SPACECOASTMEDICINE.COM SPECIAL REPORT

“IN LOVING HANDS,” a collaborative project between Wuesthoff Hospice & Palliative Care and Brevard Community College, paired photography students with hospice workers with the direction for the students to use their photographic skills to portray what it means to be a hospice caregiver. This photo is a remarkable result of the project. “Until my time with this project I have never seen such pure examples of love, hope, understanding and courage,” said student Justin Shimer. “I leave this project with a profound respect for Hospice and everything they do.”

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – The concept of hospice as a place to treat the incurably ill has been evolving since the 11th century and entered the United States in the 1970’s. Today, one out of three people in the United States die in the care of hospice. When faced with a life-limiting illness, patients and their families need to understand hospice care and the steps necessary to access this quality end-of-life option.

WILLIAM CHILDS HOSPICE HOUSE — Brevard’s first freestanding hospice facility — provides area residents with an additional choice for care at the end of a loved one’s life. Located on five acres on the campus of Palm Bay Community Hospital, this eight-bed, inpatient facility is the first of its kind locally.

“Whether someone is there for three hours or three weeks, they all feel it’s their house for that time,” said Roberta Van Dusen, executive director of Hospice of Health First, which operates the William Childs Hospice House in Palm Bay.

The hospice house is part of the face of hospice, a vital service that allows the terminally ill and their families to travel life’s final journey with dignity and love.
“Hospice is a philosophy of care,” said Van Dusen. “It’s all about competent, compassionate care at the end of life.”

The term once referred to a place where travelers could stop for solace and refreshments before continuing with their journey.

Although dedicated places for comforting the terminally ill were in existence as far back as the 11th century, the modern hospice movement, which focuses on the patient rather than the disease, first took hold during the 1950’s in England. In the 1960’s, psychiatrist/writer Elisabeth Kubler-Ross brought the subject of death out of the closet, helping to mainstream the idea of hospice.

Today, more than 3,000 hospices operate in the United States. According to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, approximately 39 percent of all deaths in the US were under the care of a hospice program in 2007, and 930,000 patients died that year while under hospice care.

Hospice enables patients to remain relatively free from pain, surrounded by loved ones and living life as fully as possible.

Services include managing pain and symptoms, assisting the patient and his family with the emotional and spiritual aspects of dying and helping the family deal with the challenging times facing them. Death is embraced as a natural part of life, not as a medical failure.

Brevard Features Outstanding Facilities and Services

Wuesthoff Health System’s Dr. Jey Pillai Center for Hospice Care, set to open next year in Rockledge, will offer private patient rooms with patio area, a kitchen where families can cook if they wish, a chapel and facilities to keep children occupied.

Health First’s Hospice House, currently the only freestanding dedicated hospice facility in the Space Coast will next year be joined by Wuesthoff Health System’s Dr. Jey Pillai Center for Hospice Care in Rockledge.

Like the Health First hospice house in Palm Bay, the new building will offer private patient rooms with patio area, a kitchen where families can cook if they wish, a chapel and facilities to keep children occupied.

“It’s going to be such a great facility for the community, I get goose bumps talking about it,” said Valree Peralta, manager for community services at Wuesthoff Hospice and Palliative Care.

Hospice of St. Francis can count on the help of more than 125 volunteers. At Health First, more than 200 volunteers help patients and families with grocery shopping, transportation, errands, respite breaks and also offer bereavement support. Wuesthoff has almost 300 hospice volunteers on board. PHOTO BY YVETTE GIOIA

Hospice, however, is not a place, but rather a service. Of the 1,100 patients the Hospice of Health First serves in a year, for example, only about 5 percent received services at the hospice house.

“Most hospice services are provided in a patient’s own home,” said Bruce Wolters, executive director of Hospice of St. Francis, Brevard’s first hospice and the second oldest in the state. “The majority of our patients die in their own homes.”

