October 29, 2024–As Lead Spiritual Care Counselor for VNS Health Hospice Care, Anna Jenkins is highly attuned to what spiritual care means to each patient and how she can help them realize it. Often, it’s not about religion. One patient she counseled was an architect, she explains, and he wanted to be the architect for his dying process through spiritual care. “He was able to make all the decisions and transition the way he wanted to, and it was beautiful,” she recalls. Anna’s spiritual care work entails creating rituals to honor and begin the memorial process right at the patient’s bedside. For one young woman, Anna helped the family use rosewater to honor different parts of her body, thanking the young woman’s feet for all the hikes they took together, her hands for the carrot cakes she made and shared. Research shows most people would prefer to spend their final days at