Eileen McDargh and Susan Mullins, daughters of hospice patient Mary Burchard, shared their experiences with Hospice Care of the West on the Channel 6 morning news. This interview is both touching and resourceful for children caring for aging parents. Eileen and Susan delve into how they made the choice for hospice. More specifically, they discuss how Hospice Care of the West had the best philosophy of care that aligned with their wishes to give their mother the most joy and comfort that she could experience on her final journey. They also talk about how Hospice Care of the West celebrated their mother’s life through recording her life review video interview. Their mother, Mary, reflected on her life as a doctor, a mother and a buy cheap cialis pilot in World War II. In the life review, they sang songs with their mother, a favorite family pastime when growing up. This interview is such a resource for any family thinking about hospice for their family member. Check it out. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iXB1kG2OsE

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Debbie Robson, the renowned innovative Executive Director of Hospice Care of the West, is elected to the Board of Directors of California Hospice and Palliative Care Association (CHAPCA). She will represent Region 6 that encompasses hospice organizations in Los Angeles, Orange, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. The mission of CHAPCA is to promote and strengthen the delivery of hospice care for patients with life-limiting illnesses and their families through education and advocacy. “I’m honored by the opportunity to be a unifying voice for the hospices in our region,” said Robson. “I look forward to continuing the mission of CHAPCA to educate the community about the benefits of hospice and innovating hospice care from the front lines. I hope to continue to change the public conversation about hospice from dying to celebrating life.” Robson has more than 20 years experience in end-of-life care that began as a hospice and home health nurse. Under Robson’s leadership, Hospice Care of the West received the Outstanding Program Achievement Award given by the California Hospice and Palliative Care Association to an innovative hospice program that can an example for the hospice community in 2012. Robson was also honored with SeniorServ’s “Executive Director of the Year” receiving the Senior Care Hero Award in 2012. “We’re excited to welcome Debbie to the Board of Directors,” Susan Negreen, President of CHAPCA, said. “Her experience and vision will strengthen our mission at CHAPCA. And I’d like to congratulate her on the vote of confidence from the hospice community.” With Robson at the helm, Hospice Care of the West has risen to become a premier-award-winning hospice providing patients and their families with exceptional care and volunteer programs that give life review videos, last wish celebrations and vigil volunteers to ensure that end of life is a meaningful and memorable journey. The programs at Hospice Care of the West go above the required Medicare benefit to transform a stage of life that has been historically alienating into a time to honor a patient’s life with the family, community and future generations. In 2011, Robson collaborated with Denise Carson, author of the book Parting Ways, to launch an online resource OurLifeCelebrations.com to educate patients, families and health care providers about hospice and new ways to approach, prepare for, and celebrate life’s final journey. Robson is spreading the mission of celebrating life with Community Reminiscing Corners that invite healthy seniors at assisted living facilities and senior centers to record their wisdom on video and learn about the value of hospice care. Internally, Robson launched Reminiscing Corners for her staff to sit down with veteran life story documentary filmmaker, Jay Gianukos, to share their wisdom and life stories. The Reminiscing Corner videos are then played at the bi-monthly Celebration!, a gathering of the entire hospice team generic cialis without prescription to celebrate each other and remember the patients who they have cared for and passed on. Celebration is a gathering for reflection and renewal to strengthen and support the hospice team in providing the best care to their patients and honoring their life’s journey. Catch a glimpse of Celebration here. Prior to Hospice Care of the West, Robson worked as a Regional Hospice Consultant at Heartland Hospice. She also served as the Director of Hospice for St. Joseph Hospice in Orange, Calif. Robson completed her Bachelors of Science in Nursing and Masters in Business Administration in Healthcare Management. Robson will begin her newly elected position on the Board of Directors of CHAPCA immediately and will serve for three years. She hopes to unite the hospices in a common goal to raise awareness about hospice so patients and their families can receive hospice relief sooner in their journey.

