All of us are entitled to the rewards of a peaceful, pain-free death. This book honors that with true stories about hospice patients and inspiring insights from the author. Becoming Dead Right guides us through the general and "how to" information maze that prepares us for dealing with death.

Improving and expanding hospice services will require systemic changes in healthcare institutions, outreach to diverse populations, and funding. With the inclusion of hospice programs in nursing homes, dying with dignity becomes even more important. Millions of aging baby boomers heighten the urgency for better hospice care and conditions in nursing homes.

About the Author

Frances Shani Parker is a writer, consultant, and hospice volunteer. Her writing has won awards from Writer's Digest, the Poetry Society of Michigan, the Detroit Writer's Guild, Broadside Press, and the New Orleans Public Library. Among publications including her work are Black Arts Quarterly (Stanford University), Warpland: A Journal of Black Literature and Ideas (Chicago State University), and Voices of the Civil Rights Movement (AARP). Among venues at which her poems have been read are the International AIDS Conference in South Africa and "Artists Among Us," sponsored by the Michigan Wayne County Council for Arts, History, and Humanities.

Parker has had essays and poems published in the educational arena, particularly on service learning, which is a teaching and learning method that connects classroom learning with meeting community needs. She has been honored with the 2007 Service-Learning Trailblazer Award presented by the National Service-Learning Partnership. Other honors include the Outstanding Educational Administrator Award presented by the Metropolitan Detroit Alliance of Black School Educators and the Educator of the Year Award presented by the Wayne State University Chapter of Phi Delta Kappa, an international professional fraternity for educators.