Family Members Discuss Hospice Care

Mom was diagnosed late November. We called in Hospice in December to help us through. The team from Hospice was fantastic. Was extremely patient and caring with mom. Never hesitated to answer all our questions. Hennie had family around the whole time but we still relied on Hospice. The team had someone come whenever we needed. They were extremely compassionate. Very knowledgeable on what we could expect and needed to do at the end. The Hospice team gave mom peace in her last days. Cannot thank the team enough for all their help and compassion!

Chris was a wonderful man who loved his family. He led a full and interesting life. At the end of his life, Hospice of Holland provided us with the information, care, and emotional support which allowed us to live our lives fully with Chris right to the end.
Chris started palliative care about six months before he passed away. He was afraid, at first, to enter any sort of palliative/hospice care, as he originally believed hospice was a death sentence and might be seen as him giving up. Palliative care provided us a framework of care that was like a safety net to help us prepare for the future.

Dad was blessed with 99 enjoyable years of life. When his health began to fail and his quality of life deteriorated, we called Hospice of Holland. With the services of his nurse, social worker, and chaplain, Dad’s quality of life improved so that he was able to enjoy another 3 months before his passing. We are thankful to Hospice of Holland for giving him this gift.

The nurse and the Hospice team were amazing during my wife’s final months. The knowledge and support they provided helped us cope with and survive an awful time in our lives. If someone needs their services, I could not recommend them more.

Hospice of Holland provided the utmost compassion and care in a time of unexpected circumstances. My dad’s cancer progressed rapidly within 24 hours after going to the hospital. The admissions team was there after just one call to Hospice of Holland – provided all the necessary information and got all needed equipment to my parents’ house so we could bring dad home. The providers, nurses, and social worker did not leave one area or question unanswered. My dad was only on hospice services for three days before he passed but we knew that no matter the time of day or night hospice was only a phone call away.

Hospice was great. I had been effectively doing pretty much everything in terms of her care up to that point. So once we flipped the switch to hospice, some of that responsibility was taken off of my shoulders. Hospice of Holland immediately set up a team of individuals who had differing responsibilities. From the social work aspect, to the nursing aspect, and the day-to-day care. All of those responsibilities that had been on me for all those months. That was taken completely off my plate. Which allowed me to refocus on my wife in those last weeks and days. They worked with me and bared that responsibility, and just allowed me to be her caretaker part time as opposed to full time, and just go back to being her husband.

It was wonderful. They walked us through everything. Anytime we called if (Hospice of Holland) felt they needed to come out, someone would come right away. If we needed supplies, sometimes they would make extra stops just to bring us stuff. I can’t say enough about hospice. At the end of both (my parent’s) lives Hospice of Holland came out and took care of everything. For example taking the bed and all the supplies away. We didn’t have to worry about any of that. We very much appreciated it.

Hospice has made such a difference. I live 500 miles away. If I need to know details, I can call and ask her social worker or nurse. They are health care professionals who can tell me what is going on, explain medications, and tell me who I can talk to. We couldn’t keep her at home without all the help from Hospice. The respite time for Al each week is very important. Mom is happy. She loves having company. She was isolated before Hospice.

You can see the mission of hospice is all about the patient. The staff was immediately accessible and visible if we needed them to be. It was the little things and the attention to detail that made the difference. It was all done with such class and we never felt like we were facing this alone.

For my mother, the vigil was very beneficial. In her mind, even though she was at Hospice House, was going to be alone if someone wasn’t in the room with her. We had the volunteers with with her for three or four nights and it was very much appreciated. It gave her comfort to wake up and have someone right there. Her biggest fear was to die alone, and although our family was with her a great majority of the time, we couldn’t always be there. It was a great comfort to us to know that someone was with her, especially because she didn’t know enough to push the alert button herself if she needed a nurse. Having a person sitting by her side through the night was very helpful.