Blue Skies Hosts Movie Night at Kindred Care

On December 5, Blue Skies volunteers organized a Christmas movie night at Kindred Care, and treated residents to peppermint ice cream and cookies. Residents enjoyed a showing of the holiday favorite Elf. There was laughter, fellowship, and fun. Blue Skies volunteers were happy to host the event.

Blue Skies Volunteers (left to right): Emma, Pat, Briann, John, Vinnay, Lou, Pearl, Jeff

Volunteer Vinnay Kakkera enjoys peppermint ice cream

Blue Skies Participates in Hammond Christmas Parade

On December 1, the Blue Skies staff participated in the Christmas parade of Hammond, Indiana. Blue Skies was happy to be part of the wonderful, communal event with various Hammond businesses, non-profits, and organizations. Blue Skies enjoys being part of the Hammond community, and will continue to do it all can to contribute to its growth and empowerment.

Blue Skies Director Lisa Guzman and Volunteer Coordinator Pearl Masciotra in the parade.

Hospice Care and Nursing Homes

Paula Span, a health advocate, writes for the New York Times' blog on health issues writes about a new study from the Archives of Internal Medicine that looks at how and why terminally ill and actively dying patients choose nursing home care or hospice care. It is often a choice they are forced to make rather than freed to make. As Span writes,

An older person, someone who will die within six months, leaves a hospital. Where does she go?

Almost a third of the time, according to a recent study from the University of California, San Francisco, records show she takes advantage of Medicare’s skilled-nursing facility benefit and enters a nursing home. But is that the best place for end-of-life care?

In terms of monitoring her vital signs and handling IVs — the round-the-clock nursing care that the skilled-nursing facility benefit is designed to provide — maybe so. But for treating end-of-life symptoms like pain and shortness of breath, for providing spiritual support for her and her family, for palliative care that helps her through the ultimate transition – hospice is the acknowledged expert.

She could receive hospice care, also covered by Medicare, while in the nursing home. But since Medicare only rarely reimburses for both hospice and the skilled-nursing facility benefit at the same time, this hypothetical patient and her family face a financial bind. If she opts for the hospice benefit, which does not include room and board at the nursing home, then she will be on the hook for hundreds of dollars a day to remain in the facility.

She could use the hospice benefit at home, of course. But, “we know these patients are medically complex,” said Katherine Aragon, lead author of the study in The Archives of Internal Medicine, and now a palliative care specialist at Lawrence General Hospital in Massachusetts.

“And we know that taking care of someone near the end of life can be very demanding, hard for families to manage at home.” And that assumes the patient has a family or a home.
For some patients, a nursing home, though possibly dreaded, is the only place that can provide 24/7 care.

But if she uses the skilled-nursing facility benefit to pay for room and board in a facility, she probably has to forgo hospice.

Blue Skies Hospice provides palliative care and visitation to many residents of nursing homes. It enjoys a relationship with nursing homes and long term care facilities in Northwest Indiana, and is able to fill in the gaps of people's treatment - people who are seeking the stability, care, and benefits of health care facilities, but also need, as Span identifies, the palliative treatment, emotional support, and spiritually edifying companionship that hospice provides. 

If you are in the Northwest Indiana area and are preparing to put a relative in a long term care facility, you might want to consider asking if that nursing home has a relationship with Blue Skies, and if hospice care is available.

Blue Skies is only one hospice doing the best it can. As the study's author makes clear, the United States needs to move in a better direction, nationally - "Palliative care should be part of nursing home care,” said Alexander K. Smith, the study’s senior author and a palliative care specialist at the University of California, San Francisco. “And that regulation that prevents concurrent use of the S.N.F. benefit and hospice isn’t in the interest of patients and families.”

New Study on Hospice Care Provides Answers and Reasons for Concern

The National Hospice and Palliative Care association reports in a new study that the number of patients receiving hospice care continues to increase. While this news is encouraging, it is troubling that a large number of those patients are in hospice care for less than a week.

It is difficult for families to confront the reality of a loved one's impending death, but hospice should enter the discussion sooner rather than later. It is capable of bringing comfort to patients and families, and through that comfort, eliminating some of the outlying concerns that so often accompany such a painful and difficult period.

