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Dog's hugs brighten days of Hospice
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When people think, "Hospice," a 6-year-old shaggy English sheepdog doesn't come to mind. But there she is in all her glory — the pink bow-wearing, warm furry presence that is Sarah Catherine, walking the corridors of General Care Convalescent Center.
"She absolutely starts performing when she gets around patients, like she knows what she's doing," Stacy Knight says about Sarah Catherine, owned by volunteer Ingrid Thompson.
Knight is the provider relations manager for AseraCare Hospice in Montgomery County. She says Hospice is a multi-faceted benefit that everyone is entitled to receive near the end of their life, free of charge.
"It's an entitlement we all have, but only 10 percent of people in this country ever get their Hospice benefit," Knight says.
Hospice provides medical, emotional and spiritual support to people who have terminal illnesses. People who die suddenly, in a car crash or from a heart attack, for example, don't have the chance to use Hospice services, but their loved ones may rely on Hospice for bereavement care afterward.
Knight says too many people think of final deathbed days or hours when they think of Hospice. In fact, to qualify, a person must have an illness that is likely to result in death within six months. But if the patient lives longer than six months, their care is extended as long as they need it.
"Some patients have had it over two years," Knight says.
Although many Hospice patients are bedridden and unable to care for themselves, others are still able to read, cook and socialize with friends. No matter how advanced the illness, Hospice's goal is to make the last stage of a person's life as comfortable and fulfilling as possible.
"Some of our volunteers read to patients, take them outside for a short walk in the sunshine, paint their nails, brush their hair," Knight says. "There are so many ways we can add to a person's life."
According to the AseraCare Hospice Web site (www.aseracare.com), "Hospice adds life to days at a time when days can no longer be added to life."
Volunteers add color to lives
Going to nursing homes with Sarah Catherine and her owner, Thompson, is a favorite assignment for Kathy Fox. Fox, volunteer coordinator for AseraCare Hospice, is always looking for ways to expand Hospice's offerings.
"We have a woman who has been volunteering playing music at our memorial services, and another volunteer is sending out cards for the bereaved. Sometimes people need someone to run errands for them, go to the post office or the grocery, or stay with the patient while the family member does that," Fox says. "I would love to find a Boy Scout or Girl Scout troop who would make cards and visit nursing homes."
One of the most appreciated services Hospice offers is respite care, allowing the patient's family to take a break and get out of the house for a few hours, or even take a much-needed nap.
"Many of our patients are elderly. When you've got an elderly caregiver who is worn out — up all night — they are so grateful (to be given a break)," Knight says.
Although most Hospice patients are in their homes, they also qualify for care if they are in hospitals, assisted living facilities or nursing homes.
When Sarah Catherine visited General Care Convalescent Center last week, she had a handful of Hospice patients to see, but she spread slobbery love everywhere she went along the way. Her appearance interrupted an exercise class going on in the facility's dining room.
"I used to raise collies," Harriette Eades said, inviting Sarah Catherine closer to her. "I just love animals — animals and birds. When you love animals, you love people."
Sarah Catherine must have felt the love, because she jumped up and gave Eades a kiss on the nose. Reao Bertha Gregg was just as happy, calling the sheepdog to sit beside her chair.
"She's a big teddy bear!" Gregg says.
Martha Sandefur got an in-room visit from Sarah Catherine.
"You so pretty," she said, again and again, to the shaggy dog. "Oh, I love animals. I wish they'd bring them up here every day."
Thompson, who is German, found she had something in common with one of the patients she visited with her dog.
"We just walked in and I could tell in her accent she was German," Thompson says. "I started speaking to her in English and she answered me in German, then we just rattled on. It was really fun."
Fox says the hopes of people living in nursing homes, or those with terminal illnesses, are different than most.
"The big issue for people in this kind of situation is meaning and purpose. Sometimes they find that in spirituality, sometimes in relationships with family and friends," Fox says. "Hope might be that I'm going to have a good day, that I won't have any pain today, that I'll have fun on this trip to Wal-Mart. It's living in the moment much more than wishful thinking."
Stacy Smith Segovia is a features writer for The Leaf-Chronicle. She can be reached at 245-0237 or by e-mail at stacysegovia@theleafchronicle.com.
Originally published November 30, 2005