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Check out the Channel 6 Morning News broadcast that spreads our message to the community. I joined Rob Merritt to talk about the seeds of our mission to celebrate the end of life that began with my book Parting Ways, my column at the OC Register and this blog–a collaboration with Hospice Care of the West. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2jNXJ2DdJk Our conversation is timely and important at this stage in America’s history when thousands of baby boomers are dealing with these issues and in search of new ways to approach this stage of life.We discussed the changing attitudes that have fueled the wider acceptance of hospice and growing specialty of palliative care in hospitals that have enabled families and communities to be more involved and clear-eyed in life’s last chapter. I shared my personal experiences losing my parents who were cultural markers for these changes. In the late 1980s, my father’s cancer was veiled in denial that led to him to dying, alone, in a hospital while my mother’s cancer prognosis at the turn of the 21st Century was the opposite. My mom had one of those end-of-life experiences at home surrounded by friends and family who came in her last week to celebrate her much in way you would at wake. Check out my most recent OC Register Column about our experience. I talked about the commonality of hospice in all the families I report on. We discussed my experiences sitting bedside with patients at Hospice Care of the West. These patients were interviewed in life review to video record the stories of their lives to pass on to the canadian pharmacy no prescription next generation. I’m convinced video recording a life review interview better prepare the individual, family and community for end of life. This should be a cornerstone in the psychosocial care of a patient and family in hospice. My hope is one day all the stories I write about here on Celebration2life.com, my column Parting Ways in the OC Register and my book Parting Ways will one day be the norm and not the exception.

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Congratulations Debbie Robson for receiving the Senior Care Hero Award! You are so deserving of the “champion” spotlight for seniors. Bravo!! Your leadership as Executive Director at Hospice Care of the West is now recognized beyond our walls. Each day, you transform the lives of your patients and inspire the team at Hospice Care of the West to celebrate life. I’m honored to work alongside you in our mission. I feel like this mission is truly a movement set in motion by you believing in our vision to become a shining beacon for changing how seniors generic cialis live in life’s final frontier. The Senior Care Hero Awards at the Presidential Nixon Library was reminiscent of the Oscars night with a red carpet lit up by the magnificent lives dedicated to senior care.  It’s a fitting event as we are in the midst of an End-of-Life Revolution. Individuals, families and communities are searching for new ways to make  this stage of life a grand finale. Below is a recap from Boyd Hendrickson, CEO of Skilled Healthcare. I am pleased to announce that Debbie Robson, Executive Director of Hospice Care of the West, was the recipient of the Outstanding Executive Director of the Year. Deb made it through three tiers of voting. The first round was the People’s Choice, and Deb was chosen by popular vote. The second round of voting was by the Senior Care Hero Awards Council of Advisors which narrowed each field. The third and final round of voting was conducted by the Academy of Leaders. Deb received her award the evening of September 9 in the presence of her husband Mark, Hospice Care of the West’s Medical Director, Dr. Jorge Rivero (who himself was a nominee for Outstanding Physician and made it to the final tier), Boyd Hendrickson, Dev Ghose, Roland Rapp, and an intimate gathering of about 400 other attendees.  The Senior Care Hero Awards are driven by Community SeniorServ, Inc. Community SeniorServ is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving as an advocate for Orange County’s older adults. This organization is committed to providing comprehensive services essential to their well-being and independence and provides vital safety net services to more than 11,000 senior citizens a year. Their goal is to ensure sustainability to meet the growing demand for senior services and to reduce dependency on government funding. Community SeniorServ is one of the nation’s largest elderly nutrition programs and a respected leader in the national aging network preparing and serving over 1.5 million meals a year to seniors at home and at 27 nutrition centers. That’s over 5,000 meals every day. Their mission is simple: To improve the quality of life for older adults, persons with disabilities, and their families by creating a safety net of health, nutrition, and supportive services designed to enhance their independence, well being, and dignity. Congratulations, Deb, and thank you for making a difference!  Boyd Hendrickson During her acceptance speech, Debbie reflected on her mother’s guidance that led her where she is today.  