“Defining Hope” is an award-winning film that captures people who are weighing what matters most at the fragile junctures in life, and the nurses who guide them and help carry out their decisions.
The documentary follows eight 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.
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The nurses station at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx, New York City. “Defining Hope” is an award-winning film that captures people who are weighing what matters most at the fragile junctures in life, and the nurses who guide them and help carry out their decisions.
Courtesy of Carolyn Jones Productions
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Rudy Bilotti, a gregarious World War II veteran, with nurse Joanne. “Defining Hope” is an award-winning film that captures people who are weighing what matters most at the fragile junctures in life, and the nurses who guide them and help carry out their decisions.
Courtesy of Carolyn Jones Productions
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Nina with daughter Gloria. “Defining Hope” is an award-winning film that captures people who are weighing what matters most at the fragile junctures in life, and the nurses who guide them and help carry out their decisions.
Courtesy of Carolyn Jones Productions
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Nina with nurses. “Defining Hope” is an award-winning film that captures people who are weighing what matters most at the fragile junctures in life, and the nurses who guide them and help carry out their decisions.
Courtesy of Carolyn Jones Productions
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Jose at Childrens National Hospital. “Defining Hope” is an award-winning film that captures people who are weighing what matters most at the fragile junctures in life, and the nurses who guide them and help carry out their decisions.
Courtesy of Carolyn Jones Productions
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Nurse Gilbert Oakley (right) with Bert and Lottie. “Defining Hope” is an award-winning film that captures people who are weighing what matters most at the fragile junctures in life, and the nurses who guide them and help carry out their decisions.
Courtesy of Carolyn Jones Productions
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Barbara (on the right) with her physical therapist. “Defining Hope” is an award-winning film that captures people who are weighing what matters most at the fragile junctures in life, and the nurses who guide them and help carry out their decisions.
Courtesy of Carolyn Jones Productions
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Nurse Diane Ryan from Calvary Hospital in the Bronx, New York City. “Defining Hope” is an award-winning film that captures people who are weighing what matters most at the fragile junctures in life, and the nurses who guide them and help carry out their decisions.
Courtesy of Carolyn Jones Productions
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Alena Sydnor, a 23-year-old aspiring journalist, who suffers from brain tumors. She is completing her advance directive prior to a life-saving brain surgery that carries the risk of memory loss. “Defining Hope” is an award-winning film that captures people who are weighing what matters most at the fragile junctures in life, and the nurses who guide them and help carry out their decisions.
Courtesy of Carolyn Jones Productions
“Defining Hope” is optimistic and reminds us that we have choices. It's a film that jump-starts these critical conversations and helps people define what makes life worth living.
This film is on Facebook, Instagram, and you can follow @defining__hope on Twitter. #DefiningHope #dyinginamerica #hope #endoflife
Presented by Carolyn Jones Productions. Distributed by American Public Television.