In addition to St. Francis, Health First and Wuesthoff, Brevard County residents can also choose Vitas Innovative Hospice, part of a national chain that is a leader in hospice care.

Hospice encompasses patient, caregivers and family. “The philosophy focuses on the patient and the family,” said Valerie Kenworthy, volunteer coordinator for Hospice of Health First.

To address the needs of children, hospices offer free camps for children who’ve lost a person important in their lives.

“Children are the forgotten grievers,” said Brooke Davis, coordinator for Hospice of St. Francis’ North Star children’s camp. “Children grieve differently than adults.”

Hospice Now Mainstream

Once considered on the fringe of health care, hospice is now mainstream. “Hospice has been recognized as an important part of health care delivery,” said Kenworthy.

THERAPY DOG BRADY, and Volunteer Sheila Felock, brighten the day of a patient at the William Childs Hospice House.

Yet despite the fact that the hospice movement is not new, the community still often harbors misconceptions. “Some people still think hospice is a place,” said Peralta.

“Hospice is wherever our patients are. It’s a type of care. Many patients are referred to us at the very end of life. Family members later tell us they wish they had known about us sooner. It’s such a shame, because we could have been caring for the patients and the families. It is not for people on the last few days of life.”

Average Hospice Stay More Than Two Months

While some patients use the service only at the very end, others rely on hospice for months and even years. According to National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization data, the average length of hospice care was more than two months.

HEALTH FIRST HOSPICE patient Pete Caruso and Volunteer Peter Luedtke.

Hospice services are usually covered by Medicare and typically carry no costs for patients with incurable diseases. Hospice houses provide 24/7 care for patients who cannot be cared for at home.
“We have a lot of people who live here but whose loved ones aren’t local,” said Van Dusen.
The hospice movement in the United States was spearheaded by volunteers, and even though volunteers now do not perform medical care, they continue as an integral part of the service team.

“Volunteers lend a lot of support,” said Wolters of Hospice of St. Francis. “That’s what makes hospices unique.”

Hospice of St. Francis can count on the help of more than 125 volunteers. At Health First, more than 200 volunteers help patients and families with grocery shopping, transportation, errands, respite breaks and also offer bereavement support. Wuesthoff has almost 300 hospice volunteers on board.

This photo is from “In Loving Hands,” a collaborative project between Wuesthoff Hospice & Palliative Care and Brevard Community College.

When Charlotte Bauer and her husband retired to Brevard from Pittsburgh seven years ago, Bauer signed up as a hospice volunteer for Hospice of Health First. The former nurse did not know that hospice was to play an important part in her life.

When her husband developed cancer, Bauer took a hiatus from volunteer work to care for him.

“Towards the last month of his life, it became much more difficult for me to care for him, so I called hospice,” said Bauer, of Melbourne. “He was in a lot of pain. We both needed the support of hospice.”

The hospice team – social worker, nurse and home health aide – gave Bauer the help she desperately needed.

Thanks to hospice, her husband’s last days were comfortable and pain-free, and when he quietly passed away New Year’s Day of 2006, the nurse came to be with Bauer until arrangements were made.

“My husband died so peacefully,” she said. “Hospice was there for me 24/7.”

"Her last remaining strengths...her fist and Jehovah her God." PHOTO BY YVETTE GIOIA

Bauer is back as a hospice volunteer, again providing respite breaks so families can run errands and also helping out at the William Childs Hospice House.

November is National Hospice Month celebrating the contributions of all of the dedicated volunteers and professionals who are committed to providing support and care for persons in the last phases of an incurable disease so that they may live as fully and as comfortably as possible.

“It’s a good way for me to give back,” said Bauer. “It’s what life is all about.”

Related posts:

1. Childs Hospice House Celebrates Fifth Anniversary
2. Wuesthoff Breaks Ground on Hospice House
3. Powers Selected Director of Wuesthoff Hospice
4. Wuesthoff Health System Breaks Ground on Hospice House
5. OPERATION RAINBOW: The Color of Hope