Caring 15 Year Newsletter

C A R I N G
Like a sturdy oak tree, Ogeechee Area Hospice embraces
patients and their families, offering them the needed support
through the progressive stages of a life-limiting illness.
“There is no time in a person’s life when they
are more vulnerable than at the end of their
life. I am touched by the profound caring and
concern provided by Ogeechee Area Hospice—
not only to their patients but the continued care
to the families once their loved-one is gone. In
deciding where to put my energy, I wanted to be connected with
Ogeechee Area Hospice because their impact and dedication to
the community are extraordinary.”
Jean Bartels, RN, PhD
Life is for the Living
D
eath is a natural
and normal consequence of living — a final and
destined passage
for each of us.
Fortunately, we live in a time when
medical science has provided treatments for many medical conditions,
and for patients with an advanced
life-limiting illness, there are personal
options as to how their last months,
weeks and days may be lived through
hospice care.
The hospice movement was founded in America when the first hospice
was formed in Connecticut in 1974.
Giving the gift of “staying at home”
was a primary mission of hospice in
the United States. Over two decades
would pass before many rural dwellers
had access to hospice care. With the
creation of the not-for-profit, Ogeechee
Area Hospice in 1994, patients and
their families were given choices and
services that would radically change
the way people experienced the endof-life in the Ogeechee Region.
This unique philosophy of care is
really a philosophy of life — to live
fully, peacefully and without pain. To
enhance this final journey, Ogeechee
Area Hospice treats patients holistically with an approach addressing
their needs physically, emotionally and
spiritually. This is achieved through
a caring and highly trained interdisciplinary team of professionals and
support staff. The patient’s attending
physician, the hospice medical direc-
President: Ogeechee Area Hospice
Chair: School of Nursing, Georgia Southern University
tor, registered nurses, hospice nursing
assistants, social workers, chaplains,
physical therapists, and volunteers all
contribute their unique skills to address patient and family needs. As a
result, uncontrolled symptoms of the
patient and stress, panic and guilt of
the family are relieved.
Most patients under the care of
Ogeechee Area Hospice choose to be
at home. The care-giving family may
be naturally fearful and uneasy with
the responsibility of such a challenge,
but they soon learn that hospice will
support them completely when their
loved-one is under this umbrella of
care. If staying at home is not possible, inpatient care may be an option. Whether a patient is at home,
in a nursing home or under hospice
inpatient care, he or she and their
family may live each day fully, with
the freedom to be together during
this most precious time.
And after a loved-one is gone,
Ogeechee Area Hospice continues to
connect with the family in a significant way. Grief is a natural response
to death, and family may become
challenged by difficult and perhaps tumultuous emotions. The bereavement
program is designed for all members
of the family, including the children.
At Ogeechee Area Hospice,
through the care we provide to our
patients and their families, we never
forget that life is for the living.
Our Work is Our Calling
Linda Dickerson, RN,
BSN, CHPN
Alona Moseley, RN,
BSN, CHPN
Director of Clinical
Services
“My role at Ogeechee
Area Hospice engages
me in an interesting
and challenging job
alongside other staff
members who obviously
care a great deal
about what they do.
Our organization’s
mission of providing
compassionate care for
patients with terminal
illnesses fits perfectly
with my own desire to
help others, and allows
me to do so with an eye
to honoring God.”
Inpatient Center
Manager
“My aunt was in
hospice care before
I became a nurse.
I felt that the care
she received was
such a service to our
family that I wanted
to become part of
a hospice program
myself. I worked first
as a volunteer, and
then became a nurse.
Hospice nursing is my
life’s work.”
Liz Hutley,
RN, CHPN
Nicole Starks,
CNA
Home Care Team Nurse
Nursing Assistant
“My hospice work gives
me a tremendous feeling
of satisfaction and
gratitude. I feel a sense
of connection with the
families. I laugh with
them, cry with them
and help them get the
most of this time of their
life. My days are very
fulfilling — more than
any other nursing that I
have done.”
“Taking care of people
is an important life
experience for me.
