Baseball Hall of Famer Harmon Kilebrew Gives Hospice Care a Golden Glove

Harmon Kilebrew is a retired baseball player who holds a record with Babe Ruth for hitting more than 40 home runs in eight seasons. While with the Minnesota Twins, he won the American League MVP award and set a wide variety of team and league records. After retirement, he became an advocate for child involvement in baseball and bringing assistance to sports programs in low income neighborhoods.

Sadly, Kilebrew recently announced that he will no longer pursue treatment for the esophageal cancer that has plagued his life in recent years.

The baseball legend, in his statement, gave powerful testimony to the value, service, and importance of hospice care: "I have spent the past decade of my life promoting hospice care and educating people on its benefits. I am very comfortable taking this next step and experiencing the compassionate care that hospice provides."

The comfort that hospice care gives is not limited to basbeball hall of famers. It is available to every human being, regardless of income level. Quality and universal care is the goal, promise, and mission of Blue Skies. Please call for more information if you or a loved one is in need: (219) 554 - 0688.

Meet Blue Skies Hospice Director, Lisa Guzman

Lisa Guzman is the director of Blue Skies Hospice. She recently answered questions about her background in and beliefs about health and hospice care.

What is your background in health care?

I have been an RN since 1986. I worked at South Chicago Community Hospital for 10 years and then worked in home health and hospice.  I then became an Advanced Practice Hospice and Oncology Nurse with a Masters degree in Nursing from Purdue in 2000.  I am currently working on my Doctorate degree in nursing with a focus on oncology.

Why did you choose to start your own hospice organization?

I founded Blue SKies Hospice to provide care to the terminaly ill patient allowing a more holistic approach and treatment plan.  I worked for other hospice companies in the past and found that holistic treatment was missing.

What makes hospice so important and what should people understand about hospice?

Hospice is important because it offers the patient and their families choices. Many patients do not want to undergo invasive procedures or go though the side effects of treatments if there is no chance for a cure.  They would rather have the choice of quality of life and we can offer them that.

Why Blue Skies a great organization for patients and families? What is the philosophy of Blue Skies?

Blue Skies Hospice is a great organization for patients and families because our philosophy is that each patient recieves individualized holistic care regardless of race or financial status.  We also allow patients to be enrolled in hospice and stay on all of their current medications, treat infections, and have feeding tubes if they choose to.  We provide care from nurses, chaplains, social workers, volunteers and home health aides and also offer alternative treatments such as reflexology and reiki therapy should the patient be interested in that. When we admit a patient they become a part of our family.  All of our staff regard hospice work as a calling, not a job.

What do you have planned for the future of Blue Skies?

In the future, Blue Skies Hospice wants to remain small.  We think that the nurse to patient ratio is very important and we never want to lose the personal touch that we give to all of our clients and their families.  Our goals in the future do include helping our community in any way that we can, whether that is letting businesses use our facilities in times of need as we did during the flooding in Munster, donating to local causes or continuing to take on charity cases for those less fortunate and unable to afford care.

National Nurses Week

The nurses on staff at Blue Skies Hospice are an essential and wonderful part of the team. They are dedicated to using their education, expertise, and experience to provide loving care, tender support, and effective treatment to the Blue Skies Hospice patients. Families can be confident and comfortable that their loved ones are in caring and competent hands at Blue Skies.

It is for this reason, along with gratitude to nurses everywhere, that we take a moment to celebrate National Nurses Week. The current campaign, "Trusted to Care", gives the following information and insight:

National Nurses Week 2011 Nurses Trusted to Care
Often described as an art and a science, nursing is a profession that embraces dedicated people with varied interests, strengths and passions because of the many opportunities the profession offers. As nurses, we work in emergency rooms, school based clinics, and homeless shelters, to name a few. We have many roles – from staff nurse to educator to nurse practitioner and nurse researcher – and serve all of them with passion for the profession and with a strong commitment to patient safety.

