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Hospice
Comfort House
Grief Programs
Community Education
Volunteer
Testimonial
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. . .Who helps the patient and the family cope with the emotional stresses of illness.
Medical Director. . .Who aids in the planning of patient care.
Pharmacist. . .Who reviews patient medications and makes suggestions for new interventions.
Spiritual Needs Coordinator. . .Who focuses on the spiritual needs of the patient and family.
Finance and Billing Coordinator. . .Who assists in filing insurance claims and meets with patients and families regarding private pay options when services are not covered by insurance.
Volunteers. . .Who 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. . . Who make visits as needed to assist with bathing and other care needs.
Adult Grief and Loss Coordinator and Volunteers. . . Who help family and friends cope with the changes and adjustments that follow a death.
Children's Care Coordinator. . . Who 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
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
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
"It will demand your free time...often when you want that time for other things. It will demand sincere enthusiasm and concentration, certainly hard work. In return, you'll have nothing you can hold in your hand. That's part of it's strength, a strength that's as strong as you want to make it..."
Volunteers are the heart and soul of Hospice. They are members of our community who donate their time to Hospice. There is no charge for their services.
What do volunteers do?
Hospice Volunteers are willing to help with: meals, transportation, housekeeping, laundry, sitting with patients, babysitting, running errands, mowing lawns, office assistance, bereavement volunteering and helping with the Memorial Garden. Volunteers are able to choose what task they are comfortable doing as well as how much time they are willing to help each month. Volunteers also work 4-hour shifts in the Comfort House. Each volunteer must complete the 17 hour Hospice Volunteer Training class.
Hospice Volunteer Training Class Information
We offer the training class twice a year, each session held one night/week for seven weeks. The location for the class is in the Comfort House class room, located at 505 Union Street in Pella. Teachers are primarily Hospice staff members. We recommend the class to anyone who would like to learn more about grief and death. Class members will not only discuss their own experiences, but will learn from others in the class and from staff members.
Time for the class is 7 to 9:30 p.m. To register, call our office at 620-5050. During each 2 1/2 hour session, participants are informed on a variety of subjects including: the Hospice philosophy, stages and fears about dying, communication, how death affects the family, how to care for a terminally ill person, funeral planning, children's grief, adult grief and volunteer information. One class setting is at our local funeral homes, with each funeral director co-facilitating that class.To inquire more about this class, just call our office at (641) 620-5050.
Quarterly Inservice
Hospice of Pella provides an inservice each quarter for our volunteers and the general public on a variety of health topics. These inservices are held in the basement classroom at the Hospice office located at 505 Union Street in Pella. Advance notice is given through ads in the local paper.
Testimonial
Afghans. They provide warmth on cold nights. They are beautiful, with each thread intricately woven through the next. They offer comfort in the memories they hold - the scent of your mother's perfume or the thought of sitting on your father's lap bundled in an afghan-made with you in mind.
For Pella resident and Pella Regional Health Center volunteer Gloria Valster, an afghan does more than provide warmth and comfort.
It is a picture and symbol of her family: Tightly woven, beginning with few links, and gradually growing with each additional woven chain; multi-layered, providing smiles in times of rememberance and comfort in times of sorrow.
Gloria has a mental symbol of what an afghan represents, as well as the actual blanket she received the day of her mother's funeral. The number of afghans her mother had knit matched the number of children and grandchildren in her family. "She had just enough that each of her children and grandchildren could have their own afghan," says Gloria. "So that was pretty special."
Gloria's mother, Ardella Gosselink, lost her eyesight 31 years ago. "She used to work part time until she lost her eyesight," says Gloria. "She was used to doing things for other people." Ardella didn't like having to rely on others to help her and take her places. But Ardella didn't let her loss of sight hold her spirit down. "She was always thankful she lost her eyesight instead of her hearing," Gloria, smiled. "She'd say, 'I can go to church and hear the music. I can hear the sermons. I can hear my friends talking to me. I may not be able to see it…' but she was always glad it was her eyesight rather than her hearing."
Gloria explained that Ardella had just enough vision that she could still knit. "She spent a lot of her time knitting and made hundreds of afghans." Bill and Ardella had lived in Pella 'Forever,' as Gloria phrased it. Then 12 years ago they made the decision to move to Pella Manor. "They chose to do that because if anything ever happened to my dad, she was hoping to live there by herself and be independent enough to take care of herself."
Gloria turned back to her previous thought. "Once she lost her eyesight her greatest fear was that she would fall and break a hip because she wasn't seeing well." And that did happen. One day while on a trip to Michigan with her sister, Ardella slipped off of a curb, breaking her hip. "After that it was a series of hospital visits for one reason or another." In addition to the loss of eyesight and broken hip, Ardella's heart was in bad shape - in April she suffered congestive heart failure.
Gloria and her family soon realized the magnitude of the situation. "It was a place we never thought we'd be," says Gloria. "We had known about hospice for a long time, but never thought we would need it." But hospice was there when the need arose. "She would have had to go to the hospital or have the one of us kids move in," said Gloria. "Dad just couldn't do it all by himself anymore." Ardella's home healthcare nurse determined the necessity for hospice care. "It had always been her desire to die in her home, if possible, rather than in a hospital or nursing home," says Gloria. And she never did.
Ardella remained at home with her husband and hospice nurses made frequent visits and other stops as needed. "The thing my dad appreciated most was that they said, 'Call anytime.' Even though he didn't want to bother them, over and over and over again they said, 'If it's the middle of the night, if it's first thing in the morning - we don't care. Call if you have a question or if you want us to come.'" Gloria said. "To a man living alone, doing the major care-giving, it was a comfort to know, 'If I can't reach my kids, there is someone I can call - the hospice nurse.' "
"It was an awesome experience," says Gloria. "We met all of the hospice nurses, and mom and dad started to look forward to their visits - they got to know my parents on a personal level, and became the light of their day."
"What helped me cope with the situation was how good they were about telling us what to expect." Gloria went on, "She did a lot of talking about heaven - it was like she was there. It was kind of a reassurance to know that it's all part of the process; it's not confusing - it makes perfect sense to her." Gloria's afghan now keeps her warm on cold evenings, perhaps the warmth of her mother's spirit. It can bring a smile to her face at the thought of her mother's optimistic view on life, or joy to her heart knowing that her mother is now in Heaven. It comforts her when she feels alone and calms her sadness when tears may come.
"She was just so ready to go." Gloria says, as a smile begins to light her face. "And you just can't hold them back. She was longing to go. We just had to let her go."