Blue Skies Hospice is staffed by competent and compassionate nurses, doctors, clergy, social workers, and volunteers to ensure that palliative care for patients brings peace of mind and body. Additional time spent in hospice allows the staff to prepare the patient and family for the upcoming change, spiritually and emotionally, rather than just physically and medicinally.

Read the new study to learn about the growth of hospice care. The study does demonstrate that American culture is learning the value of hospice care, and that is a promising development.

Hammond Volunteer Award Ceremony

On October 25th, 2012 Blue Skies Hospice staff and volunteers attended the annual volunteer awards ceremony in Hammond, Indiana, hosted by Mayor Thomas M. McDermott Jr. The reception united volunteers and rewarded those who serve their community. Blue Skies Hospice is appreciative and grateful to the Mayor for taking the time to acknowledge the important work of volunteers in the city of Hammond.

(From left to right) Arlene Bakota R.N., Volunteer Coordinator Pearl Masciotra, Volunteer Pat DeGan, Volunteer Julie Hancin, Chaplain Buddie Fennie, Director Lisa Guzman (seated)

Blue Skies Hospice Hosts Ice Cream Social at Hammond-Whiting Care Center

On October 7, 2012, Blue Skies Hospice organized and hosted an ice cream social at Hammond-Whiting Care Center. Residents and their families attended the party, enjoyed ice cream, and had a great time. Blue Skies staff was happy to host the event, look forward to hosting more in the future.

Resident enjoys her ice cream sundae.

Residents having a good time

(From left to right) Volunteer coordinator Pearl Masciotra, R.N. Karen Lansdowne, Volunteer Pat DeGan, John DeGan, Volunteer Julie Hancin

Dance On a Dime: Blue Skies Hospice Organizing Prom Fundraiser

Blue Skies Hospice is organizing a prom fundraiser , Dance on a Dime, for 2013. Blue Skies is collecting dresses and accessories to sell at a discounted rate for this school year's prom season.

If you have any used, dry cleaned dresses, accessories, or gently worn shoes in your closet, please donate them to Blue Skies Hospice. Drop off any donations at one of the following locations:

Blues Skies Hospice House
2714 169th Street
Hammond, Indiana 46323

or

Pearl Masciotra
117 Cardinal Ct.
Dyer, Indiana 46311

We appreciate any help. Thank you.

Blue Skies Hosts Ice Cream Social at Kindred Care

On September 9th, Blue Skies Hospice hosted an ice cream social for residents of Kindred Care in Dyer, Indiana. Residents and families helped themselves to ice cream treats, and games, which made for a fun afternoon.

Kindred Care residents and families enjoying the event

Kindred Care resident Michelle

Blue Skies Hospice staff and volunteers who hosted the event

Online Fundraiser for Blue Skies Library Restoration Plans

Blue Skies Hospice is committed to restoring a library building in Hammond, Indiana into an adult day care center and health clinic. The plan and project will result in a healthier and friendlier Hammond, while serving as an example of compassion in action.

More information about the plan and project, along with an opportunity to donate is available here: http://www.razoo.com/story/Sawyer-Library-Restoration

In Rememberance of Clara Kamona

Blue Skies Hospice mourns the passing of Clara Kamona, RN at Kindred Care of Dyer, who passed on September 1st, 2012.

Think of her as living in the hearts of those she touched. For nothing loved is ever lost and she was loved so much! To Clara's family, friends, and coworkers - Please accept our condolences. Our prayers and thoughts will be with you as you go through this difficult and sad time.

Blue Skies Volunteers Attend Volunteer Leadership Conference: Ignite the Future

Volunteers from Blue Skies Hospice attended the virtual conference, Ignite The Future, on August 2nd at Jasper Counry Hospital in Rensselaer, Indiana. Volunteers participated in sessions regarding "the heart of hospice," "spirituality at the end of life," and "reaching the cognitively impaired patient."

Volunteer Julie Hancin, Volunteer Pat DeGan, and Volunteer Coordinator Pearl Masciotra

Blue Skies Hospice House Remodeled

The Blue Skies Hospice House underwent remodeling in April and May, the newly improved welcome new patients and their families. We have two patient rooms, a family area, kitchen, and dining area. Blue Skies thanks staff and volunteers who made all of this possible. We are open for tours. If interested, please call or email us.