As a former hospice nurse turned executive director, Debbie is no stranger to what it takes day to day to care for our ailing parents, but beyond that she knows taking time out to create memories can often shift how we spend time at the bedside. At Hospice Care of the West, we are giving seniors the recipes and inspirations on this blog. Our programs such as the Life Review Video bring families together to record a last conversation about wisdom, life lessons and hopes and dreams to pass on the to next generations. We are teaching people that you don’t need to wait to the end to celebrate one’s life, you can do it today, right now. We’ve built a rich resource of authentic stories about our patients that we hope one day will be the norm rather than the exception. With Debbie Robson at the helm of Hospice Care of the West, I believe this is possible. We have created the kind of place that can inspire seniors to live richly even in their most vulnerable stage of life. On our blog are examples from our 105-year-old patient Bessie who courageously flew in the big balloon weeks before her last breath to Dee J. who celebrated his 100 years of life with 200 of his closest friends and family after he entered hospice. My nomination for Debbie Robson is below. Thank you for believing in our mission! Why should this person be nominated? What makes nominee unique; why should he or she be selected as the winner of this category? ?Debbie Robson, Executive Director, has created a hospice that is a beacon for all other hospices and health care professionals on how we can change this stage of life for seniors into a time when families and communities can come together to celebrate their lives, wisdom and legacies. Click here to see what makes Hospice Care of the West exceptional Within the hospice, we have launched Reminiscing Corners that bring together members of the hospice team to share their wisdom and life stories with a documentary filmmaker, so that we’re not only celebrating the lives of our patients but also each other. Check out the Reminiscing Corner spotlighting and celebrating the lives of our social workers. Click here Social Workers Reminiscing Corner.  Reminiscing Corner videos are played at an event we call Celebration that brings together the entire hospice team to reflect, renew and celebrate life. Check Debbie at this Reminiscing Corner Deb is spearheading a movement at Hospice Care of the West that will change how we care for seniors and their families. We invite seniors from the community to Reminiscing Corners to teach the value of recording your wisdom and passing on your hopes and dreams to the next generation. This shift in how we approach end of life brings usa pharmacy meaning, value, hope, dignity and for this we must say thank you to Deb for being an inspirational, innovative leader at Hospice Care of the West.   What...

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On local Channel 6 News, Patty Mouton, family member of a patient with Alzheimer’s disease, shares her story of choices and support received from Hospice Care of the West, buy sildenafil at a challenging period in her mother-in-law’s life. Initially, she was shocke buy viagra d when the doctor suggested hospice, but in hindsight she realized hospice care was the right choice for her mother-in-law at that stage of her journey. Patty is also the Vice President of Outreach and Advocacy of the Alzheimer’s Association Orange County Chapter, so this journey struck her on a personal and professional level. “Hospice was a tremendous benefit,” she says. Patty talked about the interdisciplinary team such as the social worker who helped smooth out the rough family dynamics and the chaplain who guided her family spiritually find peace and connect with their local church. The Hospice Care of the West team even sent a hairdresser who came and cut her hair. “She looked just adorable,” Patty reflected. But more importantly, “she was comfortable,” Patty said. Hospice and the end of life is often a journey into the unknown and even more challenging when a parent has Alzheimer’s disease. Click below to listen to Patty’s interview with the Channel cheap generic viagra 6 morning news anchor.

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Shortly after her 105th birthday, hospice patient Bessie Anderson prepares to go up for a balloon ride at the Great Park in Irvine. The big orange helium balloon is nearly 74 feet in diameter. On the flight deck, Bessie is tucked into a wheelchair pushed by her granddaughter, Sheryl Villapania, 48, of Murrietta, who uses a wipe board to communicate to her. Though Bessie’s hearing is diminished, she works around this and continues to engage in conversation. Bessie Anderson, 105, of Laguna Niguel is flying high as she fulfills her dream of soaring in the Great Park Balloon. The Irvine attraction flies 400 ft. high with a 360-degree view spanning up to 40 miles. Dream Catchers, made up of high school volunteers, grant last wishes for hospice patients. Anderson was thrilled with the views on this clear day and was grateful to everyone who made her dream come true. “Are you scared?” Sheryl writes on the board. Bessie reads the board then beams and says, “No, I’m excited.” Bessie, of Laguna Nigel, is dressed up for her adventure flight. Her white hair is curled, blush enhances her cheekbones and a pearl necklace punctuates her coral silk blouse. Since the Great Park started free balloon rides in 2007, she has wanted to go up but never quite made it. When her nurse, Nancy Nicolosi, 52, from Hospice Care of the West, talked of her recent flight, Bessie sat up in bed. “I want to go for a balloon ride at the Great Park,” she said. Nancy called on Dream Catchers, a group of high school volunteers who make last wishes come true for hospice patients. Emily Beals, 16, the new president of the organization, answered the call. She is a junior at Tesoro High School and recently took over from the founder of Dream Catchers, Caitlin Crommett, 17, who went off to college and started a chapter at Notre Dame in Indiana. Since the organization began two years ago, Dream Catchers has granted 22 dying wishes. Caitlin’s inspiration for making dreams happen for hospice patients came from volunteering since seventh grade for Hospice Care of the West and a scene from the movie “Patch Adams.”  