Hospice and Palliative Care of St. Lawrence Valley

Ensuring quality of life in any stage of illness

315-265-3105

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View the 2020 Memory Tree Book

When a star in your life becomes a memory, that memory becomes a treasure. 

Hospice of St. Lawrence Valley invites you to share the memories of those you treasure by joining with others in our annual Memory Tree campaign.

Thank you for celebrating a star in your life through Hospice of St. Lawrence Valley’s Annual Memory Tree Campaign.

Funds raised through this campaign will help Hospice continue to provide quality end-of-life care and grief support to our friends and neighbors throughout St. Lawrence County.

2020 Hospice Memory Book for website

 

2020 Hospice Memory Trees

When a star in your life becomes a memory, that memory becomes a treasure. 

Hospice of St. Lawrence Valley invites you to share the memories of those you treasure by joining with others in our annual Memory Tree campaign.

Celebrate the life of someone you cherish and light up the holiday for someone who is terminally ill by purchasing a star in honor of someone who has touched your life and left it changed forever. 

Traditionally, throughout the month of December, two trees adorned with hundreds of stars representing precious loved ones are displayed at the Hospice Center.

This year, however, we are not able to invite you to our building to view the trees.  Instead, we invite you to participate in the Hospice Memory Tree campaign by hanging a star for your loved one on your tree at home.

With your donation, you will receive up to ten (10) Wooden Star Ornaments painted with your loved ones’ names to hang in your home.  Your loved ones’ names will also be included in our virtual 2020 Memory Tree Book. (You may submit an unlimited number of names to be preserved in our Memory Book.)

Your contribution will help to ensure the highest quality end-of-life care and grief support continues to be available to our friends and neighbors in St. Lawrence County when they need it most.  Thank you for your support!

Yes! I would like to remember a star in my life by donating to the 2020 Hospice Memory Trees

 

National Hospice and Palliative Care Month

The Faces of Caring

November is National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, and this year’s theme is “The Faces of Caring.”

Hospice and palliative care programs across the country are reaching out to their communities to raise awareness about end of life services.  Hospice is not a place, but a special kind of high-quality care that enables patients with advanced illnesses, and their families, to focus on living as fully as possible despite an advanced or life-limiting illness. Palliative care brings this same holistic model of care to people earlier in the course of an illness, including from the time of diagnosis and in combination with other curative treatments.

Every year, nearly 1.5 million people living with a life-limiting illness receive care from hospices in this country.  These highly trained professionals ensure that patients and families find dignity, respect, and comfort during life’s most difficult journey.

At Hospice of St. Lawrence Valley, hospice and palliative care is our specialty — it’s all we do (as opposed to also providing home care or another service).  Our staff members are truly the region’s experts in end-of-life care.  Most of us want the best when we have a serious ailment (the best oncologist, the best surgeon, etc.) and we are the region’s leading expert in end-of-life care and education.

Our staff provides the highest level of quality medical care combined with the emotional and spiritual support that families need most when facing the end of life. Through this specialized care, we see many patients and their families experience more meaningful moments together and help them focus on living their life as fully as possible, despite a terminal diagnosis.

Hospice and palliative care programs provide pain management, symptom control, psychosocial support, and spiritual care to patients and their families when a cure is not possible.

Throughout the month of November, you can tune in to your local radio stations, 95.3 The Wolf, Q102.9, Pac 92.7, 96.7 Yes FM, Star 101.1, B99.3, and 1340 WMSA to learn more about hospice and palliative care as they share stories, tributes, and truths about the special care that can only be received from Hospice of St. Lawrence Valley.

Is your aging parent ready for hospice care?

Signs Your Aging Parent May Be Ready for Hospice Care:

  1. Their treatments are no longer working and/or they no longer desire to pursue aggressive interventions
  2. Their symptoms are getting harder to manage
  3. They are visiting the doctor more and/or have been hospitalized or visited the ER more frequently
  4. They need a lot more help with activities of daily living (i.e. personal care, feeding, getting dressed)
  5. They are experiencing decreased alertness, withdrawal, or confusion
  6. They don’t have much of an appetite and/or are losing weight for no apparent reason
  7. They have uncontrolled symptoms such as pain, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, etc.
  8. They are sleeping a lot of the time
  9. You’re feeling stressed and overwhelmed as a caretaker
  10. There is a decision to focus on quality of life

 

For more information or to make a referral, call 315-265-3105 today!

Family Support Services at Hospice

 

The Role of the Hospice Social Worker

When we speak about hospice care, often the first thing that comes to mind is the importance of the medical care of the patient. Controlling pain and symptoms, managing medications, and addressing other immediate concerns related to their illness. A major benefit to the families who accept hospice care is the coordination of all these things so they can focus on being present with their loved one for whatever period of time they may have.

But how exactly does a patient and their family begin to process the words terminal illness, death, and the countless thoughts and emotions that come along with them?

Fortunately, hospice care uses a person and family-centered approach that includes a team of clinicians including doctors, nurses, home health aides, chaplains, counselors, trained volunteers, and social workers.

In hospice care, social workers are tasked with addressing the many emotional and psychological issues patients and families face when they travel this phase of their journey. They work to assess and evaluate the situations patients find themselves in from a problem-solving perspective. Their insights, support, and recommendations can greatly improve the experience of the patient and their family.

The social worker gets to know the patient and the background of their personal and family history, including identifying any military service. This information, as well as learning their view of the dying process, is important to collect so the social worker can help the patient and family work together in making healthcare decisions based on their goals of care.

Sometimes, a social worker will find a family under unusual stress, or with particular or unusual concerns about what they are facing as a family.  In this case, the social worker may help mediate family discussions to help get everyone on the same page.

During this time, all family members may not agree with the patient’s decisions to accept hospice care. Social workers are specially trained to resolve conflict and help with the acceptance of the patient’s wishes. For many families, these can be very emotionally charged situations and social workers assist in keeping the focus on what is important to the patient.

One of the scariest things present during this time can be fear of the unknown. The clinical team works to prepare patients and families with knowledge of what they might expect during the process. Most importantly, social workers help people to accept their emotions about the situation.

At Hospice of St. Lawrence Valley, social workers have the assistance of Resource Advocate, Brandy Walton, who works to connect families to community care agencies, respite services, Lifeline, legal services, housing, home delivered meals, prescription coverage, utility assistance and much more. Together, the social work team provides important guidance through the process of establishing managed long-term care in the home and facilitate nursing home placements if needed.

Navigating life with an advanced illness can involve countless confusing insurance matters and completing applications for nursing home placement, Medicare, and VA services can be exhausting. Hospice staff have established relationships with the many services available to our community members and work to ensure they have the fullest support available as they care for their loved one.

For many patients and families who choose hospice care, coordination of care removes a huge burden. The ripple effect of an illness and the death of a loved one moves through the entire family and it is important with this model of care that support is offered to everyone affected by the situation. Each person experiences this process differently and they are treated as individuals when difficult emotions arise.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, we would like to remind families they can seek additional information on hospice care and even refer a family member to our services. Our staff will work with a person’s physician to determine if they are eligible for hospice care or our Advanced Illness Management program. For more information call 315-265-3105.

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