A new documentary set to premiere on Oprah's cable network OWN tonight, which will run for the next few weeks, gives what critics are calling "a beautiful look" into hospice care at the Louisiana State Penitentiary-Angola. The prison, in many cases, uses inmates as hospice volunteers to visit dying inmates. As the film's director, Lisa Cohen said:
“Looking for humanity in the darkest of places has always been something that fascinated me. That’s why I keep going back to Angola, the worst of the worst, when you get down to it, they surprise you. It doesn’t mean you should trust them. It doesn’t mean you should let them out. I’m not someone who believes you should open the doors and let all those guys out. I think that if you give someone an opportunity to do good, under the right circumstances they will, and they will get something profound out of it. They will rise to the occasion.”
Hospice strives to affirm the humanity of patients, families, and volunteers at all times, regardless of where they are - in prison or in a mansion.
The New Orleans Times-Picayune has more information, along with a trailer, on the documentary.
July 28, 2011
July 12, 2011
Blue Skies Sponsors and Hosts Afternoon Tea For Residents of Regency-Place of Dyer
On June 22, 2011 Blue Skies Hospice sponsored and hosted an afternoon tea party for the residents and their families at Regency-Place of Dyer. Blue Skies volunteers, Julie Hancin and Sherry Nielsen, baked cookies for the residents to enjoy with their tea. There was also a free raffle at the end of the tea in which several residents won jewelry. Pictured below are Regency residents having fun at the party with Blue Skies volunteer coordinator, Pearl Masciotra, and volunteer Julie Hancin.
July 5, 2011
New York Times Inquiry Into Hospice
On June 28, the New York Times ran a story examining the contemporary debate surrounding the issue of hospice care and the decision to increase the funding available for hospice care. Some critics of hospice have expressed concern over patients staying in hospice for what they view as too long, given that it is care intended for terminal patients. Hospice, however, is at its best when patients and their families have sufficient time to adjust to the dying process and prepare for mourning, as healt care experts point out in the original NY Times report, and the following letters to the editor:
Re “Concerns About Costs Rise With Hospices’ Use” (June 28): In 1996, suffering from inoperable cancer, my father received hospice care in the last three weeks of his life from a nonprofit agency. The physical comfort those dedicated nurses and social workers gave him — and the emotional support they offered to the whole family, strengthening our own ability to care for him — was extraordinary, incalculable, life-changing. The thought that for-profit health care chains are cynically exploiting this model of care to fill their own pockets, and might even endanger Medicare funding for hospice, is beyond appalling. They are vandalizing sacred ground.
Anne Berrill Carroll
Manhattan
To the Editor:
Studies show that health care costs are far less for those enrolled in hospice at death compared to those who are not, and that hospice patients have a better quality of life. The larger concerns that need to be addressed are that only 41 percent who die are on hospice (only about 25 percent in New York State) and that too many patients are enrolled for a very short time, less than three weeks on average. When hospice use increases, as it should, greater cost savings will result.
David C. Leven
Pelham, N.Y.
The writer is executive director, Compassion & Choices of New York.
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Blue Skies Hospice is dedicated to bring quality hospice care to the patients and families in Illinois and Indiana.
Re “Concerns About Costs Rise With Hospices’ Use” (June 28): In 1996, suffering from inoperable cancer, my father received hospice care in the last three weeks of his life from a nonprofit agency. The physical comfort those dedicated nurses and social workers gave him — and the emotional support they offered to the whole family, strengthening our own ability to care for him — was extraordinary, incalculable, life-changing. The thought that for-profit health care chains are cynically exploiting this model of care to fill their own pockets, and might even endanger Medicare funding for hospice, is beyond appalling. They are vandalizing sacred ground.
Anne Berrill Carroll
Manhattan
To the Editor:
Studies show that health care costs are far less for those enrolled in hospice at death compared to those who are not, and that hospice patients have a better quality of life. The larger concerns that need to be addressed are that only 41 percent who die are on hospice (only about 25 percent in New York State) and that too many patients are enrolled for a very short time, less than three weeks on average. When hospice use increases, as it should, greater cost savings will result.
David C. Leven
Pelham, N.Y.
The writer is executive director, Compassion & Choices of New York.
-----
Blue Skies Hospice is dedicated to bring quality hospice care to the patients and families in Illinois and Indiana.
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