5 Questions To Change Your End-Of-Life Path

Dr. Monica Williams-Murphy writes movingly at KevinMD.com about the importance of having an end-of-life plan for yourself and loved ones. It is uncomfortable, but of the highest importance, to consider issues associated with end-of-life. The consequences of avoiding "the conversation" are dramatic and irreversible. Dr. Williams-Murphy bases her ideas on her education, but also on her personal experience as a medical doctor. The entire article is worth reading, and at its conclusion she suggests "five questions to change your end-of-life path" -

1. How do people typically die from ___(stroke, heart attack, etc. or any disease)____ ?
2. If this was your mother or father, what would you do next?
3. How will we know when to ask for hospice care?
4. What are the signs of dying?
5. Can you support us in trying to take our loved one home?

Hospice Offers Diveristy of Services to Diverse Population

Hospice care is growing more necessary and more popular with year, but many people still have antiquated notions of the services that hospice can provide. The Associated Press recently ran an article that dispelled many myths about hospice care to show how, as the boomer population ages, hospice facilities and organizations are meeting their needs. Blue Skies Hospice is devoted to meeting the needs of all its patients, and much like the organizations described in the article, will use whatever care and comfort methods the patients and their families desire.

From the article:

Chief among those myths is the notion that hospice consists of friendly visitors who sit in a darkened room and hold Grandma's hand while she dies, says Robin Stawasz, family services director at Southern Tier Hospice and Palliative Care in upstate New York.

"It's just not what we do. We come in and help people go golfing or go snowbird down to Florida, or go out to dinner several nights a week. We help them get to the casinos on weekends," she said. "This is not getting ready to die. This is living — living now, living tomorrow, making the best possible life with what you have."

According to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, an estimated 1.58 million patients received hospice care from more than 5,000 programs nationwide in 2010, more than double the number of patients served a decade earlier. More than 40 percent of all deaths in the United States that year were under the care of hospice, which provides medical care, pain management, and emotional and spiritual support to patients with terminal illnesses.

Continue reading here.

Blue Skies Holds Raffle For Employees at Golden Living and Hammond-Whiting Care Center

Blue Skies held a raffle for employees at Golden Living in Merrillville, Indiana and Hammond-Whiting Care Center in Whiting, respectively. Winners received a gift bag from Bath and Body Works. Blue Skies organized this raffle to show our appreciation for the work that the employees at each facility do for all their residents, and the assistance they provide to Blue Skies hospice patients. The winner at Hammond-Whiting was Certified Nursing Assistant Monique Grandberry. The winner at Golden Living was a CNA in the Alzheimer's unit, Shakitrea Tate (pictured below).



Joy In Hospice Service

Dr. Cornel West said that "the benchmark of greatness is finding joy in the service of others." The professionals and volunteers at Blue Skies Hospice provide care and comfort to the patients and their families because it brings them joy. Service is a passion at Blue Skies. Patients at Blue Skies are in the hands of loving and giving professionals. The sentiments that Utah hospice workers express in a new article, "End of Life Caregivers Find Joy in Profession," reflect the feelings and beliefs at Blue Skies:


OREM — When Peggy Cann first played her harp in a hospital for a friend, the woman in the next room asked the nurse to "send in the angels" playing the "heavenly music." Now, she uses her music every day to help relieve pain when the medications aren't strong enough to.

Cann is an independent nurse who works with hospice care. Doctors typically refer patients to hospice care when they have a terminal illness, and often times family and friends aren't equipped to handle the transition. That's where Cann and other independent nurses come in.

Cann has been certified to use music for healing and transition. An art-form, she says, that requires being in tune with her patients.

"I'll watch their breathing and it's almost like watching a conductor," Cann said. "If their breathing slows, the music slows and the patient is my conductor for the music."

Virginia Yaeger is one of Cann's patients. She has spent the last 10 months at Greenwood Manor, coping with a mysterious adrenal gland illness. Her only escape, she says, is music.

It's therapeutic and it lifts my spirits. Really, I felt like I was in another realm. I didn't feel like I was here. It was like I was lifted into another realm.

