Caring for Our Patients, Their Loved Ones, and Each Other s1

DUKE HOSPICE VOLUNTEERS CARING FOR OUR PATIENTS, THEIR LOVED ONES, AND EACH OTHER

Duke Hospice Volunteer Newsletter June 2013

Hospice Quilting Bee: Hospice IPU Transitions Coverlet: A new ritual has started at the Hock Family Pavilion: when a patient’s body leaves the facility, the gurney is topped with the Transitions Coverlet, a pall designed and made by Sue Blancato, and the staff and volunteers line the corridor to the exit where the funeral home car awaits. We would like to extend this ritual of respectful presence to the Meadowlands and are planning a quilting bee to create the Meadowlands Transition coverlet. If you have crafty hands or would like to learn some new skills, please join Sue at the Durham office on Saturday, June 15 from noon to 5 p.m. We are looking especially for 4 people with portable sewing machines and several people to help iron the fabric. Give Sue a call at 919-638-1738 or send a note to [email protected].

Our next Patient / family support volunteer training will be held Friday-Sunday, June 21-23, at the Durham office. We have a particular need for volunteers who can live or work or can travel to Granville, Vance, or Franklin counties. As you know, it is much easier to provide support to patients and families who live nearby than it is to travel a distance. If you know likely candidates from these areas or have an idea about how we can recruit volunteers in these counties, please give Carolyn a call. Using the “6 degrees of separation” theory, we are probably only one or two phone calls away from the right faith community, service group, or social service agency with a constituency of men and women who would be excellent hospice volunteers if they only knew how much they were needed. Volunteer Training for Hock Family Pavilion Volunteer Ambassador / receptionists will be offered in July. If you or anyone you know are interested, please contact Carolyn.

Each month we are offering a Monthly Moment of Remembrance for Duke Hospice staff and volunteers. This monthly event is an opportunity to pause to reflect on the patients who have died on service in the previous few weeks or months. Surrounded by men and women who uniquely understand your experience, you will find this gathering a recognition of your service and loss. You are cordially invited Thursday, June 20 at 8:30 a.m. at the Durham office.

The Duke Hospice Book Discussion Group will engage again under the direction of Rana McCutchen Davis to read and discuss Life after Life by Hillsborough’s own Jill McCorkle. This thought-provoking novel is written as a series of observations and character-sketches from the point of view of a hospice volunteer who visits a rural NC retirement center. Please come meet these delightful characters as well as other hospice volunteers on Sunday,

1 June 2, 1:30 p.m. at the Durham office. If you have questions, please contact Rana directly at [email protected] or call Carolyn for Rana’s phone number. Book Notes Speaking of books, the Volunteer Services library has gained two books recently: David J. Casarett, M.D., Last Acts: Discovering Possibility and Opportunity at the End of Life (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010) Stunned early in his career by a patient’s question—What do I do now? I have no time left. What do I do?—Casarett, both a palliative care physician and a medical anthropologist, reviews the ways a number of his patients have chosen to spend the limited time they have after receiving a diagnosis of a life-limiting illness: fighting, revenge, reconnection and reconciliation, wisdom and appreciation, among others. While the stories are interesting, you might bristle at the author’s sense of obligation to usher his patients to a “good death” whether they wanted one or not, and his recordkeeping of good deaths and bad. He does, however, come up with a great concluding chapter in which he demonstrates what he’s observed over the years and how he might help a patient answer that original difficult question. He now asks two questions in response: Who is most important that you spend this time with? And what is possible? These are perhaps questions that our hospice volunteers have already hit upon. But this book might be helpful in teasing out the motivations behind some “last acts” that seem out of character or wasteful to the family and friends.

Kenneth Doka and Amy Tucci, eds., Living with Grief: Diversity and End-of- Life Care (Washington, DC: Hospice Foundation of America, 2009) This wide-ranging collection covers not only the importance of diversity education in hospice care generally but the specifics of a number of different cultural traditions and concerns: African Americans, African and Caribbean migrants, American-Indians communities, Hispanics, Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Christian Evangelicals, persons with intellectual disabilities, the deaf, persons with PTSD, and persons in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities. If you are working with a patient whose racial, religious, or cultural background is different than yours, this book is calling your name.

Kudos and many thanks to the volunteers who have adopted patios at Meadowlands, both to spruce them up and add new beauty as well as to perform routine watering and weeding: Duke Performance Services community service team, the Villanada Family, Harriett Pegram, and the Meadowlands volunteers. This project came together in a way that supports our patients and families at Hospice at the Meadowlands. We also want to thank the youth of Crossroads Community Church for helping spruce up the Meadowlands grounds.

