Elizabeth Wilson
Staff Writer
LAKE COUNTY ? After nearly three decades in hospital nursing, Kathy Wickard has found a new love ? Hospice.
Patient Care Services at Lake County Hospice named its new director, whose job it is to oversee all of the staff and volunteers who give in-home care to terminally-ill patients. Kathy Wickard accepted the position three months ago, after two years with Hospice as a nurse.
Prior to working at Hospice, Wickard spent 29 years at Redbud Community Hospital as a registered nurse, doing “a little bit of everything” in management, critical care, and emergency medicine.
When Wickard changed her career path to Hospice, in search of something different from the routine of nursing, she was “completely surprised” at the level of care given through Hospice. “I hadn”t seen that kind of commitment to holistic health care in decades,” said Wickard.
Hospice has one location in Lake County, in Lakeport, next door to its non-profit, volunteer-run thrift store that helps pay for medicine, hospital beds and educational materials.
In the next few years, Hospice has goals of expanding its services to include a Hospice Home?a residence that patients can use to receive care 24 hours a day, and hopes to direct all of its thrift store profits into that project.
Hospice is a non-profit, Medi-care certified organization, meaning that it subsists on Medi-care monies, along with donations and thrift store earnings. According to Wickard, people who receive Hospice care are never billed, and they give care to patients whether they have insurance or not.
“We take people who have what the doctors have designated as 6 months or less life expectancy. There is no medical diagnosis or age group that we do not pick up as long as the doctors certify the patient, it”s the closest thing to socialized health care there is,” said Wickard, adding that people often mistake Hospice for catering primarily to cancer patients.
The Hospice mission, according to Wickard, is to take medical care into the home, so that the pressure of care does not fall upon the patient or their family members as they are nearing the end of life. “When I first started going out to homes I started seeing the burden the family members have on their shoulders?they don”t know how to take care of their loved one and that”s where we step in,” said Wickard.
Lakeport Hospice”s staff includes two social workers, two bereavement counselors, four nurses, and numerous volunteers. The staff members undergo training in issues facing the terminally ill, and act as a 24 hours a day, seven days a week on call intermediary between the patient and their physician. A big emphasis is placed on education, and nurses train family members on how to recognize and cope with symptoms of pain, what medicines are needed, how to take care of a person who is bedridden and what to expect physically and emotionally from the patient as they near death.
“You can see the relief, you can see the burden being lifted off their shoulders, because they know that any time of day they can pick up a telephone and have immediate access to a registered nurse. We bring in the bed and equipment, we order the medicine, and we talk to the doctor?The greatest gift that a family can give to the person they love is to be with them in the final days of their life,” said Wickard.
Wickard says that in Lake County, Hospice steps in for only about a third of deaths, and that they would like to help with more. “People don”t know to ask for us,” said Wickard, adding that referrals to Hospice can come from anywhere?the physician, family members, patients, and even neighbors.
“We”ll say ?OK give us their number” and then we call to talk to them about what we can do to help and see if they want us. If they do, we call their doctor to set things up,” said Wickard.
Hospice care is generally for people who have chosen to not receive aggressive treatment against their illnesses and is known as palliative (comfort) care.
It offers an alternative to the frenzied florescent light atmosphere in hospitals, according to Wickard, and handles each case individually, aiding in everything from grief support for family members (up to two years after a patient has died), literature on death and dying, counselors to talk to the patient about their beliefs, or a volunteer to accompany the patient on a walk or to the movies. The relationships forged between the families and Hospice inspires many people to give back and become volunteers.
Executive Director of Hospice Services of Lake County Marlene Kurowski says she first started volunteering at Hospice at the suggestion of her sister, a psychiatric nurse in Buffalo, NY who does healing touch massage at a Hospice to help combat stress.
“I said, ?that doesn”t sound like a day at the beach,” and she says ?no,no, the people give you so much back, and that really is a stress reducer,”” said Kurowski, who feels very connected to the patients she helped while volunteering in San Diego.
Contact staff writer Elizabeth Wilson at ewilson@record-bee.com
