Carolyn Van Ness

Hospice of Westchester

Presented by PCSB Community Foundation and PCSB Bank

Carolyn Van Ness is very clear about the paths she has traveled and what has shaped her professional life and her current volunteer interests. This defining decision came shortly after she graduated from nursing school in Connecticut.

“I realized very quickly,” she recalls, “that I didn’t really like being around sick people!” This led her to focus on more uplifting aspects of health and wellness for her career. Unfortunately, New York State restrictions at the time kept Carolyn from her dream of becoming a nurse midwife. In spite of this, Carolyn had a very busy 30-year career as a Women’s Health Care Nurse Practitioner at Open Door Family Medical Group, a neighborhood health care center in Ossining. She used a combination of holistic practices to achieve optimal physical, mental, and spiritual well-being.

When she retired in 2016, Carolyn began volunteering at Hospice of Westchester as an office volunteer and “friendly visitor” to hospice patients and bereaved family members. After completing her Henry Fersko-Weiss training, Carolyn overcame her grad-school aversion and became a death doula or death midwife. She felt she had come full circle, and her early dream of being a midwife and helping women through one of life’s key transitional experiences had been reshaped to fit her current stage of life.

During the pandemic, Carolyn continued her conversations with patients and grieving families virtually. She says that it took a while to get used to having healing conversations on Zoom, but soon those barriers faded. Today she believes that she will always be doing some of her volunteering virtually. Carolyn created a “Widow to Widow” program at Hospice of Westchester, which provides a unique opportunity for an open and non-judgmental dialogue between women who have lost their partners with the goal of fostering a sense of healing and growth.

Carolyn is currently a member of the board of directors for Circle of Friends for the Dying, which opened the first comfort care home in the Hudson Valley area in Kingston in December 2022. She also participates as a group facilitator for a monthly virtual “Death Café” sponsored by Circle of Friends for the Dying, which helps provide information—and brings a sense of comfort—to any questions related to the final stages of life.