November is National Hospice Month, “Tree of Remembrance” ornaments offered
The holidays are just around the corner, and once again Orange City Home Health & Hospice is offering custom-crafted Christmas ornaments to memorialize loved ones who have passed away this past year. The ornaments will be placed on the Tree of Remembrance in the lobby of the Orange City Area Health System, and everyone is welcome to a special lighting ceremony on Thursday, December 2 at 7pm.
November is also Hospice and Palliative Care Month, a time to raise awareness about high-quality end-of-life care. “Hospice offers a holistic approach to end-of-life care focused on comfort, hope, dignity, and respect,” explains Jeanne Jungers, Orange City Home Health & Hospice Nurse Manager. “Hospice concentrates on helping people be free from pain and as comfortable as they want to be, so they can make the most of the time that is left. We try to give people the tools and resources they need to alleviate their fears and live each moment with dignity and comfort.”
The Orange City Hospice team includes 7 registered nurses, 11 aides, and 2 social workers. This staff — together with 44 volunteers — provided care to 67 patients last year.
“The hospice team was outstanding,” says the family of a patient. “They were knowledgeable, caring, and couldn’t have done a better job. They made us feel important and needed. They were so tender to Mom’s needs in her last hours and days.”
To learn more about Hospice or about volunteering — or to order a memorial ornament for the Tree of Remembrance — call Orange City Home Health & Hospice at 737-5279.