–- Virginia Yaeger, patient

"It's therapeutic and it lifts my spirits," Yaeger said. "Really, I felt like I was in another realm. I didn't feel like I was here. It was like I was lifted into another realm."

Verna Nelson, a hospice nurse, cared for Yaeger's husband at Greenwood Manor before he passed away years ago. She has seen the benefit of treating people with music, even in the simplest ways.

"Music helps people to relax," Nelson said. "A lot of the problems arise because people are unable to relax and get a good night's rest. Life is much more worthwhile if a person can get a good night's sleep."

Nelson says part of her job is helping her patients and their families accept and somehow move forward through the natural process of life — a process Yaeger says people are reluctant to accept.

"A lot of people don't have the right attitude toward death," Yaeger said. "There's a lot of fear."

Some of that fear she says comes from those who love us most.

"I know several cases here where the person wants to go and they should've died several years ago, but the husband, wife, or children will not let them go," Nelson said.

Hospice is to help maintain hope. It's to help guide. It's to help educate.

–- Jody Dustin, RN

And some people choose to fight, or concede death, alone.

"People that are alone that say they don't want to bother their family," Nelson said. "They don't want to let them know what they're going through. So it's heartbreaking to see a person who feels alone at the time they know their life is limited."

Jody Dustin has been a hospice nurse for eight years. She has watched many families and individuals cope with the reality of death.

"Hospice is to help maintain hope," Dustin said. "It's to help guide. It's to help educate. It's to bring relief to, maybe, a situation that the patient or the family does not know in what direction to go."

But, she says, that no matter the emotional state of her patients, her job is to follow their lead.

"The patient and the family is the driver and you're there to give the directions. And if they don't want to go down a certain path because they're not ready, then maybe you can just try to find a detour."

Dustin says that the profession isn't a sad one.

"It's very rewarding to be able to be invited into these people's home at such critical emotional time," Dustin says.

But some of the reward may come from the very purpose Dustin serves, who works hard to make the hospice environment positive for patient and caretakers alike. Or because people like Cann find a way to give patients a moment of rest when they need it most.

"It's very satisfying that I might be a messenger," Cann said. "The peace comes from heaven. And if I can bring that and usher that in that's very satisfying."

Meet The Blue Skies Staff in New Video

Take a moment to watch the new video featuring many members of the Blue Skies Hospice staff. The video gives insight into the compassion and professional care that Blue Skies offers patients and their families.

How Hospice Supports Your Family Through Grief and Loss

Rev. Donna Marie Tetreault is a hospice chaplain and an active member of Compassion Sabbath, an interfaith working group which provides ongoing education for religious leaders to help with the needs of the dying in their faith communities. Throughout her experience in religious work and counseling, she has seen the effectiveness of hospice. She writes that it can support families through grief and loss. "The team of nurses, social workers, chaplains, home health aides, volunteers, bereavement coordinators, and the medical director, " she explains, "can help you navigate through the waves of grief."

Rev. Tetreault identifies four essential services hospice provides or facilitates:

Hospice listens and lets you express your grief: Hospice team members provide ongoing support and listening as medical, spiritual, and emotional needs and tasks arise. Hospice focuses on the one who is dying as well as on those they will leave behind. The plan for care identifies specific needs for education about the disease process unfolding, what to expect as death nears and occurs, and the bereavement support and guidance that is most helpful and appropriate.

Hospice provides encouragement, guidance, and education: These discussions, led in a compassionate and gentle way, address advance directives such as tube feedings, resuscitation, hospitalization, nursing home placement, and funeral planning. While these are tough topics to discuss, moving through them in ways that respect the dying person's wishes, cultural expectations, and religious practices can help to ease some of the uncertainty and fears of the unknown. Hospice offers a holistic approach, recognizing the unique physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of the patient and their loved ones. In this way, the journey towards life's end is lived out with dignity and respect.

Hospice helps you work through relationship issues: One of the most common experiences of anticipatory grief - the grief felt be loved ones in ancious anticipation of the approaching death - is undeserved guilt. Often family members regret past times of anger or seperation from the one who is now dying, or blame themselves for not recognizing symptoms earlier or not pushing for more aggressive treatments or therapies. Hospice works through these natural concerns with you, allowing you to see both the good and the stressful in all reltioanships, and to realize the limitations we all have in wanting and providing the best for those we love.

