THEJOURNEY Our Lady of Peace H E R OVOLUME 11 - 2020 E S PAGE 3 PAGE 5 PAGE 10 HOW THE LITTLE FREE HOSPICE ENDURED THE STORM This is the story of a public health crisis that converged with an economic crisis and how a little hospice in St. Paul withstood the crosswinds. This is the story of Our Lady of Peace Home in 2020. As increasingly dire information about the coronavirus emerged in early March, the staff of Our Lady of Peace rallied. It became clear that life was about to change in unimaginable ways. The pandemic cast Our Lady’s mission in a new, more urgent light: “Called by God, Our Lady of Peace gently comforts and cares for those most in need near the end of their lives, wherever they call home, regardless of means.” Soon that comfort and care would involve Facetiming quarantined relatives, managing a shortage of personal protective equipment and, in an unprecedented move, closing the hospice to outside visitors. The medical staff faced a formidable learning curve. “Staff rose to the challenge on infection control,” said Dr. Michael Pinchback, chief medical officer. “We all had the foundation of this knowledge prior to this, but this pandemic has made everyone employed here an expert.” From administrators to receptionists, the entire staff united in its effort to implement the best practices on infection control. It reinforced Our Lady’s longstanding emphasis on cleanliness and hygiene. The size of the hospice and the dedication of the staff allow patients to receive a level of care that standard hospitals simply cannot deliver, said longtime nurse Frezgi Hiskias. All the while, staff didn’t merely operate in survival mode, Dr. Pinchback said. They looked ahead to recognize areas for long-term improvements. “Once we are on the other side of this, all the experience we’ve gained will make us better healthcare professionals. Additionally, we have expansion plans underway which will allow every patient to have a large private suite further making our infection practices state of the art.” Responding to COVID-19 has made Our Lady even better, Hiskias said, reminding staff of the need for “learning, always learning.” Volunteers came to the rescue when the short supply of PPE became a concern. Our Lady put out a query calling for donations, and soon, hundreds of handmade masks and gowns arrived. “It was like the miracle of the loaves and fish multiplying,” said Director of Development Lisa Sweeney. “We were blown away.” “This allowed us to bridge the gap of PPE until we were able to procure more,” Dr. Pinchback said. “Although we never fully depleted our essential supply, it was great to know we were supported by the community so much.” In an unprecedented move, Our Lady’s administrators made the difficult decision to close the hospice to visitors. This was the hardest part, Hiskias said. “Dealing with family members and our new reality made it hard,” he said. (Continued on page 8) 1 THE JOURNEY HIGH-PRIORITY IMPROVEMENTS FOR OUR LADY OF PEACE JOE STANISLAV AND JIM MILLER We know many people are suffering from Parking availability has long been a need for Our Lady of so-called “Covid fatigue.” However, Peace Home. On-street parking supplements the 13 parking Covid fatigue is not an option for health- spots in our small lot but is inconvenient and hazardous care providers, and Our Lady of Peace during winter months. We are exploring options to increase is no exception. Our Lady of Peace the number and accessibility of parking spots for visitors, continues to employ multiple tactics for volunteers and staff. minimizing the risk of Covid infection Joe Stanislav spread to patients, visitors and staff. Staff The front entry to Our Lady of Peace Home lacks cover and visitor screening, shorter visiting for patient and visitor drop-offs during wet or cold weather. hours and the use of personal protective A permanent canopy would solve this problem. Also, the equipment are examples. Many thanks lobby lacks waiting room space and welcoming appeal. to volunteers and staff who have worked Renovations to increase lobby space and comfort are being diligently to employ these tactics to keep considered. us all safe. Lastly, Our Lady of Peace Home lacks adequate space for Though these immediate efforts at our Community Hospice staff and for the various support Jim Miller mitigation have preoccupied our groups and educational offerings. We are exploring ways to thoughts the last several months, we incorporate more office and meeting space into a plan that have not forgotten our long-term needs. Foremost among creates private rooms. these needs are improvements to the physical plant of Our Lady of Peace Home, some of which may minimize