Read incredible stories shared by hospice and palliative care patients, their families, hospice care professionals, and hospice volunteers. Submit your own hospice and palliative care story below, and share your experience or that of a loved one’s incredible journey at the end of life.
State Senator Gen Olson (R), Minnetrista, was looking to experience hospice first hand. “I understand hospice care from the periphery but this is very helpful to witness the positive impact that this type of care offers,” said Olson. Olson accompanied Ridgeview Hospice nurse Sue Fink on a visit to Margaret and Eugene Willems’ home near… [Read more]
ElLoise Underwood was chosen as Volunteer of the Year by the Minnesota Hospital Association and received the award at the Association’s annual Trustee Conference in January 2003. ElLoise is pictured above with Iva Thielges, volunteer coordinator for St. Joseph’s Health Services in Park Rapids, MN, at the awards banquet. If you look closely, you will… [Read more]
When one of our hospice patients has a birthday, the staff plans a party complete with family members, a clown, balloons and the cake of their choice. When my turn to bake the cake came around, I was told this patient wanted a dark chocolate cake with fluffy white frosting. I thought, “No problem; I’ll… [Read more]
“It is very important that we be there for our Deaf friends who are on hospice care. I know they feel relieved, relaxed and grateful to have a Deaf person there for them.” – Barb Schmidt Under the American with Disabilities Act (ADA), Deaf people are entitled to the services of a certified interpreter. In… [Read more]
Providing hospice home care can be challenging under the best of circumstances. In Tanzania, Paulina Natema of Selian Lutheran Hospital does not have the best of circumstances. Imagine being the only nurse in a hospice program, supervising 60 volunteers providing care for 300 patients. Imagine further doing this without such luxuries as money, transportation or… [Read more]
When you put a group of hospice nurses together and don’t give them enough to do, they must find someone to care for. That’s what happened to the nurses and office staff of Seasons Hospice as they prepared to open their residential facility in Rochester, Minnesota. The opening was planned and all was falling into… [Read more]
This story was submitted by a Greater Minnesota hospice program. The names and some of the details have been changed to protect the family’s privacy, but the major events and the spirit of the story are absolutely real. Jesse was only seventeen, but he was in the final stages of a form of leukemia that… [Read more]
Ridgeview Hospice has had a very special experience in being able to support one of our patients in making arrangements for her wedding. Cindy Swenson was a Ridgeview Hospice patient from February 10th to March 28th of 2003. Cindy and her husband, David Eggert, wanted to share their story and granted us permission to write… [Read more]
This spring the Zumbrota Hospital closed its doors and so did the Zumbrota Area Hospice. For sixteen years Leah Wichmann had been the director of that program. Here, in her own words, Leah tells how hospice became part of the Zumbrota area communities. When I was hired as the director of the new hospice program,… [Read more]