When I have someone
in my care, I take
it very seriously and
give personalized care
because it could be
me in their position.
The caring, family
atmosphere of Ogeechee
Area Hospice is like
none other. I love
working with them.”
Charlotte Edwards,
LCSW
Carl Ledbetter,
M.Div
Inpatient Social
Worker
“I see my role as
empowering families so
that they do not have to
go through this alone.
We walk side by side
with them. I learn from
patients and families
every day then use that
lesson to help the next
patient and family.
When my mother died,
there was no hospice.
My father and I did the
best we could. Later,
when my aunt died
under hospice care, I
saw the difference it
made for families, and
I wanted to be part of
that.”
Hospice Chaplain,
Retired
“Hospice was a wonderful opportunity for true
ministry when people
needed it most. It was
like family to me, and
I will always remember
the brave people who
made my experience so
rich.”
There Had to be a Better Way
What Our Families Say
“My mother and I were very
close, and I became her primary care-giver. We loved to
laugh and reminisce. With
her care under the watchful
eye of Ogeechee Area Hospice, our time together was
cherished and complete.”
I
n a dimly lit room, in a
small house in Statesboro, a
young woman was tenderly
patting her ill mother’s aching forehead with a cool
washcloth. Linda was only
21, and her mother was much too
young to be stricken with brain cancer. Nancy Bryant, a home health
nurse in 1985, watched the gentle
exchange between mother and daughter. At that time hospice care was
not available in the region. The decision to reject continuous hospitalizations when further treatment was
futile, as desired by Linda’s mother,
was not typically considered. A death
at home would bring a coroner’s
inquest!
However, Nancy felt compelled
to assist this courageous daughter
and her fragile mother with her last
wish – to be at home. Permission
was granted from the county coroner.
Many visits and late-night calls lent
the inexperienced yet loving daughter
the support she needed to care for
her mother.
Linda lost her mother soon after. She died in the home that she
loved, with the daughter that she
loved. However, this story did not
end that evening. A new story began
— the story of hospice care in the
Ogeechee region.
Nancy drew on the strength of
Linda and her mother’s request to
die at home. As a critical care nurse
and then home health nurse, she
had cared for many patients at life’s
end. “People with terminal illness
were hospitalized and sent home;
only to end up in the hospital again
with pain and other symptoms, cry-
ing for help and isolated from their
loved ones. It was not anyone’s fault.
The unique knowledge about end-oflife care and the resources were not
available. I knew there had to be a
better way,” she recalls.
Time went by. Nancy enrolled in
graduate school at Georgia Southern
College in 1989, and then began
teaching in the Georgia Southern’s
Department of Nursing. Her philosophy around her own nursing practice
began to shape years earlier as an
undergraduate when Em Olivia Bevis PhD, the founder of the nursing
program at Georgia Southern, took
a particular interest in Nancy. It was
several years later however, that she
would connect Em’s teachings about
‘caring’ to her deep connection with
terminally ill individuals. Nancy had
allowed herself to be open to their
intense needs, open to their sadness
and open to their positive energy.
“It was Em who taught me to ‘catch
those moments of caring’ — to be
knowledgeable and skilled, yet vulnerable and open to learning and my
own intuition,” remembers Nancy.
And so Nancy Bryant felt directed to make hospice available to
people in this area, one step, and
one patient and family at a time.
“We are in a never ending quest to
facilitate comfort and peace for every person under our care and their
family,” says Nancy. While her nurses
and other disciplines must possess
knowledge and skill, she is keenly
aware that an essential element to
excellent hospice care is ‘caring’, as
defined by her mentor, Em Bevis,
years ago.
For someone so attuned to such
critical needs for patients and families, one must ask what is needed
next for Ogeechee Area Hospice?
Nancy envisions a wing to the Inpatient Center for patients who require
hospice care but who are without
a caregiver at home — a residential area of six to eight studio-type
rooms. This unit would complement
the acute care wings of the Inpatient
Center. Patients without caregivers
at home could feel safe and receive
needed care.
