A tribute to Alive Hospice volunteers in honor of National Volunteer Week. Click here for more information about volunteering with Alive Hospice.

It’s like the old saying goes: Nothing in life is certain but death and taxes. April 15 is tax day, so it’s only fitting that April 16 is National Healthcare Decisions Day, a time to think about our wishes for care at the end of life.

To give you a head start, Alive Hospice and Nashville Public Television will bring you a special program all about advance care planning. Tune in to WNPT Channel 8 on April 11 at 9 p.m. for an in-depth town hall discussion about this important topic. You won’t want to miss it!

The conversation will focus on three major questions:

• What do we say we want at the end of life, and what actually happens?
• What are our options for care at the end of life?
• How can we make sure the end of life is what we want it to be?

Each of us can have a say in the care we receive at the end of life, but we have to speak up. This Thursday, we’ll help you start the conversation. Be sure to watch!

Congratulations to Ben Rosenberg, recipient of the Youth Volunteer Award at this year’s Mary Catherine Strobel Volunteer Awards celebration!

Ben is a high school junior who makes time to volunteer with Alive Hospice. More about Ben:

Despite his youth, high school junior Ben Rosenberg demonstrates an uncommon maturity and reverence for the end of life, an impressive understanding of hospice, and an inspiring attentiveness to the needs of the dying. As an Alive Hospice volunteer, Ben gives his time, presence, and service for the benefit of terminally ill patients.

In 2012, Ben formed a club at his high school to grant special wishes to terminally ill patients as part of The DreamCatchers Foundation. The first wish Ben and the club fulfilled restored something to a patient’s life that was sorely missing. Mr. Raymond Hollars played the guitar since the age of 12, but in his later years he found his prized guitar was too heavy for him to lift. Within days, Ben and his fellow club members surprised Mr. Hollars with a new, lighter guitar. Just like that, music was restored to his life.

“I played it as soon as I got it,” Mr. Hollars said. “I just love music.” Mr. Hollars even asked Ben to sign the guitar, which he kept close at hand until his death in November.

No one should have to face the end of life alone, and volunteers like Ben give a gift many of us take for granted while we’re healthy: the joy of company and conversation. Having someone to talk to – especially a warm, personable, and compassionate person like Ben – can go a long way in lifting patients’ spirits. Ben is an example not only to his peers, but to all of us.

Click here for photos from the 2013 Strobel Volunteer Awards.

This month, Alive Hospice presented a Heart of Hospice Award to Cannon County’s Dr. James R. Spurlock. The Heart of Hospice Awards are given for compassion, kindness, patient/family advocacy and an in-depth understanding of end-of-life care.

Pictured: Alive Hospice’s Reba McBride presents the Heart of Hospice Award to Dr. Spurlock and staff at Mountain View Medical Family Practice in Woodbury.

Comfort comes in many forms at Alive Hospice. Many people associate hospice with pain relief at the end of life, and that’s a big part of it. But hospice doesn’t stop there. It’s also comfort for the heart.

March is National Social Work Month, and you might be surprised to learn just how many ways Alive Hospice social workers help patients and families:

• Social workers provide emotional support for patients AND their loved ones.
• They listen.
• They assess a patient’s and/or family’s needs arising from a terminal illness and work to meet those needs.
• They help with planning as a patient’s illnesses progresses.
• They assist with completing advance directives.
• They help family members take care of themselves as they take on the role of caregiver.
• They help patients reflect over their lives and define their legacies.
• They help patients and loved ones reconnect and/or reconcile.
• They help families prepare for an impending loss.
• Grief counselors, who are social workers by training and education, help families find strength and hope for healing after a loss.

When a terminal diagnosis turns the world upside down, Alive Hospice social workers help restore some stability. And when a loss changes a person’s life forever, social workers are there to help with open arms and open hearts.

Alive Hospice is getting ready for a summer to remember with Camp Forget-Me-Not and Camp Evergreen!

These summer day camps were created especially for children and teens (ages 6-14) who have lost loved ones. Together with grief counselors and volunteers, each child participates in age-appropriate group activities with others who know what it’s like to lose someone. There’s also plenty of fun involved because it’s important for kids to be kids, too!

Camp Forget-Me-Not is coming up June 5-7 in Murfreesboro. Registration will continue through May 28 or until the camp is full. To register or for more information, call 615-346-8680.

Camp Evergreen will be held June 20-22 in White Bluff (with transportation provided to and from camp via charter bus, leaving from Alive Hospice’s Nashville office each morning). Registration will continue through June 12 or until the camp is full. To register or for more information, call 615-963-4732.