Greater R - Gilchrist Hospice Care

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WE HONOR VETERANS is a partnership
with the National Hospice and Palliative Care
Organization and the Veterans Administration.
Gilchrist Hospice Care and other like-minded hospices
across the country have heightened their efforts to
anticipate, address and honor the unique end of life
care needs of military veterans, who account for one out
of every four deaths nationwide every year.
(full story on page 2)
Also in this issue:
Friendship borne out of loss........3
Gilchrist nurse featured in
national magazine.....................4
Sharing their Hospice Journey...5
Briefs & Updates.......................6
Continuing our
commitment...............................7
r
Summe
2012
We Honor Veterans
Gilchrist Hospice Care Social Worker Anjana Chacko
knew her patient was hard-of-hearing, and that his
Alzheimer’s disease might slow his comprehension of
what was about to happen. So she spelled it all out on
a white dry erase board and placed it on 91-year-old
Albert Grimes’ lap.
“Thank you for the sacrifices that you made to serve
our country,” she began as Mr. Grimes, a World War
II Army Air Corps veteran, read along. When she was
done, she gestured to Gilchrist volunteer Gordon Jones,
himself a Korean War veteran, to do the honors: placing a
special commemorative veteran pin on Mr. Grimes’ shirt collar.
“Nice. Very nice,” Mr. Grimes said, as his family and friends
snapped pictures in a small room, which had been adorned with
war mementos, pictures and patriotic decorations.
These special “pinning ceremonies” serve as a very tangible part
of the effort Gilchrist staff and volunteers put into recognizing
the military service of patients. Mr. Grimes, even though
suffering with late-stage Alzheimer’s and lacking short-term
memory, can still remember every detail of his past military
service – down to the serial numbers on the airplanes he worked
on during his tour in the Pacific.
The premise behind “We Honor Veterans” is three-fold: to
honor and acknowledge the very special role veterans played in
safeguarding the freedom of all Americans; to provide multiple
opportunities for veterans to talk about the impact their service
had – and continues to have – on their lives; and to ensure that
terminally-ill veterans are receiving all of the benefits to which
they are entitled.
While Gilchrist staff knew that Mr. Grimes was a World War
II veteran, it wasn’t until he began chatting with Gilchrist
volunteer Helen Wiegmann that the normally reticent man
began to open up about his time in the military.
“Despite his Alzheimer’s, the ladies were amazed that he could
tell them the month, day and date of where he was and what
he did during the War. It was just remarkable,” said Mr. Grimes’
daughter Kay Merrill, who made the event extra special by
decorating the little room in red, white and blue, and bringing
cupcakes and war mementos for the occasion. “Helen just knew
how to communicate with him and what to say.”
Greater Reflections Summer 2012 Page 2
Statement read to veterans during
pinning ceremonies:
“Thank you for the
sacrifices you made
to serve our country.
You endured hardships
and were willing to
risk your life to
maintain our freedom.
It is an honor to present
you with this pin
as a token of our
thanks and gratitude.”
(l to r): Shirley Michael, Mary Jane Obaker, Gloria Mohr and Nancy White spend an afternoon catching up after the busy holiday season.
Friendship borne out of loss
Years after Gloria Mohr, Mary Jane Obaker, Nancy White and Shirley Michael first met through a mother’s
grief support group at Gilchrist Center, they still are there to support each other – in good times and bad.
Their kinship, kindled during monthly support group
sessions at Gilchrist Center, came out of a shared
understanding – of what it was like to lose a beloved
daughter. Over the next five years, that friendship
would mellow and grow, allowing the four women to
both celebrate the good in their lives and to support
each other through the bad.
So it came as no surprise to Gloria Mohr when, after
the sudden death of her husband, George, last year,
the women, whom she calls “my mothers,” walked into
the funeral home to pay their respects. “It was such a
warm feeling,” Mrs. Mohr said. “It was just so good to
see the three of them together.”
The four women first met at the inaugural Gilchrist
Hospice Care support group for mothers who had
lost an adult child. Each month, they would come to
Gilchrist Center to share their stories of loss while
learning to live with their new reality. Over time,
they started to take their friendship beyond Gilchrist
Center’s walls – dining after their support group
meetings and talking on the phone.
“It’s hard enough to find another widow who
understands what you’re going through, but there’s
not even a name for it when you lose a child. You’re
just brokenhearted. Without a support group, it’s very
difficult to find another mother who’s suffered that
kind of devastating loss,” said Mrs. Obaker.
In the years since they met, they’ve celebrated the
births of grandchildren and great nieces, counseled
each other through difficult moves and just been there
to support each other.
Three of the women also donate their time as Gilchrist
volunteers, sitting with patients or driving them to
appointments and helping out with both clerical
work and fund-raising.
