Hospice

Comfort House

Hospice of Pella is here for you!
You're not alone.

 

Hospice of Pella cares for people facing the end of life. We focus on specialized symptom management and provide for emotional and spiritual needs that arise during the dying process. We emphasize quality of life for our patients and their families by using a team of professionals and trained volunteers.

Hospice care is a compassionate method of caring for terminally ill people that:

  • Addresses not just patients' physical problems but the psychological and spiritual needs as well
  • Helps family members during the end of life process and after the death
  • Provides comprehensive comfort care when there is no cure, with an emphasis on pain and symptom control
  • Enables a person to live the last weeks and months of life as fully and comfortably as possible, with dignity, at home or in a home-like setting
  • Accepts death as a natural part of life, seeking neither to hasten or prolong the dying process
  • Provides emotional support by encouraging open communication, life review, death preparation and meeting spiritual needs

Who can use Hospice services?

Referrals can be made by any interested person. The patient must meet the following criteria for admission:

  • Patient must have a confirmed diagnosis of an advanced incurable illness with a prognosis of six months or less.
  • The patient, family and family physician must understand the Hospice philosophy of comfort care instead of curative care. They must agree that Hospice care is needed and wanted.
  • Care of the patient must remain under the direction of the patient's physician.
  • There must be a person(s) available for giving primary care (if home care is desired).
  • The home should be within a 25-mile driving radius from Pella (if home care is desired). .

Hospice Care Team includes

A Nurse. . .Who visits the patient at home as necessary to assess their physical condition. A Nurse"on call" 24 hours a day. seven days a week.

A Social Worker. . . helps the patient and the family cope with the emotional stresses of illness.

Medical Director. . . aids in the planning of patient care.

Pharmacist. . . reviews patient medications and makes suggestions for new interventions.

Spiritual Needs Coordinator. . . focuses on the spiritual needs of the patient and family.

Finance and Billing Coordinator. . . assists in filing insurance claims and meets with patients and families regarding private pay options when services are not covered by insurance.

Volunteers. . . have had a training course to prepare them to help with:

  • housekeeping, child care
  • transportation, errands
  • providing "time out" for primary care-giver

Nurse's Aides. . . make visits as needed to assist with bathing and other care needs.

Adult Grief and Loss Coordinator and Volunteers. . . help family and friends cope with the changes and adjustments that follow a death.

Children's Care Coordinator. . . gives special attention to children in grief.

How to call for help

Anyone can make a referral for Hospice care. Call our office at 641.620.5050 and ask to speak to one of the Hospice nurses. They will check with the attending physican to see if Hospice care is appropriate. They will then call the patient/family to see if Hospice care is desired.

Community Education

Hospice Library

PRHC Hospice Library

The library, located in the Comfort House "Quiet Room" at 505 Union Street, is well stocked with books and videos to help in your personal recovery. Check our resources for special needs such as the young widow, children's reactions to death, a father's grief, surviving suicide, death of an adult child, miscarriage, physical and emotional care of the dying, etc.

Speakers Bureau

We have several staff members who would be willing to speak to any group on the following subjects. All that is needed is to choose the topic and call our office to request to speak to that person and make the arrangements. There is no charge for this service.

Staff Speaker's Subjects

Advanced Directives
Living With A Terminal Illness
Living With A Loved One Who Is Dying
Communications of the Dying
Communications With The Dying
Co-workers in Grief or Illness
Children & Grief
Adult Bereavement
Empty Cradle -miscarriage/still birth death
Caring for Hospice Patients in Their Homes
Hospice/End Of Life
Comfort House
Pain Control
Volunteering For Hospice

 

Volunteer

"There is a tremendous strength that is growing in the world through...
sharing together, praying together, suffering together, and working together."

-Mother Theresa

What do volunteers do?

Volunteers are the heart of hospice. They are members of the community that donate their time serving the patients and caregivers that Hospice of Pella serves. Each volunteer chooses which tasks they are comfortable doing and the times that they are able to help.

Volunteers serve in many capacities within Hospice of Pella. Volunteers work in the office performing a wide variety of clerical functions. Volunteers provide companionship for our patients and relief for caregivers to take a break from the bedside. They help with transportation needs, including errands, trips home from the Comfort House and rides to and from appointments. Volunteers also work morning and afternoon shifts each day in the Comfort House. The Hospice Memorial Garden is maintained by volunteers. Bereavement services are also offered by our trained volunteers.

Hospice Volunteer Training Class Information

All hospice volunteers are required to complete the Hospice Volunteer Training Class. Hospice of Pella offers the volunteer training class to anyone interested in learning more about becoming a hospice volunteer or learning more about the hospice program and philosophy. The class is taught by experienced hospice staff members and experts in other disciplines. This class is very helpful for those wanting to learn more about being a caregiver and those interested in learning more about grief and bereavement.

This class is offered a minimum of two times per year at no charge. To check class time and location, please call the Hospice Volunteer Coordinator at 641-620-5054 or check News and Events.

Hospice Volunteer Training Class Information

Volunteers are a special group of people. They volunteer their time, their hands and their heart. While volunteers expect nothing in return, at times they need support.

The staff at Hospice of Pella realizes that ongoing support is vital to the success of our volunteers. That support can take many forms.

We offer two hours of in-service each quarter for our volunteers on a wide variety of topics. We highly encourage our volunteers to attend these meetings as the information is quite valuable.

Many times the support that is needed is not educational, it’s having someone to talk to about the challenges of volunteering in an environment where people are living their last days. We are all there for each other and that support has been very helpful for many of our volunteers.

Through it all, our volunteers find it personally gratifying, intellectually stimulating and emotionally meaningful to assist those in need at the end of their lives.

 

Testimonial

I've recently retired from nearly 40 years in ministry, and I've seen hospice impact lives in marvelous ways. But the way my life was impacted by Hospice of Pella is what I value most. Dad died in 1996 at the age of 82 after a long fight with cancer. Hospice care enabled my parents to stay in their home and my mother to understand and care for my dad.

This was all before the time of the Comfort House, but there was a hospice room at the hospital. In the last three weeks of his life we practically lived in that room. Hospice folks helped us understand every day what was happening--not out of Dad's earshot, but including him, because he was a guy who needed to know. That room allowed me to stay there night and day. It freed all of us, but me especially, to focus on loving him and communicating real feelings. It may seem strange, but the last weeks of Dad's life may have been the most significant days in the whole history of our relationship. It was a gift.

When Mom died in 2007 after years in long term care, it was in the Comfort House. Upon her arrival, she said to Judy (my wife) and me, so this is my room...my room, and smiled. A whole community surrounded us for this journey, free to visit, eat with us and even cook with us. The staff didn't just "work" there, they were family to us. We cried, and we laughed… together. And they gently shook us awake in the middle of that last night to tell us it was time. We will always be grateful for Hospice of Pella.  

-Stan VerHeul

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