 | Larry McCrary received his BA degree from Blue Mountain College, and his Master of Divinity and Ph.D. degrees from Southwestern Seminary. He is an ordained Baptist minister and was a pastor in Kansas for ten years before becoming a hospice chaplain/bereavement coordinator in 2005. Dr. McCrary is also an adjunct instructor for Friends University, where he has been teaching since 1998. He is the bereavement coordinator for Trinity Hospice and can be reached at 316-686-5999 or by email at larry.mccrary@trinityhospice.com. |
Hospice
2008-01-01 11:17:00
Who is Hospice for?
Is Hospice only for dying people?
It is certainly true that hospice is for people who have been diagnosed with a terminal illness. It is also true that, if the disease should run its normal course, the individual would have a life expectancy of six months.
But genuine hospice care goes much further than this. It also involves support and care for the family/caregivers of the individual who is on hospice. This care comes in the form of physical, spiritual and emotional support. When someone has chosen hospice, he/she is no longer aggressively seeking to treat a terminal illness and has chosen palliative care, or comfort care. The meaning behind the word “comfort” is the idea of “coming alongside of” and, in the case of hospice staff, this demonstrates the importance of the extra help and care brought to an individual and his/her loved ones.
If you have chosen hospice, the entire hospice staff is there to encourage and enhance your quality of life and to help ease the life and stress of your family/caregivers. The support for family members may come in a variety of ways. The reassurance that the family receives from the expertise and kind heart of the hospice nurse and the home health aides is invaluable. This support could also be in the form of caregiver relief, where the hospice patient is provided with respite care, allowing the family to have some time of rest or an opportunity to go out of town for a time of renewal. It could involve a hospice volunteer coming in to spend time with the individual, allowing the family to run errands or go shopping, or simply have some down time. The patient care advocates provide emotional support and are available to help the individual and family take advantage of the resources available in the community. Vital support is also provided by the hospice chaplain, who is available for encouraging and nurturing the spiritual needs of the individual and his family.
When a family member is on hospice and is near the end of this life, the family experiences a multitude of emotions. Some may be in denial, others may be angry, and some may simply choose to avoid the reality of the situation. Even if you have accepted the impending death of your loved one, you need to be able to express your feelings. Grief is experienced in a variety of ways and does not begin and end in a timely manner.
For this reason, it is vital that hospice has someone who deals specifically with grief issues of all those involved. This is the role of the hospice bereavement coordinator.
As a hospice bereavement coordinator, I have the privilege of assisting families as they grieve the loss of a family member. This process of grief may have begun long before the family member passed away. Whenever a hospice patient or a member of the family feels overwhelmed or simply needs someone to listen to, I am available to visit with them. And care for the family does not end when the patient passes away.
Hospice is for the dying, but is also very much for the living. Through the hospice bereavement program, families continue to have support and encouragement on an individual basis for at least thirteen months after the death of their loved one.
