Hospice of Helping Hands Why Choose Us?


Home About Us Frequently Asked Questions The Hospice Team When is the Time Right? Who Pays? Why Hospice in a Nursing Home Why Choose Us? Community Blood Pressure Clinics Educational Series Schedule of Events Camp Warm Hearts Contact Us Donations Employment Grief & Loss Bereavement Program Support Groups Camp Warm Hearts Health Care Professionals CEU Opportunities Talking About Hospice Hospice vs. Home Care Volunteers I Want to Volunteer! Volunteer Training Program Schedule of Events	Not All Hospice Care is the Same All hospices must operate under the same Medicare guidelines and state regulations. This means that all patients should receive the same core services. However, there are some characteristics that differentiate hospice programs and hospice administrators may interpret the regulations differently. Some differences may include: Additional services that go beyond the guidelines and regulations Examples include: How many days a week they will provide a home health aide Availability on nights and weekends Grief support for children For-profit vs. not-for-profit status The people they have on Staff At Hospice of Helping Hands we take great pride in our excellent and experienced staff. We are a non-profit organization that focuses all our energy at the patient’s bedside to ensure comfort for the end-of-life journey. For more information contact us. Featured Past Caregiver Story My Story…where do I start? The beginning I guess. My husband was the healthiest looking person walking. Little did our family know he was harboring the deadliest killer of all…the silent one, the bastard of the disease as it is called…Pancreatic Cancer. The first weekend of May of 2008 we celebrated our granddaughter’s First Communion and her brother’s birthday. My husband had started his physical the Friday of that weekend with NO indication he had anything wrong with him. He had in fact, just had double oral surgery with bone grafts two weeks before, recovering very well. He was happy with being able to again eat solid food since the surgery was on both sides of his mouth. We arrived back home late Sunday night and Monday he proceeded to put our swim raft, our pontoon and one of the docks in the lake while also building a scaffold in the garage. At dinner time he came in and told me he was not feeling well, first indication of anything. With the description of how he was feeling, I thought he was having a heart attack. We went to the hospital with him feeling better as we arrived. Admission to ER meant you had all the tests with the blood test showing exceedingly high WBC. ER and our family Doctor wanted to admit him and give him IV antibiotics and find out why the WBC’s were so very high. The next morning our Doctor came in and my husband mentioned he had started his physical and had to have additional blood work and a repeat CAT scan for a kidney stone he had not passed the year before. The Doctor said, we will have them done today and I will release you this evening. That did not happen. The CAT scan found a tumor in the pancreas. We then remained in the hospital to have a liver biopsy done and an oncology consultation. When he was discharged two days later, we were hoping we had perhaps three months. Our children and families arrived and a plan was formed. Unfortunately, we did not have the time we thought. Ten days later my husband had what we as a family thought was a stroke. It was not. The cancer, unknown to all of us, had metastasized to the brain. A very kind physician advised to have hospice involved with our treatment. Within twenty minutes we were being advised by a very kind and helpful lady making all the arrangements we needed for home care of our loved one. The kindest nurse came to our home to explain and evaluate treatment. At that point our son expressed advice for telling the four grandchildren. Approximately thirty minutes later, the grief counselor arrived and handled age appropriate telling the children in the presence of their parents. This proved to be one of the greatest gifts to these children ranging from 4 to 16. They were losing one of the greatest men in their lives and would never see him again alive. The help, equipment, physical nursing help and advice on how to care for our loved one, as well as just being a phone call away, was a gift. We had twenty-three days from the day of diagnosis until the day of death. I had fourteen days from the first day to communicate with my husband and then it was slow deterioration to a coma state. Our children, grandchildren, and friends were able to communicate and say their goodbyes. The Hospice of Helping Hands’ staff that cared for our family attended my husband’s funeral comforting us still. I am still a recipient of that comfort and know I will always be welcome for more. I cannot work with patients and families…the hurt is still too great for me…the nerves far too raw. I can however, and will, do office work, fundraising, and volunteer for whatever else I can do to show our gratitude to the wonderful caring people at Hospice of Helping Hands. ~Diane Petry
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Not All Hospice Care is the Same

All hospices must operate under the same Medicare guidelines and state regulations. This means that all patients should receive the same core services. However, there are some characteristics that differentiate hospice programs and hospice administrators may interpret the regulations differently. Some differences may include:

Additional services that go beyond the guidelines and regulations
- Examples include:
  - How many days a week they will provide a home health aide
  - Availability on nights and weekends
  - Grief support for children
For-profit vs. not-for-profit status
The people they have on Staff

At Hospice of Helping Hands we take great pride in our excellent and experienced staff. We are a non-profit organization that focuses all our energy at the patient’s bedside to ensure comfort for the end-of-life journey.

For more information contact us.

Featured Past Caregiver Story

My Story…where do I start? The beginning I guess.
My husband was the healthiest looking person walking. Little did our family know he was harboring the deadliest killer of all…the silent one, the bastard of the disease as it is called…Pancreatic Cancer.

The first weekend of May of 2008 we celebrated our granddaughter’s First Communion and her brother’s birthday. My husband had started his physical the Friday of that weekend with NO indication he had anything wrong with him. He had in fact, just had double oral surgery with bone grafts two weeks before, recovering very well. He was happy with being able to again eat solid food since the surgery was on both sides of his mouth. We arrived back home late Sunday night and Monday he proceeded to put our swim raft, our pontoon and one of the docks in the lake while also building a scaffold in the garage. At dinner time he came in and told me he was not feeling well, first indication of anything. With the description of how he was feeling, I thought he was having a heart attack. We went to the hospital with him feeling better as we arrived. Admission to ER meant you had all the tests with the blood test showing exceedingly high WBC. ER and our family Doctor wanted to admit him and give him IV antibiotics and find out why the WBC’s were so very high. The next morning our Doctor came in and my husband mentioned he had started his physical and had to have additional blood work and a repeat CAT scan for a kidney stone he had not passed the year before. The Doctor said, we will have them done today and I will release you this evening. That did not happen. The CAT scan found a tumor in the pancreas. We then remained in the hospital to have a liver biopsy done and an oncology consultation. When he was discharged two days later, we were hoping we had perhaps three months. Our children and families arrived and a plan was formed. Unfortunately, we did not have the time we thought. Ten days later my husband had what we as a family thought was a stroke. It was not. The cancer, unknown to all of us, had metastasized to the brain. A very kind physician advised to have hospice involved with our treatment. Within twenty minutes we were being advised by a very kind and helpful lady making all the arrangements we needed for home care of our loved one. The kindest nurse came to our home to explain and evaluate treatment. At that point our son expressed advice for telling the four grandchildren. Approximately thirty minutes later, the grief counselor arrived and handled age appropriate telling the children in the presence of their parents. This proved to be one of the greatest gifts to these children ranging from 4 to 16. They were losing one of the greatest men in their lives and would never see him again alive.

The help, equipment, physical nursing help and advice on how to care for our loved one, as well as just being a phone call away, was a gift. We had twenty-three days from the day of diagnosis until the day of death. I had fourteen days from the first day to communicate with my husband and then it was slow deterioration to a coma state. Our children, grandchildren, and friends were able to communicate and say their goodbyes. The Hospice of Helping Hands’ staff that cared for our family attended my husband’s funeral comforting us still. I am still a recipient of that comfort and know I will always be welcome for more.

I cannot work with patients and families…the hurt is still too great for me…the nerves far too raw. I can however, and will, do office work, fundraising, and volunteer for whatever else I can do to show our gratitude to the wonderful caring people at Hospice of Helping Hands.

~Diane Petry

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