Looking back over these 15
years, Nancy sees that her experiences seem to fit together seamlessly,
yet along the road there were many
times of uncertainty. She says it best
this way, “I have had many moments
of doubts with more moments of
awareness that life is larger than all
of us and that a greater good guides
us. I do not know if I was destined
to do this. I know that my education and experiences prepared me in
a way that I could not have planned.
I also know that the nurses, social
workers, chaplains and others who
come to Ogeechee Area Hospice have
that same sense of purpose. It is a
wonderful cycle, because they now
teach me every day. And each individual and their family transmit that
energy which, in turn, compels us to
continue this journey called ‘hospice
care’.”
“Ogeechee Area Hospice
came into our lives when
my mother needed extra
loving hands to care for my
stepfather. His illness was
stressful for all of us, but
with your assistance we
were able to relax and just
be together.”
“Ogeechee Area Hospice
cared for my mother in the
nursing home and then
at the inpatient center.
The staff’s capabilities
are extraordinary. There
is nowhere else to get such
caring care.”
Understanding and Compassion
C
lark’s brother, Al,
was sent home from
a lengthy hospital
stay. Curative cancer
treatments had been
unsuccessful. It was
1995 and Ogeechee Area Hospice, a
relatively new service in the community,
was called in to help. “We put a
hospital bed in the dining room and
the nurses visited him often,” says
Clark. At 9:00 P.M. on a Sunday night,
four or five days after Al returned
home, the family noticed that his
condition was changing. “The nurse
came right away and stayed for two
hours, until my brother took his last
breath. I cannot tell you how much we
appreciated that,” he remembers.
“I most appreciate the dignity and Years later, Clark witnessed, once
professionalism offered by the staff. The again, the special care and attention
given by Ogeechee Area Hospice. His
nurse came out and stayed with my friend’s young, adult daughter was
brother until he passed. It would have dying. “When someone is older, you
know that death is possible. Hospice
been difficult to go through that alone.” seemed to understand the extreme
- Clark Deloach differences of a young person dying
and helped the family immensely,” says
Clark. The hospice staff supported his
good friend’s family and the daughter’s
friends through their confusion and
sadness at the loss of someone so
young.
Living through the loss of a
brother and supporting a friend who
needed the help of hospice to soften
the harsh reality of the death of a
child, were personal and touching
experiences for Clark. They were
events that helped shape his viewpoint
on the hospice approach to end-of-life
care. In 2001, Ogeechee Area Hospice
was in the planning stages for a new
Inpatient Center — a place for those
who could not be cared for at home.
So when asked to assist with a capital
campaign to finance the construction
of this much needed facility, Clark
wanted to help. “I felt that hospice
was just about the best place you
could put your time and money,” he
says.
After a successful campaign
and during construction of the new
hospice facility, Clark joined the
board of directors in 2004. Now in
this important capacity, he offered his
expertise to this caring cause. “There
was a broad range of skills represented
on the board,” he says. “Experiences
ranging from finance to legal expertise
and, of course, those who looked at
things from a medical perspective.”
Clark’s engineering background and
practical viewpoint offered a balance.
However, after the Ogeechee Area
Hospice Inpatient Center opened,
his hospice experience returned to
the personal. In 2008, his mother
died under the watchful care of the
staff in the Inpatient Center after
being attended to by Ogeechee Area
Hospice at a local nursing home. “We
thought she would not make it a week
when she entered the nursing home,”
Clark remarks. With extra guidance
and care from the hospice staff, his
mother lived for another year. When
her symptoms became more acute she
was moved to the Inpatient Center.
In speaking about his relationship
with Ogeechee Area Hospice, Clark
expresses this sentiment, “The staff
and volunteers made the process
of dying more understandable and
compassionate. You could not ask for
anything more.”
Part of a Greater Family
T
Lending his expertise as the former
Director of Real Estate for the
Postal Service in Washington D.C.,
Tom Coe (above) joined the board
of directors of Ogeechee Area
Hospice and assisted with the land
acquisition and planning of the
Inpatient Center.
hey heard the news
that anyone would
fear. “The cancer
has returned.” It
was a new year,
January 1997. At the
time, Tom Coe and his wife Evelyn,
believing that her years of remission
would continue, were gently moving
along with their lives. Now, a virulent
reoccurrence of her breast cancer
signaled an even tougher struggle
ahead of them. Both were prepared
to do whatever was required to send
the disease away, one more time.
