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May 17

Trusting in the hospice team
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To treat fear, trust in the hospice team

By Valerie Hartman

Like life itself, the hospice experience is a progression of change with movement and growth; ebb and flow.

Hospice caregiving can be a hardship of physical and emotional proportion—overwhelming at times. For those hospice caregivers who are unfamiliar with the dying process, there is unknowing and mystery around the transitions. Like a cradle of caring and knowledge, the hospice team approach is built around the understanding that anxiety and fear need treatment in end of life care. Every hospice team member has a skill set that addresses fear along the way, making the hospice philosophy of care stand out as a holistic model of healthcare that treats patient and family as one. Body, mind, and spirit must be engaged to address fear on every level. The best opportunity for peaceful life closure happens with a team of caring professionals addressing each person and family circumstance uniquely. Read more

May 13

Caring for someone you no longer know
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Caring for someone you no longer know

by Barbara L’Amoreaux

Those of you who live outside the Philadelphia area probably didn’t catch the article in yesterday’s Philadelphia Inquirer called “Detailing the caregiver’s journey.” With that title, the article could be about just about anything, but in this case, the story refers to those who care for individuals with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. Read more

May 9

Brown paper packages tied up with strings
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These are a few of my favorite things–they change during hospice care

By Ron King

When a loved one is dying, we hope to provide any experience of comfort, pleasure or meaning.  We go out of our way to find a simple gift or do a favor that may help someone through their last days.

A good question to ask is “What is your favorite ….?” It might be a favorite food, favorite music, flower, movie, poem, scripture, prayer, or even clothes to wear.  At end of life, it’s important to ask, because what is “favorite” may be different as a patient declines. Read more

May 6

Cuddling with pets can be therapeutic
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Cuddling at end of life: with pets, too

By Barbara Hoepp

My last blog entry was about cuddling with loved ones at end of life.

Marty commented, reminding me that pets can often be the best—and sometimes the only ones—a patient may have to cuddle.

The next day I visited a patient who died during the visit and I kept looking at the poor little pup locked in his crate at the end of Mom’s bed.  The family explained that they couldn’t put him on the bed because the dog wouldn’t let anyone, including her husband, touch her.  The woman’s last few breaths included her husband holding her arm and tearfully telling her how much he loved her.  It was an easy, beautiful passing.  For me the question still nags, “When did the pup get to say goodbye?” Read more

May 2

Sunsetting-a common behavior for hospice patients

“Sundowning” – what is it, and how do I manage the symptoms?

By Patty Ayers

Very often I come across a caregiver who says that in the late afternoon/early evening their loved one will become agitated, disoriented and confused well into the night and early morning. They may begin to wander around the house or will become more alert and wide awake around the time the sun goes down hence the name “sundowning.”  Other behavioral changes may include the following:

  • Delusions
  • Hallucinations
  • Paranoia
  • Fear
  • Insecurity
  • Shadowing – (talking repeatedly, mimicking the caregiver or interrupting)

Read more

Apr 29

Independence is important to the Boss Man
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Caring for the “Boss Man” in hospice

By Maggie Vescovich, SLP

My New York City-born-and-raised father, Zeke, was always fiercely independent.  Maybe some of that was the New Yorker in him, and the fact that he was self-employed his whole life-except for the four years he spent in the Army during WWII. And even when he finally moved out of NYC (a year after my mother passed away) to a house just a mile away from me, he proved once again that he was still his own boss. He lived alone, and quickly learned to navigate through the streets of Philadelphia on his own. I loved this man, and he loved me……from a distance.

Then, one day, near his 82nd birthday, he got bad news.  Read more

Apr 25

Downsizing BEFORE hospice helps everyone
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You can’t take it with you: Downsizing before hospice

By Barbara A. Hoepp, LCSW

Ever wonder what happens when a patient passes, leaving behind a spouse with dementia who can’t afford to be maintained in the home that they have created and built into the family nest over the past 50+ years?

Often it starts with admission to an Assisted Living or Skilled Nursing Facility.  Family (if there is one) will pack clothing and some treasured photos and inexpensive memorabilia to keep the new patient comfortable in their new quarters. The nightmare of downsizing begins, and it’s almost as difficult as the vigil at end of life.  Someone has to sort through everything in the home.  Because of the Great Depression, every pocket has to be checked for hidden cash as our elders lived never completely sure of the banks after losing the family savings in their childhood. Read more

Apr 23

Hospice volunteers help families
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Celebrating hospice volunteers

By Jean Francis, Hospice Volunteer Coordinator, Holy Redeemer Hospice

When I told friends and family I was going to become a hospice volunteer back in 1997, I was greeted by stares and awkward silences. A few folks tried talking me out of volunteering and nearly all remarked how depressing and sad it would certainly be to companion those so close to death. At the time I couldn’t explain why my heart was set on volunteering in hospice; it was as if hospice had chosen me.

“I have no idea what I’m doing here,” I thought, as I knocked on the door of my first patient, a 98-year-old woman with congestive heart failure – I’ll call her Sadie. Read more

Apr 18

Using pillows for comfort in hospice care
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Positioning with pillows as a comfort in hospice caregiving

by Valerie Hartman

I do a training for hospice aides in Sensitive Bathing practices.  Every time I teach, every time I find myself assisting in the bath at bedside with one of our hospice aides, I am moved.

In the weeks before death, in the last baths of life, the hospice aide is practicing their specialty – adapting personal care to gently meet the needs of the dying.  As a nurse-massage therapist and a complementary therapist, it is easy to see that the skills of sensitive handling in hospice care enhance physical comfort, emotional comfort, and dignified care when provided skillfully. Read more

Apr 15

National Healthcare Decisions Day--Make a a Living Will

National Healthcare Decisions Day

By Michelle Geis, RN

“Thank you so much for the loving, respectful and excellent care that your hospice team provided to my dad. You are all truly angels on earth. I only wish we had hospice care sooner.” Read more

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