Translate
Hospice Austin’s Blog
Reflections on Camp Brave Heart
This summer was my 26th time attending Camp Braveheart. Over the years I’ve played many roles: director, small group facilitator, floater, trouble shooter, home-sickness whisperer. Every year there is a moment at camp that pulls my heart so wide open I can barely breathe. Often this comes during the closing ceremony when all the handmade memory boxes are lined up side by side, one after the other, with words like mom, dad, grandma, nana, papa, baby brother, big sister hand painted or spelled out with magazine letters across the top. Words that contain worlds. As the campers pass by their box, they place a small battery-operated candle on top or inside their memory box; a small gesture filled with such longing and love. My hope for this procession of grieving children is that they will be able to navigate the disorienting journey through the valley of loss and safely find their way to the other side where they may encounter a new kind of wholeness that includes what is broken; where they may discover a wiser, more mature sense of what it means to be human in this beautiful, fragile world we live in.
How to support someone with a serious illness
Supporting a family member, friend, or client with a serious illness can be a daunting, painful, brutal, unrewarding task for anyone. It can also be one of the most connective, loving, engaging, and life-changing opportunities a person can experience. The difference often lies in the eyes and experience of the beholder. In other words, we each shape the way we respond to illness and how we deal with it.
Hospice Access for All
When Matt Weiss had a heart attack, he didn’t even know it. He was in his 40s, in great shape, worked out every day, rarely even ate fast food. He didn’t go to the doctor, because he didn’t have insurance. A couple of months later, his feet – and shortly later his entire body – swelled up badly with edema. He did see a doctor then, who told him to go straight to the hospital. Only 10% of his heart was working.
Hospice Austin Volunteer Honored for 40 Years of Service
Marion Vise, who has volunteered with Hospice Austin for 40 years, recently received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Texas & New Mexico Hospice Organization. Marion began volunteering for Hospice Austin in 1983, just two years after Hospice Austin served its first patient. Marion Vise has literally done it all at Hospice Austin. In the early years, she was one of the small group of people who helped get Hospice Austin started. In the years since, she has given her gifts in the area of facilitating bereavement support groups. It’s hard to calculate the thousands of lives she has touched over the past four decades.
Night Shift
When the sun goes down, it gets scary for families of patients on hospice care, according to Hospice Austin On-Call Team Leader Aimee Alexander. Symptoms seem to get worse. People are tired and upset. The on-call staff working nights and weekends have to be prepared for anything, usually a crisis or a death. They are the calvary.
Welcome, Dana!
Herb Dyer is transitioning to a role as a strategic planning consultant for our organization while Dana Joslin takes over as Hospice Austin’s Interim Executive Director. Not only does Dana have a wealth of experience in the healthcare industry – serving 25 years as director of clinical and administrative operations with the St. David’s Healthcare system – she also has a long history with this organization. In fact, she’s been involved with Hospice Austin since its inception.
The MOST Time of Year
Instead of this being the most wonderful time of the year, perhaps it’s really just the MOST time of the year, as a favorite podcaster of mine likes to say. No month insists on cheerfulness more than this one. It’s as if everything has been turned up a few notches. If finances are a struggle, they may feel even more so right now. If you are grieving, the intensity of that experience may be heightened. If you are traveling, anxiety about flights and road conditions may be increased. Even if you are excited about the season, the shopping, cooking, hosting, and special events can feel impossible to manage on top of regular responsibilities. If everything feels like too much and you feel like not enough, I promise you are not alone.
Joey Jimenez – A Season for Caring
When Joe Jimenez was dying after suffering a heart attack and stroke in 2016, his 21-year-old son, Joey, promised his father that he would remain at home to look after his mother and younger brother. It was a responsibility he took seriously.
What’s Your WHY – Brent Annear
I am honored to serve on the Hospice Austin Operating Board of Directors for many reasons.
First, Hospice Austin has Camp Brave Heart. I was drawn to volunteer at the bereavement camp for children who lost a loved one. Having lost my mom when I was a teenager, I can empathize with these kids’ loss and grief, so helping at camp seemed natural.
It’s All About the Service
Herb Dyer served a combined 9 years on Hospice Austin’s Operating Board and three years on Hospice Austin’s Fund Board. When the current Operating Board of Directors asked him recently if he would consider accepting a position as Hospice Austin’s Interim Executive Director, he agreed. It’s still all about the service.