Despite the treatment from
physicians in Washington D.C. and
in Georgia, Evelyn had a series of
serious medical reactions. The hope
was now for a miracle. During Evelyn’s
hospitalization her personal physician
and a social worker approached them
with an option that they did not
want to consider — hospice care. “I
don’t like this idea, but I will think
about it,” Tom remembers saying to
Nancy Bryant during a lengthy phone
conversation. He was angry and not
ready to give up — but the hospital
was sending Evelyn home.
Nancy made a home visit. “I
was assured by Nancy’s confidence in
the hospice approach and was touched
by her empathy,” says Tom. Within
24 hours a plan was prepared for
Evelyn’s care and regular hospice visits
began.
Hospice care is not a permanent
decision. Anyone who enrolls in
hospice always has the option to seek
a different medical approach. With
the emphasis on pain management
and comfort that was provided, Evelyn
and Tom were able to continue
somewhat of their former lifestyle
— going out for dinner among other
small outings.
There came a day in February
when Evelyn was too weak to stop for
dinner after a doctor’s appointment. “It
was Valentine’s day,” He remembers.
Their days were spent at home from
then on.
Evelyn died at home on March
15, 1997. Tom returned home
from the inevitable funeral home
arrangements to find that Ogeechee
Area Hospice had removed all the
medical equipment — the sad signs
of her illness. “I felt cared for. They
knew how hard it would be for me
to return home and see her hospice
equipment still there.”
Not long after, Tom contacted
Nancy and said, “What can I do to
help?” With a respect for the difference
Ogeechee Area Hospice had made in
his life, he assisted in the production
of an educational video about this
unique, excellent service with Sharyn
White, an assistant professor of
communications at Georgia Southern
College. Sharyn later became is wife —
a transition into the next phase of his
life as a result of his association with
Ogeechee Area Hospice. Then, lending
his expertise as the former Director
of Real Estate for the Postal Service
in Washington D.C., Tom joined
the board of directors of Ogeechee
Area Hospice and assisted with the
land acquisition and planning of the
Inpatient Center.
In his timeless video, Tom gives
profound testimony to his journey with
his wife and her care by Ogeechee
Area Hospice. He passionately remarks
that they had feared a loss of control
and an intrusion into a very personal
part of their lives but “instead,” he
says, “we found ourselves part of a
greater family.”
The First 15 Years of Caring
1993-Summer
1993-Fall
1996
1994-April
Herb O’Keefe, Ph.D., a
Nancy gets to
With the first
The first Children’s
faculty member in the School
work in a small
Bereavement
of Business at Georgia
patient experi-
office provided
ence complete,
Camp is founded
Southern College and Nancy
to her in the
by Social Worker
Bryant, RN, MSN, two vision-
certification
former Bulloch
with Medicare
Peter Welle.
aries for hospice in Bulloch
Memorial
and surrounding counties, meet to discuss their
and Medicaid is
Hospital. With
ideas for an area hospice. Herb had a positive
granted. A pub-
seed money,
lic education
prior experience with Hospice Savannah when
an office space and a nurse with a mission for her
he lost his mother. Nancy was an experienced
and physician
community, Ogeechee Area Hospice is founded.
awareness
1996-February
program is initi-
Ogeechee Area Hospice splits from Ogeechee
home-health nurse and nursing educator at
Georgia Southern College who was keenly aware
1994-March
ated. Targeted conversations with area doctors
Home Health when it is sold to the new owners
begin to bring in patient referrals.
of East Georgia Regional Medical Center. Board
of the lack of resources in the area. She had
Ogeechee Area
experienced first-hand the pain, isolation and out-
Hospice admits its
of-control symptoms of patients with life-limiting
first patient, Marion
For the first year, the hospice struggles to survive
million in proceeds from the sale, now an asset
illnesses. Her interest in terminal and high-risk
Hitt, a humanitarian
of Ogeechee Area Hospice, be used for the
patients drove her concern for expanding services
with an average of four patients a day.
of the community,
to the community.
who was proud to
be patient number
president, Herb O’Keefe, proposes that the $2
construction of a future inpatient facility.