Hospice assists with planning and care issues: Other supports that hospice team members provide are education and guidance related to the tasks and expectations as death nears. While no one can predict just when and how death will occur, there are physical signs and symptoms that life is ebbing away. The hospice nurse, working with the primary physician and medical director, provides medications for comfort that help relieve a patient's physical adn emotional distress. The social worker can help you determine the availability of appropriate community resources, veterans benefits, adn other other services. The chaplain is available to contact a family's own pastoral minister, to offer blessings and prayers, to counsel and guide, and to officiate at a service if so desired. Hospice team members are available to accompany you through the funeral observances.

---

Blue Skies Hopsice provides all of these services to patients and their families. For more information please call or email us.

Blue Skies Hosts Country Fair at Kindred Care

On April 26th, the Blues Skies Hospice staff and volunteers organized and hosted a country fair event for hospice and non-hospice residents at Kindred Care in Dyer, Indiana. Residents had their picture taken with clowns, played games for prizes, and enjoyed ice cream and music. The event was a fun success.

Residents enjoying the fair

Blues Skies staff and volunteers organized and hosted the event





Kindred Care staff also enjoyed the event

Jewish Hospice Network Declares Importance of Hospice Care

Blue Skies Hospice serves and will continue to serve patients and families of all faiths and no faith. Members of the Jewish faith are organizing the Jewish Hospice Network to emphasize the medical and spiritual importance of hospice. Jewish Exponent published a wonderful account of the JHN, and the work they are doing. The article contains a Jewish story and how one Rabbi believes it symbolizes the importance of hospice care:

Rabbi Tsurah August of the Jewish Hospice Network -- of which Wissahickon Hospice is a partner -- said that when she met with Ira at his home, she looked for his connections to Judaism. Ira played music, and August discovered a shofar in one of his instrument cases.

Since it was the month of Elul, which precedes the holiday of Rosh Hashanah, she told Ira about the hallowed tradition of blowing the shofar each day of that month.

She also talked about some of the shofar's symbolism.

One of them is that when a shofar sounds, it blasts through the boundaries between this world and the next; even though Ira had trouble breathing, he blew the shofar each day of Elul until he fell into a coma and died at the end of October.

August, who was ordained at the Academy for Jewish Religion, in New York City, said this activity was meaningful for Ira and gave him something to do when he no longer had the energy for his many interests.

This, she said, reflects the importance of hospice care in enhancing the quality of a patient's life.

Viral Video Demonstrates Power of Music Therapy

This blog recently featured a post about the power of music therapy, and how more and more hospices, including Blue Skies, are integrating music into their care and treatment of patients. A popular video circulating the web demonstrates the affect of music on patients, even those with dementia, more effectively than any words.

The Use of Music in Hospice

One of the purposes of hospice is to bring comfort to the dying and provide loving assistance in their transition into the end-of-life process. Music is a universal healer that speaks the language of the emotions. In the words of jazz critic Stanley Crouch, "it makes the invisible audible."

Music, therefore, can be an invaluable tool in providing aid and comfort to hospice patients. Blues Skies hospice volunteers have used music therapy in their visitation with patients, and part of the volunteer training includes education in the value of music therapy.

The Philadelphia Inquirer recently ran a moving article on a New England hospice that uses music to a great extent in its effort to ease the pain and uplift the emotion of terminal patients.

Terre Mirsch, administrator of Holy Redeemer Hospice, said the value of music as a therapeutic tool has been getting more attention than in the past. Her program makes a point of including alternative treatments like massage and aromatherapy.

Music helps with "life review" - a favorite old song will almost certainly trigger a story - and it soothes people who are often anxious and uncomfortable. "It breaks the fight-or-flight response," Mirsch said.

Claire Fore, a former nun who works as a chaplain for Holy Redeemer, said she realized that music could change her own mood and has used it more and more with clients. She sings and plays an instrument called a QChord Digital SongCard Guitar. As soon as she starts to play, she said, "the facial expression changes. ... The body changes. ... I've had patients say to me they feel like they're in heaven."

There is no single forumla for hospice care. Blues Skies hospice tailors its care to the needs of the patient and her family. When music is helpful, it will use music. The example of the inspiration and comfor that Holy Redeemer hospice provides is one among many of the great meaning and value of hospice.