In the movie, the doctor is focused on not just treating the disease but caring for the patients. The spark for Dream Catchers came when the doctor inspires a depressed old woman to eat again by making her dream — of plunging into a pool of spaghetti — a reality. The Dream Catchers have taken hospice patients for one last sail on the Pacific, a walk with their family down Main Street at Disneyland and out for a special reunion dinner with family and friends, just to name a few. One of their goals is to reunite families for a shared moment when time is running out. The balloon ride is the 23rd dream and Emily’s first as president of Dream Catchers. She reserved the balloon for Bessie with park operators. As she arrives at the balloon flight deck, Emily tries to mask her jitters. Though there are four generations between them, Emily is more afraid of riding in the balloon than Bessie is. “I would never do this on my own. I’m only doing this for Bessie,” she says. “My life is on the line here.” Emily nervously strolls alongside Bessie, Sheryl and Nancy. The balloon operators strap Bessie in and electronically lift her onto the gondola. Bessie smiles with glee. Sheryl wheels her grandmother along the gondola edge as they choose a good lookout point. Emily holds on to Nancy, the nurse, as they step into the gondola. The gate locks them in and they are ready for take off. Up and up and up, the balloon takes flight, and Bessie says, “It’s so smooth and so quiet.” She recalls how loud a ride on the Goodyear blimp was in the 1920s and then reflects on that time when people would step out of their houses to watch the blimp fly by. The balloon reaches its zenith and floats. Emily’s cialis prices knuckles turn white as she grips the side of the gondola and looks out at the horizon, not daring to look down. The wind blows through Bessie’s hair and tickles her cheeks. She looks down at Orange County below without any sign of fear; she remembers that it was all orange groves when she was growing up. “It’s like being in a skyscraper,” she says. “How high are we?” The balloon operator says we are 40 stories high, about 400 feet up with a 360-degree view. When the balloon starts its descent, Emily looks relived. Upon landing, Bessie is glowing. “Ahhhhh, that was a thrill! You know everybody doesn’t get to do that.” Tears flow down Sheryl’s cheeks. “I love to see her happy like that.” Sheryl says her father, Bessie’s son, just died in April. At the time, Bessie had pneumonia and suffered a heart attack that sent her into hospice care, which is available to those with six months or less to live. “She still enjoys herself, every little piece of life,” Sheryl says. “Yes, we did it,” Nancy says to Bessie. After the flight, Caitlin’s Mom, Colleen Crommett, spreads a buffet of sandwiches on tables near the flight deck. As Bessie enjoys the lunch, her granddaughter, Sheryl explains on the wipe board how Emily organized this balloon ride. Bessie is amazed and beckons Emily to her side. “Thank you so much,” she says with glistening eyes. “It was very sweet of you, dear.” “You’re welcome Bessie,” Emily writes on the board. “I know it buy sildenafil was a lot of work,” Bessie says to Emily. “If somebody told me I would get to do something like this at my age, I would never have believed them. So, I did. Everybody doesn’t get to ride in the big balloon.” The story originally appeared in my Orange County Register Column Parting Ways. Contact the writer: denise@denisecarson.com  

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  Hospice Care of the West launched a family series of commercials that capture the experiences of recording a life review video for patients and their children. Take a peek… We interviewed Richard Marting, the son of John Marting, a World War II veteran who epitomized the Greatest Generation. John valued his wife Marjorie of 61 years, being a good father to his two sons and serving his country at war. In the interview with Richard, we discovered the life review video was the greatest gift to his family because John tells his story in his own words. The interview brought three generations of the Marting family together to listen to their patriarch. When Richard watches that video, he feels close to his father again. See commercial here In the second commercial, we interview Susan Mullins, the remarkable daughter of Mary Burchard, reflecting on the life review interview. Susan says the recorded interview was the most wonderful time spent listening to her mother telling stories. Mary relives her piloting military aircraft in the clouds above America during World War II. Susan and her sister, Eileen McDargh, loved reminiscing in the sun with their mother. Though memories unfortunately fade with time, this life review video preserves Mary’s voice, her laugh, her smile and her extraordinary life journey