100 words for Sunday, April 1,, 2012

I am walking early before the sun heats up the valley. Today’s snapshot looks too idealized to be real. The sky is a robin’s egg blue. Above the jagged horizon of individual mountains at disparate distances sits a straight delicate lacy row of puffy clouds, equidistant, it appears, from the sun. The desert below is dotted with flowering barrel cacti (red), yellow daisy-like bushes proliferating among white flowering bushes close to the ground as saguaro cacti stand sentinel, their heads adorned with flower buds. Birds sing, squirrels, chipmunks, gophers scurry from the hole-covered desert floor. Where are the rattlesnakes hiding?
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I recently discovered a special kind of care for Alzheimer's disease patients. Hospice is designed to provide comfort and support to individuals and their families facing  a life-limiting illness. When curing a serious illness is no longer possible, hospice care offers a compa ssionate alternative. This type of healthcare focuses on caring and comfort, not curing. Hospice care is  family centered, utilizing a team approach to care for the variety of needs. I was introduced to the folks at East Valley Hospice a team of physicians, nurses, social workers, home care aides, chaplains, bereavement counselors, and volunteers who work together to provide  comfort and companionship to patients and their families.Staff members are available at all times, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It is the mission of the Hospice staff to walk side-by-side with patients, offering support for medical needs, as well as emotional and spiritual needs. This support extends to family members as hospice helps them cope with their own unique emotional and spiritual concerns. East Valley Hospice recognizes that every person's experience will be different. The hospice team creates a plan of care according to the needs and wishes of each patient. At Arbor Rose Senior Care, the hospice worker will bathe Bob twice weekly, noting any bodily issues  which may need to be reported to the nurse who makes weekly visits. Through Medicare, the hospice  will order Bob's medications, eliminating the need for copays for any prescription directly the result of his diagnosis.They will coordinate with Bob's nurse practitioner who arrives once a month to see if any  medication changes are required. There will now be more people concerned with my husband's care and more folks for him to choose to interact with--or not.  Whether your loved one is at home or in a facility, contact a hospice agency  near you to see what services may be available to your loved one who has a life-limiting illness. Help is available, but we caregivers need to access the  assistance and share the benegits we find.

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