Hospice makes house calls

We're ready to care for you at home

It is the nature of humans to fight for life. Even if it isn’t going particularly well, we are imbued with a gift called hope that carries us through on a tide of optimism to the possibility of a better time. And yet, in every life there will come a moment when hope has completed its job and it’s time to let go.

Many people live with a lifelimiting illness. Although it may eventually take their life, at present it poses no threat, only limitations. Others are living with a lifethreatening illness that promises to take their life, and soon. No one can know exactly when, but once it comes down to six months or less in the doctor’s best estimate, Hospice of the Central Coast stands ready to help.

Hospice operates on the philosophy that the patient or doctor has recognized that the patient is facing the last six months of life and no longer requires or desires curative care but needs palliative care. In other words, he or she wants comfort, pain medication, and support, but is no longer seeking a cure.

Although medication, medical equipment, nurses, social workers, chaplains, and staff visits are all covered under Medicare, only about 20 percent of Medicare patients actually use this service. Mary Brusuelas, an R.N. and program manager for Hospice of the Central Coast and the Palliative Medicine Consult Service, thinks it’s because people don’t believe they are going to die, or they believe that people go to hospice specifically to die, so they hold off.

“This is why it’s so important that doctors refer patients to the hospice program,” says Brusuelas. “Then, a nurse and social worker can go out and talk to the patient and family to explain what hospice entails. Once a patient elects the service, a program is established to serve their needs. It’s all driven by what the patient and family desire. Some may need a regular nurse visit for pain management, others may want a periodic check-up. It’s up to the patient. We tell them this is their time to be selfish.”

Brusuelas recognizes that the community frequently associates hospice care with cancer. However, most people will not die of cancer, she says, so the challenge lies in how to reach out to those dealing with afflictions such as congestive heart failure, emphysema, and Alzheimer’s disease.

“We have so much to offer to prolong life,” Brusuelas says. “It used to be, if you got pneumonia, you died. Now, you can have it many, many times and do quite well. It creates a sense of immortality among us. People don’t want to think of the eventuality of death, but it does come, and we are ready to help.”

For more information about the Hospice of the Central Coast’s home care services, call 658-3939 from Montereyor 753-6060 from Salinas.

Frank B. Gregory

At 91 ½, Frank B. Gregory seemed in fine form. The retired colonel visited his doctor regularly, went through his days on the Peninsula with ease, and enjoyed dining out with Roberta, his wife of 64 years and an active member of the Auxiliary at Community Hospital.

And then, quite suddenly, he fell ill. Prostate cancer. His son and grandson helped take care of him at home, but they soon realized professional caregivers were needed.

“This happened very suddenly,” says Roberta. “We called in Hospice of the Central Coast, and they came out, evaluated him, and put him on pain medication. A week later, we made the decision it was no longer possible to take care of him at home. They took him by ambulance to Hospice House, where he remained, excellently cared for, for about three weeks, and then was gone.”

While at Hospice House, Gregory’s grandson brought in music his grandfather enjoyed. Roberta provided fresh flowers and family photographs. Sometimes the television was on, but she doesn’t remember him watching it much.

What she does remember are the care she and her husband received and the compassion of both Hospice of the Central Coast staff, who provided ongoing support, and Hospice House staff, who gave Frank medical attention that couldn’t be provided at home.

“I thought the care was very, very good,” she says, “and the aides seemed very kind and very attentive, actually. I don’t think my husband really suffered after he was moved there. He was sick and he was out and he was gone. Who wouldn’t want it to go that way?”

On a day when Roberta was having a particularly hard time, life-planning specialist Shary Farr paid a visit.

“Shary had a meditation program we went through, and then we just talked,” Roberta says. “I’ve got all men around me; a woman needs to talk to another woman now and then. The chaplain visited a couple of times; he and the bereavement team came over and talked with me. They have a wonderful support system. They even sent over a very nice young woman to work in the garden with me.”