Q & A with Nancy Green,
Producer of The Journey Home

Q: How has working on a film about end-of-life issues changed your own perspective on dying?

A: It changed my life. It changed my perspective on living more than my perspective on dying. I've thought about death before, and seen firsthand the incredible human will to hang on to life in the face of death. This project made me realize that time is a precious commodity. Since production began, my life has had a sense of urgency it never had before. I found myself wondering about my life's purpose. Am I appreciating my life? Do I appreciate the people in my life, and the fact that I'm young and healthy? I started seeing the world through slightly different eyes. As the people in the documentary began sharing their views on living with dying, I began to wonder what it would be like to live life knowing that it might be the last time I saw a sunset, or a tree, or someone I loved.

It also brought me in touch with how much I live in denial of the reality that I, too, will die, how I like to live as if I had all the time in the world. I know I have a lot of fear surrounding death, but The Journey Home has, in some ways, lessened that fear. The project has taught me that, if I do get a protracted illness, there are a lot of good Hospice workers who can help. Through working with the five patients, I've witnessed that there's a way to face death with courage and grace.

Q: Why did you decide to do this documentary?

A: I'd wanted to do a documentary on hospice care for a long time. Ten years ago a good friend of mine died of cancer while on hospice care. I was really impressed with the emotional, physical and spiritual support offered by hospice, and struck by the compassion and tremendous courage of the hospice workers. In thinking about the project, I was curious about how those workers were able to support someone at a time when hope for a cure is gone and death is the only thing that is certain. I wanted to show that, through compassion and care, there are tremendous gifts to be had for the workers, the patients and their families. Such support, I wanted to show, can completely transform the end-of-life process.

Q: How did you and the crew feel about becoming participants in such an intimate moment in the lives of people you didn't know?

A: Some of the crew wanted to really participate in the lives of those we worked with for The Journey Home. But we were faced with the reality of dealing with people when their time was their most precious commodity--and it should really be reserved for close family and friends. As a producer, I deeply respected the way the patients and their families opened up their lives to me. I think the whole crew felt very honored and touched by the friendships with the families that grew out the documentary. Also, the crew and I really had to be there for each other because of the emotions and stress of producing such a project. Just as we saw the hospice team working as a unit, we had to do the same. Bill Brussard, videographer for the film, had to sit for hours on end with a camcorder on his shoulder to capture the intimacy of each moment . The patience and sensitivity of Kevin Sweet, sound, and Erik Nielsen, grip, were integral to the success of the project. Although there were a lot of fun and hopeful times, there were also some dark times, and we needed to function as a team to keep ourselves grounded.

Q: How did you make the patients feel comfortable sharing this moment with you?

A: The patients themselves had learned a lot of lessons on their end-of-life journeys. I think they had a sense of generosity and gratitude for the knowledge they had gained, and they wanted to share their lessons with others. They are some of the most courageous and giving people I've ever met. To facilitate their story-telling, I spent a good deal of time meeting the patients and talking with them before bringing in the cameras. For some people it took a while to get used to the camera being there, but for others, it was as if having a camera crew around was an every day occurrence--they were authentic from the first time we rolled. We were trying to be like flies on the wall, but to quote a colleague, we were pretty big flies.

Q: Death has become so sanitized and impersonal. How does hospice go about making it a better experience?

A: I think hospice makes death much more human. It looks at people who are dying and says, 'in reality, you're living.' The beauty of hospice is it looks at the whole person. It's not just the disease; they look at emotional factors. Moreover, they look beyond the person behind the disease and help the family behind the patient. Hospice pays attention to the interaction between patient and family, patient and doctor, family and doctor, etc. It sees the patients as human beings, treating their physical pain in addition to their emotional and spiritual pain. It doesn't isolate one symptom, but looks at the whole person. It's a great model for other medical practices.

Q: Do you think the hospice team approach - which looks at the physical, spiritual and mental issues of both the patients and their families - is appropriate for anyone with chronic illness?

A: I don't think hospice is right for everyone. To go to hospice is to admit that you are no longer seeking active treatment for an illness. For some patients, that might not be the best choice. Additionally, some people may not be comfortable with the intimacy of the hospice model. We are individuals. Just as we live differently, we die differently. That said, if a patient is uncomfortable with any aspect of hospice care, they have a fair amount of control over which services they receive. Hospice workers do not want to compromise a patient's privacy.

Q: How do you get people to watch a film about death?

A: Death is an experience that we all have in common. It's a reality that each of us will eventually face. The patients featured in Journey Home: Stories from Hospice are quite compelling in that regard; their experiences illuminate an underlying bond between the viewer, and blurs the line between observation and participation in death.

Q: What do you hope the viewer will take out of this film?

A: I hope viewers will gain a better understanding of how hospice works, but in the bigger picture, I want people to think about their own lives and deaths and how they want to deal with them. In the end, I hope they'll walk away with less fear of death and more hope that dying can be invested with a great degree of grace and dignity.