Calvary nurse Diane Ryan, RN is featured prominently in the groundbreaking documentary Defining Hope, which was just released to coincide with National Hospice and Palliative Care Month.

Defining Hope is a story about people weighing what matters most at the most fragile junctures in life, and the nurses who guide them. It follows patients with life-threatening illness as they make choices about how they want to live, how much medical technology they can accept, what they hope for and how that hope evolves when life is threatened. It reminds us that we have choices in how we die and the importance of making advanced directives plans well ahead of time.

As the film follows her working as a staff nurse at Calvary’s 200-bed Bronx campus and at home with her family, Ms. Ryan shares her candid thoughts and insights about caring for her beloved patients and their families, being a hospice nurse, and dealing with serious health challenges. With her indomitable spirit, Ms. Ryan also illustrates that humor can have an appropriate place in the life of a hospice nurse.

As the population rapidly ages population and the healthcare environment continues to offer incalculable challenges, especially in end-of-life care, Defining Hope is very relevant right now. The will to live is a powerful force, yet we all will have to make individual decisions when faced with very complex choices.

Defining Hope is made possible through the generous support of the Jonas Center for Nursing and Veterans Healthcare, the American Nurses Foundation, Jeannie Patz Blaustein, The E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation, The Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation, Walden University, and the Fledgling Fund. To learn more or to find a screening near you, please visit: http://hope.film/. To see a trailer of the film, go to http://hope.film/trailer/.