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Collected Item: “Amanda Lohman Yeu Oral History, 2022/05/31”

Title

Amanda Lohman Yeu

Who conducted the interview? List all names, separated by comma.

Kit Heintzman

Who was interviewed? List all names, separated by commas.

Amanda Lohman Yeu

Email Address(es) for all interviewers. Separated by comma.

kheintzman@gmail.com

Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your oral history. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?

#autoimmune, #compassion, #death, #friendship, #grief, #guns, #holistic, #ItalianAmerican, #Italy, #love, #mother, #NewJersey, #patience, #support, #yoga

What is the format of your recording?

Video

In what ZIP code is the primary residence of the interviewee? (enter 5-digit ZIP code; for example, 00544 or 94305)? In what city/town/village does the interviewee live? In what country does the interviewee live? All comma-separated.

Ramsey, New Jersey

What is the gender of the interviewee? Be sure to allow interviewees to self-identify their gender in the pre-interview or interview. *Do not assign a gender identity to interviewees.*

female, she/her

What is the age of the interviewee?

35 to 44

How does the interviewee describe their race or ethnicity? Be sure to allow interviewees to self-identify their race/ethnicity in the pre-interview or interview. *Do not assign a racial or ethnic identity to interviewees.*

white

Describe the oral history.

Some of the things we discussed included:
Becoming an end-of-life doula after helping a friend go through her dying process with breast cancer.
Working as an end-of-life doula, this work being put on hold during the pandemic.
The different roles of healthcare workers and death doulas when working with terminally ill patients.
Having been in a long process of seeking a diagnosis around an autoimmune disease pre-pandemic and continuing to navigate diagnostics and health care during the pandemic.
How having been raised in Europe and with exposure to war and refugees shaped early reactions to the pandemic.
How COVID brought mortality to the surface of Americans’ consciousnesses.
How struggling with our own mortality impacts our relationship to safety.
Being on the phone with a person who was alone and dying during COVID; feeling powerless.
The common good.
Losing friendships over politics.
Children’s understanding of death.
Stigma and silence around disease and dying.
Grief and loss as universally shared experiences, though the quality of these experiences are unique.
Grief support looking different in different settings, eg. when you are in a room with someone in contrast to phone support.
Grief as the affirmation that we’ve loved.
The emotional toll of the pandemic on healthcare workers.
Staying in the present.

On what date did you record this oral history?

2022-05-31T09:09
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