Hospice Use Contines to Rise Nationwide

A new study, published by Harden Hospice, confirms that the use of hospice in the United States continues to rise.

"The findings in this report support what we see every day," Lew Little, chief executive officer of Harden Healthcare, said. "An increasing number of patients and their families are realizing the unique blend of clinical, social and spiritual support services that hospice care provides. Hospice services allow them to focus on spending quality time with friends and family rather than on care-giving details during this difficult time. Hospice is also there to support the family after the loss of a loved one."

The statistical finds of the report reveal the nature of the growth of hospice care:

Almost 42 percent of all deaths in the United States took place under hospice care in 2010.

An estimated 1.58 million patients received hospice services in 2010.

The median time people spent in hospice care before dying was about 20 days.

Sixty-six percent of hospice patients died in their homes; 42 percent in a private residence other than their own homes; 21 percent in a "hospice house" and 18 percent in nursing homes.

Hospice patients died mostly of cancer (35.6 percent), followed by heart disease (14.3 percent).

The first hospice program in the United States opened in 1974, and currently, there are more than 5,000 programs nationwide.

The Medicare hospice benefit, enacted by Congress in 1982, is the major source of funding for hospice care.

Hospice provides an invaluable service to terminal patients and their families. If you have questions about Blues Skies Hospice please call (219) 554-0688.

 

Blue Skies Volunteer Julie Hancin Wins Volunteer Award

On March 22, 2012 the City of Hammond held a banquet for community volunteers and social service providers. Blues Skies Hospice volunteer Julie Hancin was one of four recipients of the prestigious Individual Adult Volunteer Award. The entire Blues Skies staff attended the ceremony to congratulate Julie. Ms. Hancin began volunteering with Blue Skies in 2007, and has brought her care, compassion, and commitment to excellence to the patients and families of Blue Skies with a selfless dedication to service. She represents the purpose, mission, and meaning of Blue Skies Hopsice.

Volunteer Coordinator Pearl Masciotra (left) and Julie Hancin (right) at the Banquet

Julie Hancin with the other award winners

The Blue Skies Hospice Staff

Blues Skies Hospice Participates in St. Catherine Hospital Heart Health Fair

On February 25, 2012, Blue Skies Hospice volunteer coordinator Pearl Masciotra held a booth at the St. Catherine Hospital Heart Health Fair for the second annual year. Pearl enjoyed speaking with community professionals and residents about the wonderful services offered at Blue Skies, along with the vast volunteer opportunities.

Pictured below is Pearl Masciotra (left) with Helene Zukanovich (right), who is a registered nurse and leads the Heart Failure Treatment Department at St. Catherine Hospital.

Learning to Live with "Dying Well"

Hospice and Palliative Care is, unfortunately and in some cases tragically, considered controversial. Misinformed critics accuse hospice of ending life, when in reality, palliative care treats pain for terminal patients, while hospice enables those patients to die peacefully, comfortably, and with dignity. The families of the patients also benefit from palliative care and treatment, because it help their healing begin. Blue Skies Hospice works with terminally ill patients, and uses its dedicated staff of nurses, social workers, clergy, doctors, and volunteers, to respect the wishes of dying patients, and bring love and companionship to them and their families.

Dr. Ira Brock, interviewed by USA Today, dispels some of the myths about hospice and describes its importance, along with its medical, psychological, and spiritual benefits. Dr. Karen Wyatt also weighs in to advocate for more palliative care and hospice:

'Best Care' may be dying well, say hospice, palliative docs

 By Janice Lloyd, USA TODAY

Medical advances help people live longer and longer, but too few physicians help people understand that longer is not always better, according to two new books.

Dr. Ira Byock MD counsels patient David Plant and wife Bette Jean Plant. Most doctors have been trained to treat diseases and not deal with end-of-life issues, according to Byock.

Ira Byock says he wants "to raise people's expectations" about the end of life and to to change the conversation about dying in America about dying.

"It's not easy to die well in modern times," says Byock, director of palliative medicine at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, N.H., and author of The Best Care Possible, a Physician's Quest to Transform Care Through the End Of Life.