Background
National Nurses Week is celebrated annually from May 6, also known as National Nurses Day, through May 12, the birthday of Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing.

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Thank you to the Blue Skies nurses, who the patients and their families trust to care: Lisa Guzman RN, Amy Mosoriak RN, Karen Lansdowne RN, Arlene Bakota RN, Carol Newman RN.

We Celebrate National Volunteer Week

We are not called to be great. But we are called to reach out our own hands to our brothers and sisters, and to care for the earth in the time we are given.
- Kent Nerburn

To celebrate National Volunteer Week, we say thank you to our Blue Skies volunteers who bring light and love into people's lives:

Julie Hancin
Diane Palma
Paul Reinbolt
Carolyn Kalweit

Volunteers are the backbone of the hospice team. They allow hospice to provice services it otherwise could not offer.

If you are interested in becoming a volunteer call (219) 554-0688, and ask for volunteer coordinator Pearl Masciotra.

Michigan Man Emotionally and Spiritually Revitalized from Hospice

Too often uninformed people think of hospice care as merely a waiting station for people to check into before they die. Hospice care, while it does bring care and comfort to the dying, provides a much more holistic service than that essential element. It gives people companionship, support, and affirmation at the most difficult time of their lives. It also extends those gifts to the patients families. Blue Skies Hospice has committed staff of nurses, social workers, chaplains, doctors, and volunteers dedicated to these vital tasks.

A story of one man's experience with hospice in Petoskey, Michigan beautifully illustrates the value of hospice care:

Hospice gives local man new outlook on life

Rachel Brougham

Petoskey News: April 11, 2011

Just five months ago, Russell Mikesell was ready to give up.

In February of 2010, the 64-year-old Ellsworth resident lost his right lung to cancer.

After months of chemotherapy and recuperation, Mikesell thought he was on the path to recovery. But last fall, Mikesell found himself back in the hospital after his remaining lung collapsed.

He was released from the hospital and began receiving hospice care at his home. But caring for Mikesell at home was just too much for his family to handle.

In November, he was admitted to the VitalCare Hospice of Little Traverse Bay’s Hiland Cottage in Petoskey. With a grim diagnosis, neither he nor his wife, Ellen, thought he would survive.

“I just figured I was going to die because that’s what you think happens when you go to hospice,” Mikesell said. “But then something changed.”

Ten days after arriving at hospice, Mikesell woke up one morning and saw things differently.

“For the first 10 days I was there, everyone was just so patient and helpful. Nobody made fun of me, they just took care of me,” Mikesell recalled. “Then, somehow, I woke up on the 11th day and felt I was going to live. It was kind of like an epiphany — I just felt entirely different.”

A couple days later, Mikesell was regularly getting up, going to the kitchen and helping the nurses with small tasks.

He continued to improve, and on Dec. 31, 2010, Mikesell graduated from hospice.

He is now cancer free, and while he is no longer in the care of hospice, he refuses to leave: He now volunteers his time at Hiland Cottage.

“I would do anything for those people. They pulled me through my darkest time, that’s what made me better,” Mikesell said. “I’m changed. I guess it happens to everyone when they go through a close call.”

Karen Gauden, clinical manager at Hiland Cottage in Petoskey, said she has seen many patients over the years leave hospice and go on to live healthy lives.

“Often, people think they come to hospice to die, but we do have patients that graduate from hospice,’” she said.

Gauden added that while no one ever wants to be in hospice, those touched by its services, whether patients or family members, often leave the hospice experience singing its praises.

“Hospice becomes part of your family and you become part of theirs. I would do anything for them so I’m going to give back,” Mikesell said.

Mikesell said now, because of hospice, he views death as part of life and as an event that should not be feared.

“My experience with hospice is something that is hard for me to talk about without getting teared up, but I want to share my experience in the hopes of helping others,” Mikesell said. “I don’t plan on dying for a long time, but when I do, I think I’ll do it more gracefully and with more poise than I would without having gone through hospice.”

