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.