About Us

Our Staff

“You matter to the last moment of your life, and we will do all we can, not only to help you die peacefully, but to live until you die.” — Dame Cicely Saunders, founder of the first modern hospice

Individualized compassionate care

The hospice interdisciplinary care teams are the backbone of our patient care. Each team includes the hospice medical director, nurses, nursing assistants, social workers, our chaplain, volunteers, and a bereavement counselor. Working with the patient’s personal physician, teams provide professional, compassionate and customized care to each individual and family.

Although all our staff members are well-trained professionals, they also have big, big hearts and a store of memories that has no end. These reminiscences are shared by the staff:

“Remembering is an excellent way to be able to grieve and move on at the same time,” says one social worker. A nurse agrees, adding: “We’re not immune from the sadness of the deaths, but that’s alright because we have memories of our patients and the families who are so gracious to us, letting us into their homes and their lives at such a precious time. They are grateful to us and we are grateful to them.”

Remembering little things that meant so much

“She was so thrilled when I found a lavender blanket for her in the nursing home. Lavender was her favorite color.”

“I remember when he was moved from one nursing home to another, and his CNA had to move with him. He was so attached to his ‘Sister Donna’!”

“Did she always give you chocolates on your way out?”

“Kisses made him beam.”

“I sat by her bed, just looking at her, wanting to do something. I asked if there was anything I could do for her. ‘You can just look at me,’ she said."

“I asked him what would be helpful, and he said, ‘Just listen to me.’ So I sat on the floor next to his chair, held his hand and listened to his sadness.”

“And the smiles...so many sweet, sweet smiles.”

And the wonderful caregivers

“In getting to know caregivers, I have learned what true love and commitment is. What they do is such hard work, but I’ve seen the need in someone they love bring out their strengths and help them do things they never thought they could do. It makes me proud that hospice enables this to happen.”

“They want to stop racing around and learn how to be still and be there for their loved ones.”

“We’d talk about death and suffering. Well, she’d talk; I’d listen.”

“Her son loved to call and talk. He just needed someone to listen. And then he’d call back to thank you for listening.”

And the holidays

“Were you at the nursing home when our patient’s wife found the valentine gift we had purchased and hidden for him, for her to find? You could hear her screaming all over the nursing home, ‘Baby, you’ve been shopping!’”

“Remember the birthday party where one of our volunteers gave out boas and then sang and we staff members were the “doo-wop girls?”

“And the anniversary party where the caregiver took his wife’s hands and they “danced” even though she couldn’t get out of her chair. That will be a happy memory for this family.”

The ordinary days

“Do you remember the woman with that terrific chair that helped her get up and down; she’d charge other residents at the nursing home 25 cents to take a ride!”

“She found out I played the piano and blocked the door so I couldn’t leave until I played with her. I’d play a song, and then she’d play one. We had a good time.”

“I love the ‘sit around the kitchen table’ times. Eating pound cake. Drinking iced tea or coffee. Listening to families reminisce.”

And the final days

“She was elegant in the face of death from a non-elegant pulmonary disease. Dying peacefully and with dignity, just the way she lived, just the way she wanted.”

“He told me he’d lost his wallet and didn’t have a quarter to his name. When I gave him a quarter, he took and it and said, ‘Now I can travel.’ He died the next day.”

“I remember her face on the last day I was there, just before she died. She was so peaceful, so ready to go. And the family was there, telling her it was okay to go. It was beautiful.”