Hospice Pass

Why don’t we ever ask? Is Thanksgiving the perfect time to start asking? I was having lunch with my mother the other day. She’s in her early 80’s and healthy for the most part. There are the daily aches and pains that age automatically gifts us in our later years, but she’s well and lives a fairly normal, peaceful life. During that lunch, we discussed the?HospicePass Newsletter?and the topic came up. She’s been great about documenting her finances and has explained to me and my brother what will happen with her home, car, and other important items when her time on this planet comes to an end. She provided a folder with paperwork, which includes a DNR, the location of a cemetery plot that she’d like to sell, and some other items - I think? But looking back at the conversation, we have never discussed what she really wants. If something was to happen tomorrow: What are we doing? Do I have a key to your house? Are there other keys needed? Where are all of the passwords? Email addresses? Can we even get into your phone for contacts? Have you set up a?Legacy Contact? Who is to be contacted? Is there an attorney? Financial person? CPA? What are your wishes for a burial? Type of casket? What’s the outfit you’ll be wearing? Jewelry - on or off? Open or closed? Inside or outside? Have you even thought about this? Who’s paying for it? Did you buy that insurance we talked about ten years ago? Do you get an AARP discount? Can I get an AARP discount? Or is it a cremation? Are we splitting the ashes up between the two boys or are we turning those ashes into diamonds? Do you want your ashes spread somewhere? Religious preference - I’m a non-practicing born Jew who’s never been to temple, that went to an all boys Catholic High School. Two of my three kids were baptized - one in a Christian church and the other on Easter Sunday in the local high school football stadium by a Baptist church we sometimes go to.?Do you practice a religion? Where are we putting you? Geographically - where are we burying you? If you only had a couple days left, do you want to stay in a hospital or are you coming home under hospice care? My house? Your house? His house? Our family is small, but who else do I need to know about? What about all of the cousins on your side and how do we notify them? Where is Grandma buried in Palm Springs? All I know it’s not on the Jewish side of some cemetery in the desert. Is there something that you’d like to do, see, or visit??Timeframe is immediately??I don’t even know. The point - guaranteed there are many unanswered questions, forbidden conversations, things you and your parents have spoken about. Instead of fighting over politics this year, make it a fun conversation and start asking your peeps about their wishes, dreams, and regrets. Mental notes for the future when you need to make the hard decisions during end-of-life. Read about Scarlet in a previous issue of HospicePass - link in the comments. #hospicecare

Cynthia stared at the email draft, her fingers hovering over the keyboard. The office was silent, her coworkers long gone for the evening, leaving her alone with the hum of the fluorescent lights and the weight of her mother’s absence. Her mother had been her anchor. Through months of chemo, sleepless nights, and a rollercoaster of emotions, Cynthia had juggled her full-time job and caregiving with a resilience she didn't know she had. But now, with her mother gone, she felt untethered. There was no more schedule of appointments, no more pharmacy runs—only silence and grief. She read over the email again: Subject: Request for Bereavement Leave The company had been accommodating at first. She used up her sick days attending doctor’s appointments and caring for her mother. Her vacation days vanished with each emergency that cropped up. She feared they'd see this as just another ask, another inconvenience. Would they understand? Could they? Bereavement is real and fulfilling the needs of our families choosing hospice for end-of-life is critical. However, do we tend to forget about our employees who are caring for these families? Bereave, our newest partner, can assist your hospice, your employees, and your families with the bereavement process - from company policy to assistance with everything after a loved one leaves our world. Check out the latest issue of HospicePass and learn how Bereave can help your organization internally, and how they can assist the families you serve. We also thank Help Texts, DieWell, OdessaConnect, and The Death Deck for their support. Level up your hospice with the services they provide. #hospicecare #seniorcare #hospice Dragonfly Health Qualis - Hospice DME Management Bristol Hospice Acacia Health (Palliative, Home Health, & Hospice) Horizon Oxygen and Medical Equipment South Bay Home Health Care

Check out the latest issue of HospicePass. Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association Qualis - Hospice DME Management Dragonfly Health Synapse Health The Hospice Care Plan

THIS SHIFT is changing hospice care.... Are you in? It's called a paradigm shift. We started talking about it at the beginning of the year. We're finally starting to feel the momentum shifting towards making the end-of-life journey exceptional for all who choose hospice. Check out the latest edition of the HospicePass newsletter. Link in the comments. Thanks to our partners and the ones who are making hospice exceptional with their services. Sonnie Linebarger and @Cadre Hospice - your mission to disrupt the industry must be commended. Jaclyn Sanders and All Things Hospice have an incredible array of services that go above and beyond simply caring for their families. Suncrest Hospice making things happen and checking experiences off bucket lists. Help Texts - expert support through text messages. Emma Payne DieWell - providing digital time capsules for those who want to preserve their presence after passing. Su Park OdessaConnect - helping families connect through their televisions. Traci Lamb Rendever - providing virtual reality experiences for those who want an adventure but have limited mobility. The Death Deck - helping families, caregivers, and hospice providers facilitate conversations about end-of-life. Lisa Pahl, LCSW, APHSW-C Grief Cards - sympathy cards that don't suck. Bereave - learn more about Bereave in next week's issue. Helping businesses, employees and hospice families navigate death and grief. Elijah Linder Link in the comments. Thanks to beehiiv for the most incredible newsletter platform ever. Until next time.... #hospicecare National Association for Home Care & Hospice California Hospice and Palliative Care Association National Association for Hospice at Home (NAHH)