Caring for 10-12 patients a day, the primary use
1994
Although others had tried unsuccessfully, Herb
one. Mrs. Hitt is the first person in Bulloch County
of available funds is patient care. With a stream-
and Nancy set out to make a significant change
Martha Firges, a
to be granted her desire to die at home, surround-
retired RN, begins
lined budget and a passion for the hospice
in end-of-life care for their community. With a
ed by loved ones. Her care was administered by
mission, Nancy juggles her time between patient
proposal she had prepared, Nancy approaches
her volunteer service
Nancy, Jean Iler RN, a volunteer chaplain and
with the new agency.
care, community education and administrative
the Ogeechee Home Health Board of Directors.
daughter Harriet. “My experience with the nurses
duties.
Nancy and Herb have a dual vision of hospice,
Martha’s dedicated
from Ogeechee Area Hospice is one that I shall
she knows that 90% of the care would be in the
service to patients
never forget. I could not have gone through such
home and Herb is focused on inpatient care. Both
and families extended
a heart wrenching period without their help. Their
aspects of hospice care are part of the whole
until her death in
number one concern was for my mother’s com-
hospice story.
fort, but the compassion they showed to me was
volunteers would follow in her footsteps through the
more than I ever expected. They prepared me for
coming years.
The board of Bulloch Memorial Hospital, with
the death that was near for my mother. God was
positive input from the hospital’s physicians,
truly working through these wonderful ladies and
recognizes the need in the community and wants
I’ll be forever grateful.”
to lend its support. The hospital awards Nancy a
- Harriet H. Ellett
$50,000 start-up grant.
2008. Many hospice
1997
2001
the perfect match and a new location is founded.
Today
Dropped between existing elderly oak trees, the
building fits the site perfectly in the seemingly
destined space.
2003
With a growth of 10% per year, the ensuing years
Property is purchased on Country Club Road in
continue operations with a lean office staff. The
Bulloch County for an inpatient center. Atlanta-
major balance of funds continues to be directed
based architects, Perkins and Will, experts in the
towards clinical care. This patient-first mission
unique and complex design of hospice inpatient
exceeds the ratio of nurse to patient care required
facilities, are hired to execute a design. The
by state guidelines. Emotional and spiritual
remainder of the design team includes hospice
Pope Construction begins construction with board
85-90 patients, and continues its primary goal of
support is also emphasized, and a small army
staff members, Nancy Bryant, Charlotte Edwards,
oversight and community curiosity and enthusi-
patient-first care. The hospice has grown to include
of trained volunteers are at work traveling from
Linda Dickerson and board member Dick Mellett.
asm.
70 paid staff members and over 50 volunteers.
home to home. Ironically, Marion Hitt’s home on
Once designed, the 17,000 sq. ft. project costs
Zetterower Avenue, now an office building, serves
come in over $4 million. In need of another $1 mil-
as the Ogeechee Area Hospice headquarters.
lion, a capital campaign is planned and initiated
of directors with a reputation of compassionate and
in December. Over the next 6 months, community
impeccable care.
2000
commitment exceeds expectations, with over $1
Funds from the original $2 million seed money
million pledged.
Ogeechee Area Hospice has a daily census of
Ogeechee Area Hospice continues to thrive under
2005 - August
have grown to approximately $3 million. With the
continued growth to an average of 43 patients a
Planning continues on the new facility but issues
day an inpatient facility is seriously needed for
with sewer and water are driving the cost of
patients requiring intense intervention. It is now a
construction to an excessive amount. The site has
realistic vision.
become less workable.
