I'm Buttons, a JourneyCare therapy dog that works with Steve, my partner and owner. We've been a pet therapy team with JourneyCare for over six years. We bring joy, companionship and stress relief to comfort care patients who like animals or miss their own pets. We visit patients and their loved ones in the CareCenters, and at retirement homes, hospitals, assisted living facilities and their homes. Steve's first therapy dog was Annie, a golden retriever, and they were partners together for six years also.
The buzzwords “comfort care” are creating questions since the Bush family announced that former First Lady Barbara Bush, 92, will no longer seek medical services. Bush lives with illnesses that include congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD.
Instead, the family announced that Mrs. Bush is now receiving “comfort care” at her Houston home and news outlets report she is spending time with her husband, former President George H.W. Bush, and her sons, former President George W. Bush and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
Advance Care Planning is the focus of JourneyCare’s Life is a Journey education event coming up on April 17. This cause was a passion of mine even before I headed out on my first 'Ride for 3 Reasons' in 2001. After I completed three solo cross-country bike rides, I passed the torch to my fellow Barrington resident 17-year-old Jan Gierlach last year. The trip we had in common took us more than 3,200 miles from San Diego to St. Augustine, Florida to raise awareness and funds to benefit three causes dear to our hearts. One of these is hospice. Part of the proceeds has benefitted JourneyCare and is helping to fund the very special 'Life is a Journey' event this month.
I am often mindful of the quote by Albert Einstein, “I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious.” I feel that there is a driving force inside of me to help others, to relieve suffering, not as a noble endeavor to call attention to myself, but because I have been given so much. I want to use my talents and opportunities to help relieve the burdens of others. This is what I strive to do.
What is a memorable patient story for me? My husband’s dear friend of many years was diagnosed with a rapidly progressing form of ALS at age 62. He and his wife were part of a group of friends who had stayed in touch for many years, through many changes. His daughters were my children’s babysitters.
This is my 29th year as a hospice social worker, and my 26th year with JourneyCare and its legacy hospices. I wish I had a dime for everyone who has ever said to me, “Gee, your work must be so depressing …” I would have a truckload of money and I might have retired by now! But I think it’s better this way: I love what I do, I have never found it depressing and I’m in no hurry to retire from it.
Being a hospice social worker demands a very full toolkit of both clinical and non-clinical skills. Sometimes people have misconceptions about what a social worker is and does, so when I walk into a patient’s home for the first time, I am very conscious of the need to quickly establish a rapport so I can explain my role on the team and patients and their families begin to share freely with me.
Beginning at sundown on March 30 through April 7 of this year, JourneyCare's Jewish Care Services team will be busy assisting many of our Jewish patients and their loved ones with celebrating the Passover holiday.
Every year, Jews celebrate the liberation from bondage in ancient Egypt during the holiday of Pesach (Passover). It's the oldest continuously celebrated Jewish festival and is observed for eight days. The ritual of the Seder is practiced on the first two nights, traditionally in the home. The word Seder means ‘order’ symbolizing that the rituals of the Seder are performed in a specific order, with a sumptuous feast being a centerpiece of the evening.
I was honored to speak at JourneyCare’s Decades Dance on Saturday, March 10. In addition to the fun ’60s theme, music and auctions, the event raised money for JourneyCare’s All About Kids pediatric program – a program close to my heart.
Our daughter, Sadie Elizabeth, was born on April 29, 2010, after an uneventful pregnancy. I say “uneventful,” because I experienced the typical pregnancy symptoms – tiredness, discomfort, slight nausea, cravings, etc. But nothing could have prepared me for her diagnosis.
Often-ignored but totally necessary, self-care is any action or behavior that helps us avoid triggering health problems and benefits us by improving our mental and physical health through better self-esteem, less stress and overall well-being. These behaviors help provide balance in an increasingly over-stimulating world. Self-care makes up an essential part of a healthy lifestyle that keeps us healthy, happy, and more in-tune with our minds and bodies.
Experts suggest we neglect self-care because it can be tough to make healthy changes and manage stress in better ways. Self-care is also sometimes associated with selfishness and lazy, over-indulgent behavior. This might make us feel guilty for thinking we need to take a break from our lives to do something that, simply put, makes us feel better.
My name is Colleen and this is my buddy Patches. We have the privilege of visiting JourneyCare’s Marshak Family Hospice CareCenter in Glenview as pet therapy dogs. We try to provide some comfort, companionship, physical contact and stress relief for hospice and palliative care patients, their families and visitors. Did you know that by giving patients and families something to look forward to, our visits can help improve their quality of life?
I will always remember my hospice patient’s dog, Jack. Jack was a medium-sized, furry mutt, with all the friendliness of a well-loved and trained dog. My patient was a man who was deeply loved by family and friends... and his dog, Jack.
As the patient was dying, Jack was lying awake with his head on his front legs, under the patient’s bed. The family told me Jack had been there over 24 hours and was refusing to come out to eat or drink. Jack and his human friend were inseparable in life. And Jack stayed there, under the patient’s bed, until the funeral home arrived.