Karen Wyatt, physician and author of What Really Matters, 7 Lessons for Living from the Stories of the Dying, describes a "horrifying night" she experienced as a resident at a hospital.

"A man came into the hospital and his heart arrested fives times in the course of the night," she says. "We resuscitated him four times before he finally died with us pounding on his chest. It was so sad, and what makes me so passionate about hospice care, where people can die very comfortably at home with their loved ones around them."

Byock says the needless suffering at the end of life is partly a result of a current political climate that accuses palliative care doctors and hospice physicians of promoting a "culture of death" or "death panels." Rather, he writes, he is one of the compassionate experts who are "pro-life" and insist people get the best care possible — basically what they want for themselves — and no extra care.

"Most doctors have been trained to treat diseases and not deal with end-of-life issues," he says. "American medical prowess is wonderful, but we have yet to make a person immortal. At some point, more disease treatment is not better care."

People have to think about quality of life but also quality of death, he says, adding that it's important that doctors don't give up too soon on someone while also knowing the limitations of treatment.

"I think physicians have really fallen short on that obligation," says Wyatt. "They haven't been as helpful to patients as they could have been."

Byock writes that throughout the ages people have held common fundamental values: to live as long and as well as possible, and eventually, to die gently. In his book, he shares poignant, complex conversations he has had with families and patients about knowing when to say "enough is enough," and letting health care professionals help keep a dying person comfortable with medications.

Additionally, he calls for changes in how doctors are educated (most medical schools do not require hospice or palliative care rotations, he notes) and changes in letting patients guide their own care at the end of life — Medicare and Medicaid, for instance, don't allow older people to have hospice care until they drop medical treatments.

Wyatt says her goals are to help people learn how to live and to face death. She offers spiritual lessons she learned while director of a hospice program in Ogden, Utah, from 1992 to 1999. One lesson centers on impermanence.

"Everything around us is going to have an end," she says. "Once we know that, as the dying person does, we savor life more, instead of focusing on what will happen down the road. It can be such a peaceful, beautiful passing."

Listen to Blues Skies Director, Lisa Guzman, Live On The Radio

Blues Skies Director Lisa Guzman and Karen Lansdowne, RN at Blues Skies, will speak with Jed of Jed in the Morning on WJOB 1230 AM at 7:00 am on Thursday, March 8th. Jed, Lisa, and Karen will discuss the services that Blues Skies offers the community. The conversation will likely be informative and helpful to those seeking knowledge about Blue Skies and hospice in general.

You can also listen and watch the broadcast at the official website for WJOB.

Blue Skies Hospice Hosts Elvis Day

On Wednesday, February 15th, Blue Skies Hospice organized and hosted an Elvis concert screening for residents at Kindred Care of Dyer. Residents were able to watch the Elvis Presley: Aloha from Hawaii concert, enjoy refreshments, and sing along with their favorite tunes. The event made for a wonderful and fun afternoon. Elvis was in the building!




Kindred Care resident Michele poses with Elvis

Kindred Care residents filled the dining room to watch The King.

Blues Skies volunteer Julie Hancin, Breanne Bizon, and Blue Skies volunteer coordinator Pearl Masciotra take their picture with Elvis.


                                          

Call For Volunteers at Blue Skies

Blue Skies Hospice is looking for volunteers interested in providing support and companionship to patients and families at the facility, 2712 169th St. Volunteers will receive training. Pearl Masciotra is the volunteer coordinator. Call (219) 554-0688 or visit http://www.blueskieshospice.com/

Writer and Episcopal Priest: Hospice Assists a "Good Death"

Michael Gemignani, a writer and Episcopal priest, writes an informative and moving essay about the importance of hospice. He relates his theological and philosophical thoughts to the experience of losing his wife, Carol. Gemignani writes:

The role of hospice is to educate society about dying and a to make the three criteria outlined above a reality. When hospice workers are clear in their own minds what constitutes a good death, they can help their patients achieve it.

Read Gemignani's essay to discover his "three criteria" and why he believes the "hospice movement" is so vital to the health of America.

