the hospice when a Satanic cult member asked to be baptised before he died.

"He was baptised, and believe me the ripples ended in the hospice,'' said Mrs. Hilary Soares.

"A tremendous number of negative vibes came with that guy, and once he was baptised it all seemed to subside.'' Mrs. Soares used the incident to illustrate how hospice patients prepare for death.

In a speech to Hamilton Rotarians, she said dying patients should speak up if they want doctors to stop trying to cure them.

And she said more hospice staff were needed to care for dying patients and their relatives.

"It is right that we train our medical professionals to strive for cure, but is now high time that we insist that they use their medical skills to provide comfort for their patients in the last days of their life,'' said Mrs. Soares.

"If you are dying or one of your relatives is, please insist that the medical people, who look after you, will deliver this kind of care for you. Speak up if you don't want any further treatment towards cure if you know you can't take it.

"If you've had enough, please tell the doctor just that.'' The hospice needs a home care service for people other than cancer patients, she said. This would be necessary as numbers in the AIDS epidemic grew.

It also needs a part-time consultant doctor in palliative care, she said. This would be an expert in making dying people comfortable, so they could concentrate on completing their "unfinished business''.

A bereavement co-ordinator was also needed - to help families, friends and staff deal with grief.

Mrs. Soares said 75 patients had died since the hospice opened two years ago, which meant around 1,000 bereaved people.

Twenty to 30 AIDS patients are diagnosed a year, she said. More than 100 people were diagnosed with cancer, about 100 were diagnosed with heart disease and another 100 with other chronic illnesses.

About half the hospice's patients had AIDS and half had other illnesses. The average length of stay in the hospice is six to eight weeks, Mrs. Soares added.

"We promise patients that they will be as comfortable as we can possibly make them. No one so far has died in pain with us.'' The hospice also takes in patients to give families a temporary rest, she said.

And it took drop-in patients, who often just came in for a meal. Some of these were drug users who had been rejected by their families.

"These people often just live in the bushes,'' she said. "Believe me, there are many of these people in Bermuda now.'' Mrs. Soares said there were more than 100 AIDS orphans or semi-orphans in the Island. "Either both their parents have died, or the significant other has died in the lives of these children.'' Hundreds more children would be orphaned by AIDS, and they needed care without discrimination.

Mrs. Soares said "agape'' meant "unconditional love''.

"We strive to provide physical, psychological, social and spiritual care for terminally ill people and their families.'' Mrs. Hilary Soares.