Alive Hospice presented three more Heart of Hospice Awards today at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center Cool Springs. The honorees are Dr. Ruth T. Young, Dr. Stephen J. Smith and Dr. Shannon Serie.

The Heart of Hospice Award is given to health-care providers who demonstrate compassion, kindness, patient/family advocacy and an in-depth understanding of end-of-life care.

Pictured: Alive Hospice Interim CEO Barbara Cannon; Dr. Ruth T. Young; Dr. Stephen J. Smith; Dr. Shannon Serie; and Alive Hospice Account Executive Janny Adkins.

Paul Arbogast

I started doing in-home visits as an Alive Hospice volunteer four and one half years ago. My church, Brentwood United Methodist, decided to get involved with Alive Hospice’s volunteer program as a way to serve others. We organized a team of about a dozen members to volunteer either in homes, in Alive Hospice inpatient facilities or to help in the office.

My time with a patient has varied from a few days to eleven months. I usually visit once a week for up to four hours. The time is flexible and arranged between the caregiver and me. The visit might include talking with a patient, watching television together, having a meal, running errands or just watching the patient sleep. The family caregiver might stay or leave, but they get a chance for a change of pace and some needed time alone.

The patients have so much to share about their life journeys and I have been inspired and enriched by their friendship. I would encourage others to volunteer and give some much-needed and appreciated time with some wonderful families.

Paul Arbogast is an Alive Hospice volunteer and a Brentwood resident. 

Dr. Frank Gluck and Ellen Bush, MSSW have been named the inaugural recipients of Alive Hospice’s Heart of Hospice Award. Dr. Gluck is a long-time Nashville physician and former Alive Hospice board chair. Ellen Bush is a social worker who recently retired from service at Baptist Hospital. Bush also is a co-facilitator of Alive Hospice grief support groups.

The Heart of Hospice Award is given to health-care providers who demonstrate compassion, kindness, patient/family advocacy and an in-depth understanding of end-of-life care.

Pictured: Ellen Bush; Alive Hospice Interim CEO Barbara Cannon; Dr. Frank Gluck; and Judy Gluck.

Today, some Alive Hospice staff members share how they show love in their work not just on Valentine’s Day, but throughout the year. There’s a reason the words “loving care” are used so much in hospice!

Judy Ruggieri, Murfreesboro Team nurse:

“I show love for my patients and families by being in the moment and giving them my undivided attention from the time I walk in their door until I leave. I use gentle touch when appropriate and acceptable to the patient/family. I give them as much time as they need and I listen. I enjoy the time I spend with patients and families and I tell them so.”

Jamie Roberts, nurse at Alive Hospice at Saint Thomas Hospital:

“I work hard to treat each of my patients like they were my own family and care for them the way that I would want my own loved one cared for. I try to remember the little things. Sometimes it’s the little things that can make the biggest difference.”

Ruth Williams, Alive Hospice grief counselor:

“Many years ago, in the College of Social Work, they taught us the concept of ‘unconditional positive regard,’ which is at the HEART of social work practice. To me that’s the ’scholastic’ version of unconditional love, which is part of my everyday experience as a grief counselor.”

During Black History Month, Americans celebrate people who have left indelible marks on our nation because of the great things they’ve done. However, one thing is often overlooked by history: Many prominent African-Americans have turned to hospice care for comfort and support at the end of life.

Take our quiz and see if you can guess the identities of some very notable people who had hospice care in the United States.

Janny Adkins

So many people, when considering hospice, think of benefits for the patient (of which there are many). At the top of the list for our patients is comfort care.

However, when I do information visits to explain hospice services to families, I always discuss the tremendous amount of help and assistance hospice offers to the families of our patients, too.