that will now be passed down now from generation to generation. The life review program is the brainchild of Donna Miller, Director of Volunteer Services at Hospice Care of the West. She creates these magical moments for families to come together and reminisce at a time when they’re feeling wrenched apart. These life review videos help the hospice patient and their family to pause and remember the good times they’ve shared together. For the children of hospice patients to be able to say that they’ve enjoyed this time with their parents in hospice is a tribute to our mission here at Our Celebration to Life. To produce these authentic interviews with the children of hospice patients, we called on award-wining documentary filmmaker, Jay Gianukos, who has spent more than a decade filming life stories for families. Hospice Care of the West is the only hospice sitting down with their patients to video record precious life stories to pass on to their families. These commercials are currently airing on Channel 6 in South Orange County. We hope the commercial series will help people understand the value of recording a legacy of memories for their families, especially at the end of life. Hospice Care of the West is a compass and guide on the end of life journey for these families. It’s not easy when you have to become a parent to your parent. But the life review video helped both of these children to remember the extraordinary lives their parents led even in their most fragile and vulnerable hour of life. Susan helps us all to realize that hospice and the life review video wasn’t just a gift priligy online for her mother, but also for their entire family.

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Dr. Vidal Espeleta, Medical Director for Hospice Care of the West, joined the local morning news in a fascinating interview about the role of the doctor in making the decisions that determine quality of life for his patients and their families. Click below to watch the local Channel 6 News show with Dr. Espeleta. As an intensive care physician and pulmonologist at Saddleback Memorial in Laguna Hills, Dr. Espeleta must have the conversation with families about hospice and end-of-life issues. Hospice is comfort-focused care provided at home by a multidisciplinary team—doctor, nurse, social worker and spiritual care coordinator—for patients with life-changing diseases and their families. Dr. Espeleta chooses to work with Hospice Care of the West because of their philosophy to keep patients on the same medications and collaborate seamlessly with the physicians to ensure their patients maintain and improve quality of life when they transition from the hospital to home. He is on-call with a team of hospice medical directors around the clock, 24-7, to oversee medical care and work with the on-site nurses to provide pain relief for patients on hospice. He recommends hospice for patients wishing to spend their last days at home surrounded by family and friends rather than in a hospital connected to life support machines. In the intensive care unit at the hospital, Dr. Espeleta often has to make split-second decisions to connect a patient to life support. These are the crisis moments when he has to speak to the family to find out what the patient’s wishes are because the patient can’t communicate. Dr. Espeleta says these decisions are often burdens to the family members in an already difficult hour. The way we can prevent our families from making these kinds of decisions is to have conversations about our wishes with our families and doctors before the crisis. Do you want to be on a mexican pharmacy ventilator, or other life support measures? Read more about the kinds of questions that can guide you through these conversations. Do you want to spend your last days at home? Nine out 10 Americans say they want to be home surrounded by friends and family, yet so many patients take their last glances of life in the intensive care unit of hospital connected to machines. Check out advance directives here to record your healthcare decisions and give them to your family and doctors. As Dr. Espeleta finds, most of his patients and their families want to take this journey at home and hospice is the best solution to make that last wish a reality.

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Rob Merritt, the news anchor for Channel 6 in Orange County, turned the spotlight on Our Celebration to Life Blog and Hospice Care of the West to give his audience resources and tips for approaching the end of life journey and grief during the holidays. He introduced two special guests to share our story. Hospice social worker, Gemma Hefferman, shares how the mission of celebrating life at Hospice Care of the West transforms their patient and family experiences from fear to joy, peace and comfort on hospice. Debbie Robson, Executive Director of Hospice Care of the West, joins the conversation on the Channel 6 News to share some of the special programs such Our Celebration to Life blog that invites the community to join the conversation and add comments to the stories and information shared online. She also talks about viagra pas cher We Honor Veterans and the Life Review Video that guide patients to reflect on their defining life experiences. These unique services of Hospice Care of the online canadian pharmacy West have helped the hospice team to be more sensitive and personalize their care of veterans and their families.