And, while none of the women still attend the
mother’s group, they continue to meet for an
occasional meal and talk when ever they can.
Gloria Mohr and
Nancy White share
a special moment.
It’s the support
that’s been
invaluable. We all
like each other, and
we all experience the same feelings because we’ve
all been through the same things. ”
- Shirley Michael
Greater Reflections Summer 2012 Page 3
Sharing Their Hospice Journey
A special site for hospice patients allows families to share
their final moments with loved ones.
Gilchrist Nurse Featured in Ladies’ Home Journal
To read the Ladies Home Journal story, visit our Facebook page: facebook.com/GilchristHospiceCare
To read Jill’s blog post, visit gilchristhospice.wordpress.com
Gilchrist Hospice Care and one of our home care
nurses, Jill Campbell, were featured in an extraordinary
and poignant hospice story in the July edition of the
national magazine, Ladies Home Journal.
Over the period of six months, Pulitzer Prize-winning
journalist Diana K. Sugg and Pulitzer nominated
photographer Monica Lopossay followed Jill,
documenting her interactions with patients. The result
was a moving eight-page feature that chronicled the
hospice experience and showed the depth of compassion
and care provided by hospice workers every day.
The reaction to the story was immediate and
overwhelming. Within days of appearing on-line in
early June, the Ladies Home Journal story had received
thousands of “likes” on Facebook, and the magazine
followed the story with a blog post that told the
personal hospice stories of its staffers.
In July, the National Hospice and Palliative Care
Organization (NHPCO), the umbrella group for
hospices nationwide, featured Jill and the Ladies Home
Journal story in its newsletter. And hospice organizations
throughout the country shared the story through social
networking sites and with their staffs and families.
In her own post on the Gilchrist Blog, Jill marveled
at the experience: “My hope is this article will reach
families struggling with the hospice decision, as well as
assist doctors who are unsure about making a hospice
referral. My patients and families are the true angels in
this story. I merely guide them through their journey.”
Gilchrist is honored that our amazing organization
and one of our talented nurses were able to take part
in a piece that is already helping to educate families
nationally about the benefits of hospice care.
It had been more than a week since Dana Kemp’s last
upbeat post on the site, Hospice Journey, when she gave
the first hint to extended family and friends about her
partner Donald Rottman’s impending death. Just after
10 a.m. on December 27, 2011, Dana posted a cryptic
quote about life, death and “the transition.”
Now, hours after Don’s death, she was ready to share
the sad news widely.
“There are some gifts that last an eternity, and
Don received one of those gifts this holiday season.
Surrounded by family, Don went to be with his pop
pop for eternity…He will no longer struggle and
fight, but will fish, and run marathons with a grin on
his face, and peace in his heart…”
Dana Kemp, December 28, 2011, 8:01 a.m. via
Donald’s Hospice Journey site.
That posting was the culmination of four months of
journal entries, all written by Dana and approved by
Don, that were open for viewing by selected family
and friends through the Hospice Journey website. The
site, specially-designed for those nearing death, allows
families to update loved ones about a patient’s progress
without having to make multiple phone calls or send
multiple e-mails.
“It was a great way to do a mass message to show the
journey of his life,” said Dana. “I was able to insinuate
that he was dying, but not show the saddest parts of it.”
All Gilchrist families
are told about the opportunity to create a page on
Hospice Journey, which was borne out of the hospice
experience of a California-based software engineer
whose mother died of cancer in 2007. More than 1,000
families nationwide have created pages on the site since
its launch in 2010 and the creators of Hospice Journey
have since added a companion site, What Matters
Now, for seriously-ill patients who are not necessarily
terminally-ill.
In addition to updates, the site allows families to upload
pictures, to read comments from those viewing the
posts and to post reflections about what is important to
them. It also includes a resources section with websites
and suggested readings related to death and dying.
For Gilchrist RN Chris Carver, who oversaw Donald
Rottman’s care, Dana’s posts offered insight into her
emotional response to the changes she was seeing and into
how she was coping: “She was a very adept and very, very
skilled caregiver,” Chris said. “Dana and Don had such a
large circle of friends to keep informed. This site decreased
the number of phone calls she had to make or receive.”
Since Don’s death, Dana has posted a handful of times,
offering thanks for prayers and reflections on her own grief.
“For me personally, the site offered a way
to articulate how we, as individuals, need
to live each moment and really enjoy life. I
always promised Don I would do everything
in my power to help him die with dignity.”
