person or people they
are intended for – for up to 50 years.
That means leaving a birthday
greeting for every single birthday a
child or grandchild will have during
those 50 years, or offering advice on
a child’s graduation day, or even cel-
ebrating the birth of a grandchild,
even if that grandchild is born years
after you pass.
“What we find is that most people
who are facing death, it’s more the
idea of not being there than it is the
actual fear of dying. It’s missing out.
It’s being forgotten,” Sabine said.
“This is a way for people to
remember your laugh, your smile,
your gestures.”
She explains that a person can re-
cord a video as they think of some-
thing they want to say. They can use
a laptop, cell phone or other elec-
tronic device to record themselves.
The videos will only be able to be
seen by the people designated by
the person making the recording.
They must name two executors to
the account whose jobs it will be
to keep up with the location and/or
email address of everyone, but they
themselves cannot view a video
unless it is intended for them.
While the main intention of the
program is to leave a legacy of
memories for those who may pass
away, Godby points out other uses
for families.
“An example is maybe a dad who
has younger daughters and wants
to be able to dance at his daughters’
weddings, but knows he has illness-
es that he’s probably not going to
be able to do that, so he can make
a video of him dancing with his
daughter that they can play at the
wedding.”
Another use, as Sabine points out,
is families with an older relative
gathering together for Christmas.
“If Grandma’s there, and she’s
90, and you want to start getting
that history, even if right now she’s
fine, you can do interviews. And
you don’t have to schedule them
(to come out), you can make them
public immediately so the family
can enjoy that. It’s really as flexible
as any video.”
The advantage of using the Last-
ing Memories system over record-
ing your own messages, Godby said,
is the permanence of the recording.
The videos will be stored in a for-
mat that – no matter how technolo-
gy advances in 50 years – they will
still be available for loved ones to
access.
She gives the example of how,
in years past, family would record
interviews with the older generation
on cassette tapes. It was a tool to
preserve those stories, but cas-
settes have become mostly obsolete
and the tapes themselves can be
easily lost.
Sabine called the Lasting Memo-
ries program an ingenious way of
preserving memories.
“It’s going to change the way we
keep family history. It’s going to be
first person,” she said.
As of mid-December, the program
has not gone live, But Godby and
Sabine say they expect it to become
operational in the next few weeks.
Anyone with questions about the
system can call Hospice at 800-937-
9596.
Godby said that Hospice of Lake
Cumberland’s staff will be trained
on how to help their patients
through the process of setting up an
account and creating documents.
Sabine said she herself will be
available to host training sessions
for the community.
“So a senior center or a senior liv-
ing community or a Sunday school
class that would like me to come
and walk them through it, if every-
one brings their laptop or their
mobile phone, we can walk through
it in 15 minutes and have everybody
make an account,” she said.
She is available to travel to any of
the counties covered by Hospice of
Lake Cumberland: Pulaski, Russell,
Casey, McCreary, Wayne, Clinton
and Cumberland.
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J anuary 2020
I n T ouch with S outhern K entucky • 15