Dealing With Anger

When people face a terminal diagnosis or learn of that a loved one has received a terminal diagnosis, anger is a natural response. Anger is a universal emotion that if understood properly and channeled effectively can become useful during the grieving and coping processes. Blue Skies Hospice has a staff of trained and compassionate professionals dedicated to caring for patients and their families as they run the gauntlet of emotions, fluctuating from anger to sadness to despair and to acceptance.

Louisa Rogers, a counselor and communication consultant in California, writes about some of the important ways to deal with anger when terminal or bereaved:

1. Identify destructive expressions of anger. If you express your anger in ways that hurt other people and inculcate feelings of guilt, you are likely expressing your anger in an overly aggressive, overly passive, or indirect fashion. Identify those moments and expressions, and self-critically work to correct and curtail them.

2. Express you anger assertively. State clearly and firmly what is upsetting you without attacking the other person.

3. Give yourself time. Slow down and take a moment of reflection before expressing yourself impulsively and angrily. This step is especially important for the bereaved, who are often operating in an emotional state and should reflect in a number of ways for a number of reasons.

4. Practice detachment. Detachment is not always synonymous with cold and insensitive. Detachment is often necessary for emotional health and intellectual sanity. If a person or series of circumstances is the cause of undue anxiety and anger, it may be wise to momentarily remove yourself from the situation.

Louisa Rogers, in her writing on anger, includes an instructive quote from the great Athenian philosopher Aristotle that summarizes the power of anger and the power to control it:

"Anybody can become angry - that is easyl but to be angry with the right person, and to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way - is not easy."

Even if it is not easy, everyone can work to accomplish it. During moments of pain brought on by death, Blue Skies Hospice can help those deal with their anger and find the right way.

Hospice Chaplain Writes About Importance of Family Care Giving

The Rev. Amy Ziettlow wrote an interesting commentary today at the Huffington Post on the importance and shifting role of the family caregiver. Rev. Ziettlow explains how caring for the elderly has and will continue to become a most significant issue to countless Americans as members of the baby boomer generation age into their twilight years.

She ends her thoughtful reflection with a series of questions that everyone must consider:

The next 30 years will be defined by the quality of care we provide for our elders. How will the baby boomers age and die? How are we as their kids going to care for them well and honor their memory and legacy? What kind of lives will we review?

Blue Skies Hospice can help families in Northwest Indiana answer these questions. The dedicated staff of nurses, social workers, clergy, and volunteers understands, appreciates, and respects the sanctity of the situation from which these questions arise, and will assist families in determining what is best for them, and how they can achieve peace in moments of pain.

Visit Blue Skies at The Crown Point Community Foundation's Volunteer Fair

It is a great pleasure and great honor for Blue Skies Hospice to participate in this year's Crown Point Community Foundation Volunteer Fair.

The third annual fair will take place at the Crown Point High School cafeteria on March 10, 2012 from 10am - 3pm. It is a terrific opportunity for volunteers of non-profit organizations and local charities to meet each other, and a great opportunity for members of the Northwest Indiana community to interact with some of the volunteers committed to improving conditions in their community.

If anyone is interested in becoming a volunteer for Blue Skies Hospice, you will have the opportunity to meet our staff, ask questions, and gain information at the fair. For more information on the fair visit the website created by the Crown Point Community Foundation, "Spring Into Action."

Use of Hospice Care is Growing

The Souteast Missourian ran a feature on New Year's Day describing the increasing popularity of hospice care and treatment. As perceptions change, more patients and families are realizing that hospice care is truly a gift for the dying and the grieving:

Hospice care is becoming a growing option for health care across the country. Some, however, still may not be aware of what hospice care is and what it provides for the recipient, as well as its availability in the local area.

Hospice care is considered to be the model of quality, compassionate care for those facing life-limiting illnesses, according to Legacy Hospice Inc. in Osceola, which provides residents living in Mississippi, Crittenden and Poinsett counties with hospice services. The goal of a hospice group is to work with the patient, either in their home or in a nursing home, to make their life as full and complete as it can possibly be during the last stages of an incurable illness, according to Kristin Owens, volunteer and bereavement coordinator for Legacy Hospice.
 
"These people aren't giving up. They just want to be able to live life to the fullest until the very end," Owens said.

The committed and competent staff of Blue Skies is available at all times. Please contact Blue Skies if you have any questions about hospice treatment, and the services that Blue Skies offers.