A life-limiting illness can impact loved ones, family, and friends as well as the patient. Here is a list of advantages of hospice care for the family:

• Emotional and spiritual support
• Education and teaching regarding how to physically care for an severely ill loved one at home
• Assistance and support with financial issues and concerns
• Medicine management and teaching in order to achieve optimal comfort care, and assistance with prescription refills
• Grief support and education, including anticipatory grieving (occurs before the loss of a loved one) and bereavement after a loss
• Support and education with regard to the letting-go process
• Respite care to allow care givers a time-out and rest
• Support and assistance with crisis management through 24/7 access to nursing and physician consultation and support
• Support and advocacy for health care decision-making

These are just a few of the advantages for the family and care givers of our hospice patients. If you would like to know more about how Alive Hospice may help you in your care of a loved one, call me at 615-332-4003 or e-mail me.

Janny Adkins is an Alive Hospice account executive who informs health care professionals, patients, and families about hospice care.

Ruth Williams

Sometimes, in the quiet, safe cocoon of a grief counselor’s office, grieving individuals “confess” that their grief is beginning to ebb and flow – perhaps even subside. And that often makes them feel a little uncomfortable.

The deep love we have for those who have died brings with it pain and discomfort, but it also may bring relief in some circumstances. When our loved ones are obviously losing quality of life moment by moment, it’s hard to continue to see them suffer.

For many, after a loss, it may seem almost impossible to imagine NOT grieving. So, when moments of not being focused on loss sneak up on us, we’re caught off guard, feeling almost guilty we had a moment of freedom from distress.

So many of us are overly concerned about what others think. We may be timid about sharing our waning sorrow with others, worrying that we might be seen as callous, heartless, etc., that somehow we simply must not have loved “enough.” (If you are able to have someone in your life like a grief counselor or a support group of fellow grievers, that could be the perfect place to share such experiences.)

The spirit is resilient. We as individuals can be amazingly resilient. Part of that resiliency is to allow ourselves moments of freedom from grief. At a pace only your own, you will find your own moments will lengthen and a sense of calm may well return — eventually.

Your loved one would surely understand. And at some point, a gift of rest from distress will be well-received – and deservedly so.

Ruth Williams is a counselor with Alive Grief Support Services, the bereavement support program of Alive Hospice. To reach Alive Grief Support Services, call 615-963-4732 or click here.

Our friend Kip Kirby visited Alive Hospice this month to present a donation in memory of her husband, Mr. Todd Cerney. During her visit she read the following letter, which we share with permission. In January of this year, Mr. Cerney kicked off the 18th annual Alive at The Bluebird concert series, a benefit for Alive Hospice. We’ll be forever grateful to Mr. Cerney and his family for their support. Alive Hospice was deeply honored to provide care and support during Mr. Cerney’s illness.

And unfortunately it wasn’t. When my husband, songwriter Todd Cerney, was given the shattering diagnosis of Stage IV melanoma in November of 2010, we knew from the beginning that his last days would be with you. When that time came – far sooner than any of his doctors predicted – we brought Todd to The Residence with a sense of peace, knowing he would receive the finest care and love possible.

There are no words for me to express my admiration, awe and affection for the staff of Alive Hospice. I stand in awe at the work you do and the lives you touch. You cannot know (yet hopefully you do) how each tiny act you perform, each smile you bestow, each kind word you offer touches your patients and their families. There were many visitors who came to see Todd and me and his parents, Chuck and Phyllis Cerney, while he was with you, and I know how deeply affected they all were by what they saw at The Residence.

Todd could not have had better care anywhere else in the world. I was comforted then and will always be that he spent his last days in the best and most capable, loving hands possible. Who can ask for more than that?

Thank you forever for what you do.

Very best regards,

Kip Kirby

Kip Kirby stopped by this month to present a donation to Alive Hospice in memory of her husband, Mr. Todd Cerney. Pictured, left to right: Todd Cerney’s mother, Mrs. Phyllis Cerney; Alive Hospice Vice President of Community Development Pam Brown; Kip Kirby;  and Mr. Cerney’s father, Dr. Chuck Cerney. Kip is pictured holding the above letter, which we’re sharing with her permission.