Photos by Monica Lopossay for Ladies’ Home Journal
Greater Reflections Summer 2012 Page 4
Donald Rottman and Dana Kemp
- Dana Kemp
Greater Reflections Summer 2012 Page 5
lebrate&sup
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Taste fare from 26
of Howard County’s
finest restaurants and
caterers, as well as live
and silent auction and
a cash raffle
The Holly Ball
Friday, December 14 • 7pm
Baltimore Marriott Waterfront
With a year of successful inpatient care at Gilchrist Center
Howard County behind us, Gilchrist Hospice Care
continues to seek funds to help support the 10-bed hospice
center – the only such facility in Howard County.
Gilchrist Hospice Care
continues to raise funds
to support our pediatric
hospice program,
Gilchrist Kids. Each
year, Gilchrist absorbs
significant costs for
Gilchrist Kids due to the
extraordinary amount of
resources required to care
for our youngest patients and their families.
To date, Gilchrist has raised nearly half of its target goal
of $2.5 million to help underwrite both the one-time
construction and capital costs related to the creation of the
new center as well as the ongoing costs of providing care
that exceed insurance reimbursements.
Gilchrist is also raising funds to support the Gilchrist
Kids Endowment, which, when fully funded, will help
pay the both the costs of providing direct patient care
as well as grief counseling and financial assistance for
families with little or no insurance.
Proceeds benefit Gilchrist Center Howard County.
Proceeds benefit Gilchrist Kids.
or call Cliff Hughes at 410-730-1764.
or call Carol Pierce at 443-849-8245.
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Taste & Auction of Howard County
Sunday, October 21 • 5-9pm• Turf Valley
gilchristhospice.org/taste
gilchristhospice.org/hollyball
Continuing our Commitment
Gilchrist staff and volunteers work to ensure the continued
survival of our partner hospice in Tanzania.
After two visits in as many years to our partner in
Tanzania, Nkoaranga Lutheran Hospital’s hospice
and palliative care program, Gilchrist Hospice Care
remains as committed as ever to ensuring the continued
existence of a program that brings comfort to so many a
half a world away.
The most recent trip to Nkoaranga earlier this year
by three Gilchrist workers – Chaplain Don Hohne,
Nurse Clinical Specialist Marilyn Graves and
Volunteer Services Manager Debbie Jones –reinforced
the continuing need for the resources, dollars and
educational opportunities supplied by Gilchrist.
“The need here is great, but compassion and support is
at work in this place through the hearts and minds of
these staff and volunteers,” Chaplain Don wrote in a
blog post during the February trip.
Currently, Gilchrist is supplying all funding for basic
operations of the program, which lost its financial
support when a U.S. initiative stopped providing
money for the program in February 2011. In addition,
Gilchrist has committed to fund the salary of a full-time
physician dedicated to the program; charity care for
patients who need in-patient hospital care; and school
fees for some of the children orphaned by the HIV/
AIDS epidemic in the country.
Gilchrist has also committed to paying the expenses for
two Nkoaranga team members to travel to the United
States in April 2013.
Since the 2009 start of the partnership, Gilchrist has
raised more than $100,000 for Nkoaranga through a
grass roots effort that has included sales of African
bead bracelets and calendars, as well as staff payroll
deductions, grants, donations, events and other
merchandise.
(l) Heidi Dorsey, (m) Amy LaMoure with Dr. Chessare.
For more information, visit:
gilchristhospice.org/tanzania.
Pictures, top to bottom: Gilchrist Hospice Care and Nkoaranga
staff, home care visit for Nkoaranga patient, Gilchrist Chaplain
Don Hohne gives children “comfort dolls” made by Gilchrist
volunteers, Thomas rests with his comfort doll.
Greater Reflections Summer 2012 Page 7
443.849.8200
gilchristhospice.org
11311 McCormick Road, Suite 350
Hunt Valley, Maryland 21031
For referrals call: 1.800.HOSPICE
(1.800.4 6 7 . 7 4 2 3 )
HOWARD COUNTY
5537 Twin Knolls Road, Suite 433
Columbia, Maryland 21045
phone 410.730.5072
TTY Maryland Relay Service: 1.800.735.2258
Gilchrist Hospice Care provides services without regard to race, color, creed, sex,
sexual orientation, disability, religion, ability to pay or national origin.
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Catherine Y. Hamel
Lori D. Mulligan
Megan Dempsey
Lisa Burgunder
Executive Director
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Design & Production
Writer
The people who work here
do more than just a job.
They often make special connections with you and your family –
on top of the exceptional care and support they routinely provide.
Honor that notable team member or volunteer by making a donation through our
Gifts of Gratitude program.
Your special contribution allows us to continue providing the finest in end of life
care, while also providing special recognition opportunities for the deserving team
member or volunteer you identify.
To tell us about an outstanding team member
or volunteer and make a donation, visit:
gilchristhospice.org/donation_gog