Jan Jones

I was asked recently to reflect back on what was special about hospice work and what might have changed in the past 31 years since I have personally been involved in hospice.  I started this work when I was in Jacksonville, Florida at Methodist Hospital. We had a visionary leader there who wanted to find a way to better serve individuals at the end of their lives.

We began talking to members of the community to find out what they thought was missing in health care that people needed when they knew they had an illness from which they would not recover.  We heard that they wanted to be respected and loved. They wanted to be free of pain and other distressing symptoms. They wanted their loved ones to be free of burdens, financial and otherwise, and they wanted to know that their existence was meaningful.

The hospital didn’t give them that, and, in fact, took much of it away — not on purpose of course, but just because their goals were different. So we began designing a program of care to meet those very needs. In 1983 that same approach to care was taken to Congress for inclusion in the Medicare program and was adopted.

Now, 31 years later many things have changed around us. Soon health-care reform will alter the payment mechanisms in hospice care and many other areas of health care. What I am absolutely sure of today is that the core of what people want has not changed one iota and that, despite the “noise” of outside distractions, we are committed even more to ensuring that loving care and the basic tenets of that care remain. There is nothing more important than allowing someone to leave this world knowing that they are loved and their life was meaningful.

No changes around us will ever alter that!

Jan Jones is president and CEO of Alive Hospice.

Participants in The Bethlehem Centers’ STARS program visited Alive Hospice recently to complete a service project to benefit others. A group of 25 young men and women created colorful, Independence Day-themed works of art for Alive Hospice patients to brighten their days. The STARS program is a summer program for kids ages 9 to 17 with a focus on fun, education, empowerment activities and service projects.

Elaindra Johnson was one of 25 kids with the Bethlehem Centers’ STARS program who visited Alive Hospice recently to make works of art for patients. (Photo by Sara Pérez)

Alive Hospice Community Outreach Coordinator Keith King (left) observes as Bethlehem Centers’ STARS program participants work on their masterpieces. (Photo by Sara Pérez)