Hospice program an integral part of health care system in Morrow County

By Eve­lyn Long

With the begin­ning of a new year, Hos­pice of Mor­row County is pre­pared to con­tinue their pro­fes­sional and car­ing con­cern through ser­vice and pro­grams that have been well established.

Among the pro­fes­sion­als there is a med­ical direc­tor who is board cer­ti­fied in Hos­pice and Pal­lia­tive Care; nurses who are trained to man­age pain and symp­toms 24 hours a day, seven days a week, home health aides who offer per­sonal care; a social worker trained to give finan­cial coun­sel­ing, advanced direc­tives and emo­tional sup­port; chap­lains shar­ing spir­i­tual ser­vices and lead­ing grief sup­port groups and the vol­un­teers gra­ciously give all lev­els of patient and fam­ily care. They also cook, sew and con­duct work in the office. These vol­un­teers are invalu­able in fund rais­ing and 11th hour vigil teams.

“We are here for peo­ple who are encoun­ter­ing ter­mi­nal ill­ness or chronic dis­ease and are left with no cura­tive treat­ment options,” said a spokesper­son. The hos­pice team pro­vides qual­ity man­age­ment of a person’s care. Amaz­ingly, 10 to 15 per cent of all hos­pice patients are dis­charged because their health improves.

Offered free of charge are adult grief sup­port groups, children’s grief camps, the But­ter­fly Memo­r­ial, the Angel Tree Memo­r­ial, and one-on-one grief support.

Among the bereave­ment sup­port groups are the Lunch with Friends held the sec­ond Tues­day of each month at 11:30 am at the Pizza Hut; Bro­ken Dreams, the first Mon­day or Tues­day of the month and Danc­ing in the Rain.

Hos­pice of Mor­row County, estab­lished in 1991, is cer­ti­fied by Medicare, and by Med­ic­aid, licensed by the state of Ohio; a mem­ber of the Mid­west Care Alliance, the National Hos­pice & Pal­lia­tive Care Orga­ni­za­tion and the Mor­row County Cham­ber of Com­merce. Hos­pice of Mor­row County is a 501 ©3 tax deductible organization.

Hos­pice is a phi­los­o­phy about end of life care. It is not a place. The goals are always to honor and sup­port a person’s life and to carry out their wishes. “We strive to put a person’s health back in his or her own con­trol and to make every day the best if can be,” said Karen Veron­ica, Exec­u­tive director.

Hos­pice is for peo­ple with health issues such as can­cer, heart prob­lems, dis­ease of the lung, kid­neys or liver, demen­tia, Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s. Hos­pice care is a Medicare ben­e­fit. Hos­pice is also cov­ered by Med­ic­aid, VA and pri­vate insur­ance. For more infor­ma­tion, please call Hos­pice of Mor­row County at 419–846-9822.

Board mem­bers are Herb Bald­win, Jenifer Bur­naugh, Mary Jo Cor­win, Donna Dursten, Gene Gompf, Clara Hilton, Kim Jan­ick, Ed Kline, Chad Sny­der, Jim Trainer, Frances Turner, Gill Ullom, Mike War­wick and Noni Wheeler.

Dr. Jesse Frank is the med­ical direc­tor; Tom Whis­ton, phar­macy con­sul­tant; and Dave Matos is the chap­lain. Reg­is­tered nurses include Robyn Stiffler, Saman­tha McFar­land, Karen Smoth­er­man, Cookie Kom­mer, Pat Clark, Karen Smoth­er­man, and Marie Bishop. Suzi Cole­grove, Terri Clark, Tammy Stotts and Kim Pflei­derer hold the title of STNA; Tina Kelly is finance direc­tor; Jan Lower is admin­is­tra­tive coor­di­na­tor; and Shel­ley Drame is MSW Social Worker. Rhonda Con­rad is an LPN.

Posted by Rob Hamilton on Dec 25 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.