The Future of Hospice Care: A Christian Perspective
Melinda Mullet
BIO: Originally from Kansas, I’m a nontraditional student and have lived in Spokane since 2020. While at Whitworth, I’ve been active in the English department as an editorial assistant and then nonfiction editor for the professional literary journal Rock & Sling and Vice President of Whitworth’s Sigma Tau Delta chapter of the national English honors society. My academic work has won two university writing awards for critical essays, and my creative writing won first place in creative nonfiction in 2024 and 2025 at Sigma Tau Delta’s national convention. Outside of English, I was part of the American Enterprise Institute’s Summer Honors Program studying our social safety net and participated in Wheaton College’s Interdisciplinary Symposium. I have participated in the Spokane Intercollegiate Research Conference three times, presenting research on American rhetoric, Second Amendment constitutional law, and hospice care. Along with my faculty advisor, Dr. Bert Emerson, I was one of three 2025 Hatfield Prize recipients from the Center for Public Justice to conduct research and write a policy report on barriers to hospice care in Spokane county. I am also a hospice volunteer and part of my church’s visitation ministry team.
MAJOR: English, American Studies
After graduation, I will be participating in the LA Review of Books summer publishing workshop before applying this fall to dual degree graduate programs to study Law and Theology, starting in the fall of 2026. I hope to continue the work I’ve pursued at Whitworth to address issues at the intersection of public health, public policy, and theology.
Project Overview: Aging Americans and their caregivers should have easy access to dignifying end-of-life care. The rapid increase in the 65+ population requires policy innovation in current Medicare regulation concerning hospice. Coordinated, intentional efforts between government and private sector providers, insurance navigators, community organizations, and houses of worship are also needed to change public attitudes towards hospice care, encourage referrals, increase uptake, and offer emotional, psychological, and spiritual support. Such partnerships and policy innovation will lower hospital costs, decrease financial and physical strain on caregivers, and increase the dying person’s quality of life. Hospice began as a volunteer run service, and that foundation in community support must be emphasized and reimagined for the challenges ahead in American elderly care. Therefore, the American church, formed by the story of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, must speak openly about the reality of dying, advocate for policy reform, and practice solidarity with the dying and their caregivers.
Relevant links:
Info and updates on the Hatfield Prize: https://cpjustice.org/resources-for-you/students-and-scholars/awards/
Whitworth Announcement, including info about what inspired this project: https://news.whitworth.edu/2025/01/whitworth-student-and-english-professor.html
LinkedIn : www.linkedin.com/in/melinda-mullet-b86b852a8