Concluding Hospice Month

As Hospice Month has now come to a close, we want to review the enormous benefits that are afforded to our families by these organizations’ noble work.

Again, we remind you that over 1.5 million patients, and their families, receive hospice and palliative care in a year.  Over 300,000 people staff these facilities, and their work adds up to 16 million total hours of service. That in itself is striking but we reiterate that the extent of the work is even more staggering at closer review.

That closer review comes in the form of a story out of Huntington, West Virginia, from the local Herald-Dispatch, covering a small effort from Hospice of Huntington that is having a tremendous, outsize impact: the lighting of a Christmas tree, a gathering for those who had either lost or were currently caring for someone.

The evening marked the first ever tree-lighting ceremony at the Emogene Dolin Jones Hospice House of Huntington, which hosted the event “to provide Tri-State residents the opportunity to celebrate the memory of loved ones lost.”

In the report, Melanie Hall, president and CEO of Hospice of Huntington, stated simply that “sometimes folks who are caring for loved ones are not able to participate [in the holidays] in the way they typically have in the past.”

We are fully aware of the challenges in end-of-life care. That being said, the individuals who provide for our friends and families, in their darkest hours, do an amazing job of creating bright spots.

Stories of this incredible, moving work should be highlighted every month of the year. We will continue to do so, and we hope you can share as well.