Rochester Post Bulletin
11/05/2004

Hospice offers community events

By Jeff Hansel
jhansel@postbulletin.com

Hospice workers in the Rochester area plan several events to help people learn about hospice care and ways of coping with grief.

Seasons Hospice will celebrate the opening of new home-care offices Nov. 19 and have a remembrance ceremony in December. The Mayo Clinic Hospice Program will offer presentations on coping with grief Monday in Lake City and Nov. 16 in Rochester.

On Nov. 16, Seasons will also have a Thanksgiving breakfast at the Plummer House to honor hospice volunteers and providers. Seasons will celebrate the relocation of its home-care staff on Nov.19.

Hospice is a service offered to families when one member has a terminal illness. A physician referral is required, showing the patient is not expected to live longer than six months and is seeking comfort care, rather than a cure.

Family members, who are the primary caregivers, are offered assistance "as frequently as the patient and the family need that," said Pam Schaid, Seasons administrator. Teams include social workers, volunteers, the patient, family members, nurses, doctors and a variety of other professionals, including pharmacists. Support services are available, including nursing care, equipment, medication and supplies.

"It's a frightening time for patients and families, and the most important thing is hospice is there so patients and families don't have to do it alone," Schaid said. Hospice is covered by Medicare, Medicaid and most private insurance.

Ann Bartlett, Mayo Clinic Hospice Program coordinator, said Mayo services are provided in Rochester and Wabasha offices to people in Dodge, Olmsted, Fillmore and Wabasha counties in Minnesota -- and in Pepin and Buffalo counties in Wisconsin.

Bartlett said hospice helps manage pain and other symptoms for persons receiving hospice services.

"The focus of hospice is on helping them live as fully as they can until they die," she said. Hospice, she said, "is home-based, but family-centered."

Hospice workers help family members understand the dying process.

"It's a team of professionals that direct any activities toward physical needs, spiritual and emotional needs," she said. For the person who is dying, it is often important to know that survivors will be OK. Also, bereavementsupport is offered to the family for one year after the person's death.