Annelise Schinzinger is passionate about improving the quality of life of the elderly and dying. She learned about the importance of competent and loving caregivers when she was recovering from a serious illness at nineteen.  When her grandmother and mother were ill and dying, she applied what she had learned from them. Her grandmother’s peaceful passage when Annelise was twenty-nine took her fear of death away.  You can watch her talk about this on this You Tube. Her experiences caring for her mother who died of ovarian cancer were so profound that she left the corporate world and become a professional hospice caregiver in 1993.

Annelise is a member of two end-of-life groups in Santa Cruz, California: Threshold and Natural Deathcare Initiative (NDI). She meets regularly with her colleagues to discuss end-of-life issues. Annelise has a bachelor’s degree in Portuguese and Spanish and a Certificate in Human Resources Management, both from the University of California, Irvine. She has written chapters and articles about end-of-life care, Chi Nei Tsang (CNT), and other subjects.  You can see her speak about her work on her You Tube channel.

Based on over twenty-five years experience, Annelise is happy to announce publication of her book, The Art and Science of Caregiving: Stories of Inspiring Elders with an End-of-Life Guidebook.  For more information about her work and her book, please visit her website and her Facebook Page

In acknowledgement of the challenges that many family members and professional caregivers deal with, Annelise and her colleague Miriam Tutman, RN and end-of-life Care Manager, developed forms and checklists to facilitate elder and end-of-life care. These forms and checklists are offered free of charge in Annelise’s book and website.  The website also has an extensive resource section that many people find to be interesting, informative and helpful.