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Recently, I was teaching a class on end of life conversations and creating an end-of-life plan. As I read stories from my book Parting Ways, some of the ladies in the class said with such gusto, “That’s how I want to go!” I beamed at that moment because I realized they got it. They were inspired by the individuals I read about walking with their eyes wide open and their families prepared into life’s final frontier. By choosing not to deny but instead prepare for the inevitable, these families didn’t waste time spinning blindly in unknown territory. They chose to chart a direction that I like to call an end-of-life plan. The medical community calls knowing “how you want to go” or “how you want to be cared for at the end of your life” ahead of time—your advance directive. These are legal documents that provide you with a way to convey your decisions and wishes about end of life with your health care team, your family and friends in the event that you can’t communicate later on.  I see these advance directives as part of the process of creating an end of life plan. In my experience, the end-of-life plan is your exit strategy that is a negotiation between you, your family and the medical community. Just like a birth plan determines how a woman wishes to give birth—detailing the birth team, place of birth, individuals she wants present and treatments she wants to accept or forego. The creation of this plan involves advanced communication and planning between her baby’s father, her support circle and her medical team. The process of devising a plan helps her to cope with the fears of being out of control when entering the unknown territory of giving birth. Likewise, the end of life plan details an individual’s last wishes, legacy for the next generations and an exit strategy to give to a loved one who will be the gatekeeper and advocate of this sacred document. The creation of this plan involves in advance opening the lines of communication with your medical team, researching your options, talking with your support circle, defining where you want to spend your end of life journey, reviewing your life lived and determining what treatments you want to accept or forego. The end-of-life plan is not an easy one to face but having one solidified in your mind and/or written on paper, in my experience, can transform a frightening period of your life into an awe-inspiring journey. There are several ways that you can start the process of devising an end of life plan. The medical community is versed in cialis various formats that I’ve detailed in our end-of-life planning section but repeat here for easy reference.  Living Will/ Advance Directive Your living will is a legal document that is used in the medical field to provide doctors and your family with your decisions about life-saving and life-prolonging treatments, i.e. buy sildenafil online life support like a ventilator or a heart shock, in the event you become incapacitated. In this document you state who is your healthcare proxy to carry out these decisions for you. On the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization’s website entitled Caring Connections, you can download your state’s advance directive. As stated on the site, a living will, allows you to document your wishes concerning medical treatments at the end of life.  Before you prepare your advance directive: Get information on the types of life-sustaining treatments that are available. Decide what types of treatment you would want or would not want. Share your end-of-life wishes and preferences with your loved ones. Also on the Caring Connections site is information to help you decide ahead of time who would make your medical decisions for you in the event that you are unable and also how you should store this document. This “Health Agent” would be the person who will carry out your wishes in the living will. There are also instructions on how to store your living will. Below are recommendations to ensure it is utilized in your time of need. Paper copies or digital copies of the living will must be portable and accessible anywhere in the world. They must be available in a timely manner. They must be in a safe place, protected from theft, fire, flood or other natural disasters. POLST Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatments The Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatments is a recognized end of life planning document among the healthcare community. The POLST as described on the site allows healthcare professionals to become aware of the patient’s wishes for care and honor them. The POLST form is a physician order that is representative of the patient’s desires and is instrumental in focusing on the conversation before you become seriously ill. The POLST does not replace the Advance Health Care Directive (AHCD).  ACHD allows you to name a healthcare decision maker if in the future you are unable to communicate your wishes for yourself. Visit www.capolst.org Five Wishes There is an excellent resource called The Five Wishes that combines the living will and last wishes into one document that can be ordered online. It’s filled with questions and suggests that help your family and doctor know the following: •    Who you want to make health care decisions for you when you can’t make them. •    The kind of medical treatment you want or don’t want. •    How comfortable you want to be. •    How you want people to treat you. •    What you want your loved ones to know. Last but certainly not least, is writing your ethical will that will guide you in documenting your legacy—the values, wisdom and life stories you want to pass on to your children and grandchildren. This is good instrument to help your family segue into having meaningful end of life conversations. As I always say, first you have to talk about life before you can enter the discussion about end of...

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