Honoring our Veterans during their end-of-life journey should be mandatory for all hospices. If you're looking for resources, phone numbers, and ways to honor our veterans... this issue of HospicePass has links to several organizations and resources that may be helpful for your team. Link to the issue is in the comments. Thank you to all who have served our country with pride, strength, and bravery. May we take a moment to honor you. #veteransday #hospicecare #palliativecare #seniorcare

Healthcare professionals are on their feet - a lot. 10,000+ steps are a norm. You need exceptional footwear. Meet Ales Grey and their latest introduction the Frontline Comfort Pro 3 There's only a few days left to pick them up for $30.00. Link is in the HospicePass newsletter. Subscribe to get this special offer.

The ULTIMATE GOAL in hospice: Make the End-of-Life Experience EXCEPTIONAL. Sonnie Linebarger posted a few days ago the following: Building a company that introduces world class end of life...this will be the biggest challenge so far. I am here for it. ? It will require: ? Putting people first. Always. ? A culture of excellence. No exceptions. ? Teams that are valued, period. ? Courage to shatter the status quo. ? Next-level compassion. Every. Single. Time. Here's the truth: The "standard" hospice approach isn't cutting it anymore. Not even close. Our sincere apologies for repurposing Sonnie's words without permission. However, we couldn't have said it any better and that's what HospicePass is all about. Finding products and services that break the paradigm of "standard" hospice care. Our latest issue, "Think Inside the Box - On The Wall" introduces a company that can help. OdessaConnect has a simple product/service that can help make your hospice exceptional. Utilize the television inside the home to communicate with the ones that you care for and their families. It's easy to set up. It can be transferred from home to home. It will immediately have an impact on your patients, their families, and your care team. It can dramatically increase the number of times you touch your patients throughout the week. Communication, transparency, and access to information visually can only help your hospice as a business and will separate you from the rest. Check out the issue at the link in the comments. https://lnkd.in/gRuZJEtb Props to Cadre Hospice and Sonnie for her strategy and plans to make end-of-life exceptional. #endoflife #hospicenurse #hospicecare #seniorcare #palliativecare

New Issue - Healing the Healers Available Friday, October 18th @ 2:30 pm PST. Great resources and thanks to the following for their contributions to our healthcare and hospice community. Help Texts and Emma Payne, Melissa Lunardini, PhD, MA, MBA, FT and Lisa Pahl, LCSW, APHSW-C Audrey McCollough and her mission to empower nurses. Talkspace beehiiv https://lnkd.in/gRuZJEtb

World Mental Health Day - October 10 The overall objective of World Mental Health Day is to raise awareness of mental health issues around the world and to mobilize efforts in support of mental health. The Day provides an opportunity for all stakeholders working on mental health issues to talk about their work, and what more needs to be done to make mental health care a reality for people worldwide. If you're looking for resources, links to organizations that provide great information, check out this issue of HospicePass from August 15, 2024. https://lnkd.in/gXTBESRr Be strong and have a safe and wonderful day.

I was awakened by a blaring alarm on my phone at 3:51 am Sunday morning. After the blaring alarm, and a woman's voice telling me to Drop! Cover! Hold On! This is the first time this has happened personally, although I only recently downloaded the app called MyShake. It was an earthquake warning or maybe a message stating there had been a 4.7 in my area. Missed the shaking, or the rolling this time. I did feel a quick jolt of the house around 10pm the evening before. Having lived in Southern California most of my life, this happens. But we all know that we're due for another "big one." When, where, why, and how are yet to be determined. But it will happen. Let's talk about our friends in North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. I am not quite sure anyone could have predicted the damage, loss of life, the world turning upside down for hundreds, if not thousands of people due to Hurricane Helene. Florida's Gulf Coast has Milton on the way in the next couple of days. Another blast of Mother Nature driving its force down someone's throat. Blizzards, El Nino rains, tornados and more. Since we can't control any of these unprecedented events, the best we can do is prepare. And preparing means being proactive. Particularly for us folks who care for our senior population from assisted living to hospice. We're required to have Emergency Preparedness plans in place, but how active are we in reviewing, practicing, educating, and asking about these plans? So throw this task on your Things To Do List this week. Find your Emergency Preparedness Plan, dust it off, read it, and schedule a time to review it with your team. If you need examples, or resources from American Red Cross, National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, or Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, check out Hospice Pass the newsletter. Links are included in Friday's issue to these resources. Subscribe for free. #theeldercarenetwork #hospicecare #seniorcare #skillednursing #seniorcommunities