“Before I die I want to…” was the phrase Indianapolis residents were charged with completing during the guided walking tour of the historic Crown Hill Cemetery. This tour was one of the many events part of the Before I Die Festival sponsored by the IUPUI School of Nursing, powered by Spirit & Place.
The weekend-long event encouraged conversation to help participants reflect on how society manages death and dying. As research shows, many adults avoid this topic if at all possible, but Jennifer Vines, project manager of the Before I Die Festival, said it’s imperative this conversation occurs.
“Getting people to talk was the overall goal, because this topic goes very deep for a lot of people. Sometimes for your family, your spouse or kids, you need to be talking about this, but it can be the most uncomfortable because the fear of the loss,” said Vines.
The idea for the festival was born when Vines’ supervisor, who is a nurse ethicist and on faculty at the IU School of Nursing, heard of the event happening across seas. After a family grant was given to the School of Nursing to fund the festival, Vines was hired to help organize the event. She connected with community partners, such as Spirit & Place, on marketing and working with the faith community.
Vines said many of the festivals in Europe were very fine-arts focused, which is a different avenue for opening up the conversation on death, but she wanted Indianapolis’ festival to offer a variety of activities. Attendees were invited to panel discussions, debates, cemetery tours, documentary screenings and more.
“The gorgeous weather worked in favor of many events. Overall, we are very pleased, and there were a number of events at maximum capacity, such as the IMA (Indianapolis Museum of Art) talks, the cemetery tour at Crown Hill and the event at Indy Reads. We hope dialogue continues.”
An event held at the Indiana Historical Society titled “How did I die?” allowed participants to dive into death through the historical record with archaeologists, genealogists and historians. Another event held at Light of the World Christian Church titled “Let’s Talk about Death” was an opportunity for clergy of all faith traditions to share and learn from each other with the goal of making it more comfortable to lead courageous conversations related to end-of-life care and decision-making. The festival also addressed atheism, Eskenazi’s “No One Dies Alone” program and tips for planning a non-religious memorial service.
Resources were available at each event on topics such as bereavement and hospice care, as well as how to obtain correct legal paper work after a death.
Vines said the book discussions brought in the baby boomer crowd, but the Crown Hill tour and IMA gallery talks attracted a wide variety of ages.
Vines is also one of the founders of Death Cafe Indy, a local group going into its third year that meets every other month at The Athenaeum.
“We just talk about death with no specific agenda … over cake and tea,” Vines said with a laugh. “Since we’ve started the one here, there are now two in Bloomington, one in Muncie, one in Carmel and a group even drove in from Terre Haute. Usually every meeting there is a core group of regulars then some new ones who have heard about the group.”
She said this is one of the reasons she was initially interested in helping plan the festival. One of her most memorable events was a panel of three experts whose discussion was titled “When patients are waiting on a miracle.”
“If you have a patient of a particular tradition or faith and they talk about a ‘miracle,’ what does that mean to them, and as a health care professional, how can you best help them get through that? You have to explain what is possible, what isn’t possible with medical technology. It was about respecting what the family is going through (during a possible death) and what the term ‘miracle’ means for them,” she said.
Vines hopes the festival can continue next year, as there were numerous event ideas proposed.
“We want to continue the conversation, and we got great feedback from our partners and attendees,” she said. “They truly saw the value of being involved.”
