Hospice launches fall seminar to teach people how to deal with dying
Geron Bruce became an advocate for hospice care when his wife, Brenda, was dying of cancer.
Brenda was a client of Hospice and Home Care of Juneau from early September of 2001 until she died in May of 2002. As her cancer progressed, the hospice sent nurses, counselors and volunteers to help her and the family deal with her illness. Six volunteers took turns keeping her company and doing housework while Bruce was at work.
"Dying is a very lonely process," Bruce said. "Hospice is able to listen to that loneliness and isolation in the face of the ultimate."
Volunteers are a cornerstone of the program, and the hospice is seeking more. Annual training started Thursday and runs through Nov. 4.
The Bruce family is just one of the many families that have received services from the Hospice and Home Care of Juneau since the organization was established in 1979. It was the state's first hospice. It serves 100 or 150 patients and their families a year.
"The philosophy of hospice is to provide pain management and symptom control while understanding the psychological and spiritual pain is just as significant as physical pain," said program coordinator Kim Redifer. "We work with social workers and volunteers to help families and patients anticipate death." While the home care program usually serves patients who have an acute illness or recover from a serious operation or injury, the hospice program is for people who are diagnosed with a terminal illness with no more than six months to live.
Hospice clients are referred by their physicians. Depending on the patients' needs, the hospice provides services ranging from pain management to end-of-life education.
"With home care nursing, we follow the doctor's order," said Mary Riley, who has worked for the hospice for 15 years. "Hospice is different. The patient and the family are the ones that are in charge."
Mary and John Jensen have arranged hospice service for four of their family members - John's parents, Mary's ex-husband and her father.
"Hospice does not intrude upon the patients or the families," said Mary, a nurse herself. "The volunteers and caretakers support caregivers at home. They give me a break so I could worry about it someplace else. I know the dying person is in good hands."
John added, "just knowing that help is available is a great relief."
Bruce said he appreciates the hospice staff's support.
"The volunteers and nurses became part of the family. They helped Brenda bear the anguish of dying so she could die with character and courage," Bruce said. "She couldn't beat the cancer but the cancer couldn't break her."
• I-Chun Che can be reached at ichun.che@juneauempire.com.