The 12 bed, state-of-the-art, Ogeechee Area Hospice Inpatient Center is opened to meet the growing
Meanwhile, a controversy is brewing over the
needs of Bulloch and surrounding counties. The
former site of the Bulloch Memorial Hospital and
interdisciplinary home care team, management staff
its usage. Hearing about the county’s plan for
and business personnel now work from an adjoining
demolition, Nancy, Lamar Reddick and Dick Mel-
wing. The Chapel, a center piece of the space, gives
lett, approach the county manager with a plan to
testimony to the philosophy of care and commitment
solve the county’s problem. If the county donated
of the community. The hospice is serving an aver-
the land, the new Ogeechee Area Hospice would
age of 68 patients a day, with an alternative setting
have a home. Bulloch County officials recognize
when symptoms need critical attention or death is
not desired at home.
the careful direction of the current volunteer board
Medical Directors
Ogeechee Area Hospice Presidents
Steve Gottlieb, MD
1994-1999
Herbert O’Keefe, Ph.D.
1994 - 1998
Andrew Cichelli, MD
1999-2001
Bruce Avant
1998 - 2001
John Gerguis, MD
2001-Present
Tom Coe
2001 - 2002
photo by Andrea Leonardi
Jean Bartels, Ph.D.
2002 - 2005
2007 - Present
Trish Tootle
2007 - Present
A Jewel in the Community
S
ome years ago, president
of the board of Ogeechee
Home Health, Herb
O’Keefe recognized the
need for hospice care in
the area. Unlike many
who were naïve about the benefits of
hospice care, his mother had been a
patient of Hospice Savannah. Herb
therefore knew, first hand, about this
holistic and compassionate care. His
thoughts would often wander to this
personal and positive experience for
his mother and his family.
But Herb’s talents were in a
different arena, as a professor of
accounting for the Georgia Southern
School of Business, he was skilled in
finance and administration. So when
his volunteer work as board president
with Ogeechee Home Health Agency
brought him together with Nancy
Bryant RN, MSN, a faculty member
at Georgia Southern and a parttime home health nurse with the
agency, a hospice visionary team was
founded. “Our concern was to be
able to supply a full stratum to the
community and we felt that hospice
was the piece that was missing,” Herb
says. Ogeechee Home Health then
formed a sister agency, Ogeechee
Area Hospice, under the leadership
of Nancy Bryant. “Events just seemed
to fall together and the community
benefited from it greatly,” he adds.
A short two years later
Ogeechee Home Health Agency, a
non-profit agency funded and created
in 1973 by Charlotte White RN and
her husband Dr. Steve White, was
acquired by the new owners of the
East Georgia Regional Medical Center.
As a result, Ogeechee Area Hospice
was left as a freestanding nonprofit entity, now governed by Herb
O’Keefe and the former board of the
home health agency. He encouraged
his hospice board to allocate the
proceeds from the acquisition as seed
money for the future construction
of a hospice inpatient facility. With
his financial guidance and Nancy’s
health care expertise, they were able
to engage an entire region in the
support of a much needed hospice
home care program; with Herb’s
vision and plan for a future hospice
inpatient facility.
Years later, Herb looks back on
the accomplishments of the boards
of Ogeechee Home Health and
Ogeechee Area Hospice and believes
that the Inpatient Center is a “jewel
in the community”. “I had the night
shift driving back and forth between
Savannah and Statesboro for about a
month helping my sisters, when my
mother was in Hospice Savannah,”
he says. Now residents of the area
have a hospice close to home.
Ogeechee Area Hospice exists for the
sole purpose of providing expert comfort
and bereavement support to persons
affected by a life-limiting illness. With
a common spirit of compassion, choice,
respect and cooperation, we fulfill our
commitment of promoting human dignity and comfort to eligible residents of
Bulloch and the surrounding counties.
“Caring” Ogeechee Area Hospice
Nancy Bryant, Executive Director
Bonnie Jaeger, Writer
Hilde Keldermans, Graphic Designer
www.ogeecheeareahospice.org • 912 - 764-8441
Ogeechee Area Hospice provides care based on need regardless of age,
sex, race, religion, lifestyle, diagnosis or ability to pay. GA License # 016057-H. If you would prefer not to receive any further promotional information, contact the Community Relations Coordinator at 1.800.236.1142.