All our DHCH (hospice, infusion, home health care, and bereavement) programs value the volunteer support they receive and we have many requests for additional weekday clerical support at the Durham office These positions do not require the full patient / family training so you can start right away. If you have time to make a regular weekly commitment, please consider this important need.  Junior Volunteers (age 16 and older) are welcome to apply to volunteer this summer through the Volunteer Center of Durham Mayor’s Award summer program. http://thevolunteercenter.org/tp42/Page.asp?ID=146698

Our next Admission Packet Assembly (aka PAPER SLAM!) workday will be Saturday, July 13, from 9 a.m. - noon at the Durham office. Call Carolyn if you would like to participate. This is a low investment / high impact project we undertake almost every month to keep the paper flow in the agency running smoothly. When you see how many packets can be assembled for the 2 different needs of our hospice, you will understand just how delighted the staff is by the results of this continuing project. Please grab a friend or two, your book group, your lunch group, or your teen’s BFFs, and come along. Snacks are on us! Duke Hospice Care Shawl Meeting July 25, 7 p.m. at Chapel Hill Bible Church. Since this project’s inception hundreds of shawls have been given to hospice patients and families in need of a little boost of caring support. If you need a refresher course on needle skills you learned as a child or never knew, Helen Cooper will get you going in no time at all. It has come to our attention that some people with no crafty genes and who don’t want to learn to knit still like shopping for yarn. If you would like to partner with a knitter to purchase some yarn for a particular project, give Carolyn a call, and she can pair you up. We have a request for Caron 6 oz. Simply Soft yarn (2 skeins are needed for each shawl). Some partner is waiting for yarn and some patient is waiting for your gift of love. Shawls and yarn can be donated at any time by dropping by the Durham office.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to the 11th annual “Oh, What a Night!” Gala We want to thank all our wonderful volunteers who helped to make our annual gala special again this year! Your hard work and support is what sets Duke Hospice apart.

Annual volunteer satisfaction survey: Our Annual Volunteer Satisfaction Survey has been sent to you by e-mail and / or US mail to learn what we can be doing different, better, or not at all to make your experience as a hospice volunteer the best it can be. If you have not yet returned it, please take just a few moments to think of the ways we can be more responsive to your needs in the coming year as well as the ways we are doing things just right. And thanks, as always, for all you do.

End of Life Continuing Education Opportunities:

 Our very own Scott Janssen has a couple of new articles out “Skeleton Keys” in the Journal of Palliative Medicine and “Spartacus at the Foot of the Alps” in the Journal of Family Social Work.

 Buddhist workshops on death and dying. The first Saturday of each month at 1:00 p.m. at the Kadampa Center, Raleigh. June 1st topic is “Thinking about Death—A Workshop for All of Us.” No registration is required and this series is offered on a donation basis. If you have questions, e-mail Venerable Choekyi at support@kadampa- center.org.

 News and Observer article “Good night, Grandpa, I love you.” Cartoonist Darrin Bell honors his late grandfather in recent strips. http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/05/14/2892423/good-night-grandpa-i-love-you.html

3 Duke Hospice in the news:  Billboard on Interstate 85 advertising “Oh, What a Night!” and building community awareness of our programs  ABC Perspectives host Angela Hampton interviews DHCH executive director Starr Browning and director of business development Benita Pope. http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/video?id=9104981  This summer the Durham Herald Sun will profile two of our Key Volunteer nominees, Annie Hassell and Sue Graham.

Reminders: Duke value of the month: Integrity—Our decisions, actions, and behaviors are based on honesty, trust, fairness, and the highest ethical standards.

Envelope alert: DHCH is no longer using the postage-paid business envelopes addressed to Duke Hospice PO Box 2997. If you have a supply of these envelopes, please destroy them and contact Carolyn for replacements.

Carolyn will be on vacation visiting family in California from June 6-11. If you need assistance while she is gone, call 919-620-3853 and ask to speak to a Gail Yashar or the triage or on call nurse.

A RESOURCE FOR YOU Continuing Education for June: Duke Hospice Patient Satisfaction from a Volunteer’s Viewpoint. Providing the best possible care for each of our patients and families during their journey with Duke Hospice is our highest priority. This piece reminds us how we can make a difference as part of the interdisciplinary team. We welcome your feedback on our continuing education pieces. Please contact Carolyn if you would like more information on a topic we cover in the newsletter or if you would like to suggest or write an article for a future newsletter.

For more information contact: Carolyn Colsher, DHCH Volunteer Services Supervisor (919) 479-0385 (phone) (919) 970-0227 (pager) [email protected] Website: dhch.duhs.duke.edu http://www.facebo http://www.facebook.com/DukeHomeCareHospice eCareHospice

“We should all know that we are all part of the whole, we are all together. And everything that we do affects each other.” Yoko Ono

4 And thank you, as always, for everything you do for our patients and families. Carolyn

Mission Statement: Duke HomeCare & Hospice will provide innovative, thoughtful care, using an interdisciplinary team approach, to achieve the best possible outcomes for the patients, families and communities we serve.