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Hospice offers educational programs to community groups

June 2006 Enterprise article by Pam Eimers

The mission of Yolo Hospice is three-fold: to give compassionate, quality care to dying individuals and their families; to offer bereavement counseling and support to all members of the community; and to provide public education on end-of-life issues. It is this last goal that many are not aware of.

"Our knowledgeable staff and volunteers are willing, and in fact eager, to share information with community and professional groups," says Judy Alexander, CEO of Yolo Hospice.

"Sandra Barak, recently retired from Yolo Hospice, has been the primary face of our public education program in recent years," continues Alexander. Now we have a number of staff, board members and patient care volunteers stepping out to present to groups.

"Last year our focus was on advance directives - what many call living wills," says Alexander. Patty Zavala, RN, presented information to dozens of community groups in Dixon, Woodland, Davis, West Sacramento, Sacramento and other towns reaching more than 2000 people with copies of advance directives and information to assist them in their decision making. (This information is available on our website: www.yolohospice.org.)

"Most groups want general hospice information and invite us to speak for 15 to 30 minutes," says Alexander. Others wish to learn more about our bereavement program and the grieving process or about volunteering. "When time allows, a variety of end-of-life issues can be covered, not only hospice topics," explains Alexander.

Robyn Burris, Bereavement Services Manager, speaks to groups about grief issues. This may include how our response to grief develops, how children and teens process and cope with grief differently than adults and how parents can help a child grieving the loss of a friend, family member or pet.

Tom Frankel, president of the Board of Directors, speaks to groups as a board member and also from his perspective as a patient care volunteer. "People enjoy hearing about our experiences as volunteers," he says. Hearing from a non-medical person can make the experience more real to the general public.

Margaret Grayden, Volunteer Services Manager, teaches sessions of the volunteer training program offered year-round through the Sacramento Hospice Consortium, a group of nonprofit hospice organizations in the greater Sacramento area. She has a passion for end-of-life education and is happy to speak to others about providing emotional support to loved ones, co-workers or aquaintences nearing the end of life.

"Sooner or later, everyone will face a situation where someone they care about is dying," says Grayden, "and it's comforting to know what to say and how to be supportive."

A critical aspect of our community education, but one less obvious, is our outreach to area schools. "We are receiving more requests for help from schools," says Burris. "Children and teens experience grief differently than adults and their needs are different," she explains. Yolo Hospice bereavement counselors may meet with children individually and in small groups at their school. "This is an area we've identified as a growing need in our communities," says Alexander. "We are laying plans to develop this aspect of our outreach."

Professional groups also benefit from our education programs. When we provide hospice care to a resident in a care facility, federal regulations dictate that we also provide education programs to the facility staff.

Because hospice care differs from the care provided in a facility, it's important that all caretakers involved with a patient-from both hospice and the facility-understand the specific plan of care for each patient. Yolo Hospice provides partner-facility staffs trainings in pain and symptom management, understanding and recognizing near death symptoms as well as hospice care and philosophy. Merete Bryant, RN, our facilities coordinator, provides these trainings. "I love to teach," says Bryant. "This is what makes my job fun."

If you are interested in learning more about education options for your community or business group, please call Patty Zavala or Pam Eimers at 758-5566.

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Quotes

Ted Skiera
"I've worked for 20+ years in cardiovascular and oncology nursing, most recently working as a nurse coordinator in cardiovascular research. My work with Yolo Hospice has enabled me to focus all of my acute clinical experiences into caring for patients, and their loved ones, during a most challenging period of their lives."
~Ted Skiera, RN