Plans for all of these improvements will be scrutinized the spread of future infectious disease. We have identified to include materials and functions that will take into four areas that we believe will have the greatest impact on consideration minimization of the spread of infectious improving Our Lady of Peace Home: replacing our current diseases. We believe that addressing these needs will raise two-bed rooms entirely with private rooms, increasing our the quality of our physical space to the level of our excellent parking, improving our front entryway/lobby and creating care and keep OLP a leader in end-of-life care for many more meeting and office space for our support groups and years to come. Thank you for your continued support. growing home-care mission. Joe Stanislav is the president and CEO of Our Lady of Peace Hospice. Our highest priority is our patient rooms. Private rooms Jim Miller is the chair of its board. improve patient and family comfort and privacy but, just as importantly, private rooms lessen the risk of infection spread among patients and visitors. Early in the pandemic OLP BOARD MEMBERS we recognized that unrelated persons sharing a room would make isolating the virus considerably more difficult. Allowing Annastacia Belladonna-Carrera Stephen E. Otto an unrestricted number of visitors at any time of day to Douglas J. Bruce Deborah Paone, Secretary these roommates seemed even more likely to spread Covid. Unfortunately, our only solution was to completely restrict Richard Easton Angie Swetland visitors until we secured additional personal protective Dennis J. Flaherty Carrie Treptow equipment and developed protocols to screen and isolate John Kupris Laura Zdychnec them. Even today, visiting is limited to two persons for one Fr. John Malone John Zobel four-hour period per day and when death is imminent. We Mark Meyer, Treasurer Joseph Stanislav, know with private rooms we could safely allow more visitors Jim Miller, Chairperson President/CEO (non-voting) for longer periods. 2 LIVE LIKE YOU WERE DYING PATIENT PROFILE Sitting comfortably in a recliner in his South St. Paul living room with his dog, Murphy, curled up at his feet, Dick Savard does not look like what most people imagine when they think of a hospice patient. He’s 76, a retired machinist, life-long resident of St. Paul and loyal member of Union Local #459. Early in 2019 he was diagnosed with cancer, but he looks fit, laughs easily and has a thick head of wavy white hair that draws frequent comparisons to Kenny Rogers. He understands death is the first thing people often think of when they hear the word hospice, but he is proof that the opposite is also true. Hospice is about making time for life ‒ and that’s exactly what Dick Savard is doing. Dick Savard, an Our Lady of Peace Community Hospice patient, with Shortly after the new year, symptoms that lingered Cathy Kramer, RN. stubbornly following a bout with double pneumonia landed Dick in the doctor’s office. Testing led to the point. “The docs told me there was nothing else they could discovery of a tumor in his lungs and a cancer diagnosis. do ‒ it was time for hospice, but it was the hospice people He underwent chemotherapy and radiation. The chemo who said, ‘You can do any darn thing you want!’ ” was well tolerated, but the radiation treatment was brutal, and there was no possibility of a cure. With that philosophy as his guiding star, and his adult children, Lisa Dunham and Chrissy Antikainen, scrambling When given the option to continue treatment, Dick made to attend to the details of each plan he latched onto, Dick the decision to stop. “My doc told me if I did five more officially declined further treatment, signed up for hospice months of treatment, I might get one more month,” Dick and started to live. said. “And I thought, ‘Forget it. I’m done. I’m not going to go through that. I’m not going to lay in bed for five months In the following months as he set out to make the most of being sick.’ I feel so great now. If I can get whatever [time] the time he had left, he was, in his daughter Lisa’s words, it ends up being, this is going to be the way I feel when I go “unstoppable.” According to Lisa and Chrissy, their father down. I feel like a million bucks.” approached cancer with his characteristic “the glass is half full” attitude. Like many families, the Savards did not realize they could choose their own hospice provider and did not have to “Dad wasn’t afraid to die,” Lissa said. “But he didn’t like use the hospice program connected to their physician’s having to be taken care of and he didn’t like being sick group. When they learned it was their choice, they knew from chemo.