Copyright © 2011, Petoskey News

Overcoming Loneliness After Loss

Erin Diehl is a clinical pastoral counselor, and she offers wise words for those in the middle of grief or preparing for it. Her guidance may be important for looking to place a loved one in hospice care.

Overcoming Loneliness After Loss

1. Reach Out to Friends: "After my husband's death, I had to learn that when my loneliness seemed overwhelming I could not sit around and wait for someone to call me. I needed to initiate the encounter...If you seek support you will find it."

2. Commemorate Your Loss: "If you are grieving the death of a loved one, find a way to express the loss you feel, and also to symbolize the ongoing presence of that loved one in your life...Find a way to celebrate the gift that your loved on has been to you. Perhaps you could plant a tree or write a poem. However you choose to memoralize your loved one, draw comfort from the fact that nothing can take your cherished memories from you or erase the untold ways your loved one has touched your life and remains very much with you."

3. Trust that the Pain Will Pass: "My friend Mary was in a lot of pain after her husband abruptly left her with six children to raise. Even though the marriage had not been an ideal one, Mary felt the agony of loneliness. But her faith carried her through the most difficult times, and she is a wiser and stronger person today.

'We can pass through pain because it will not last forever,' she says. Mary believes that all of life involves gift and loss. If your pain feels overwhelming, take some comfort in knowing it will not always feel as intense as it does today."

4. Cultivate an Appreciation For Solitude: "Find activities you can do alone that bring you satisfaction and peace of mind and heart. At your time of deepest loss, try to find something special to do that brings you joy. You can never replace the person you have lost, but you can find comfort in solitude if you learn to befriend it."

5. Get the Support You Need: "After an experience of great loss, it is natural to feel a variety of emotions. If you would like some ongoing help exploring and working through some of the difficult emotions that may surface, consider getting some private counseling, attending a support group that addresses your needs, or both."

6. Turn to God for Strength: "My faith in God was and is the best coping tool I have. Prayer and meditation can be excellent paths to inner peace and balance. If you are feeling too distressed to pray or sit quietly, don't forget that there are a host of excellent spiritual books and tapes."

"Brother David Steindl-Rast, a Benedictine monk, emphasizes the value of a grateful heart. It is hard to be thankful and sad at the same time. Spend a little time pondering the many things in your life for which you are grateful. With time, you may even feel gratitude for the admittedly painful lessons you are learning as you move through your present loss."

Hospice News: Good and Bad from Around the World

"Reimbursement Cuts Will Negatively Affect Hospice Care"

A recent study shows that "as a result of two recent cuts to Medicare reimbursement, the first regulatory and the second statutory, the overall median Medicare profit margin for the hospice community could decrease from 2 percent  in 2008 to -14 percent by 2019."

The study goes on to demonstrate how, like nearly everything else involving health care in the United States, poor areas--both urban and rural--will face the worst consequences of cuts to hospice care.

Blue Skies Hospice serves many low-income families at no cost. Organizations like Blue Skies play a vital, valuable, and essential role in their communities, because they attempt to fill in the gaps of social dislocation by providing suffering people with services they otherwise could not have. Small organization can only go so far, however. The larger polity of the United States needs to make quality hospice care a larger priority.

"At India's First Hospice, Every Life is Important"

"The pin drop silence gives no indication that there are 60 patients admitted at the moment in Shanti Avedna Sadan-the country's first hospice that is located on the quiet incline leading to the Mount Mary Church in Bandra. "

"There is only one guiding principle here: no life is so worthless that it can be thrown away. 'Life is a gift given by God. We cannot dictate when it should end,' said Sister Aqula Chittatil. Sisters and nurses who take care of the day-to-day running of the hospice have only goal: to ensure that the patient's end of life is as pain-free as possible and full of care."

This beautiful story is a reminder that from Egypt to Ethiopia and from India to Indiana, human beings have the same physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. Hospice care does a wonderful service for suffering people by making a valiant and qualified effort to fill those needs.