Husband is very appreciative of help from hospice with passing of his wife

Editor:

I have had the exceptional experience of Hospice of Orleans County helping me with the passing of my wife of 43 years from dementia. They were world-class helpful…beyond belief!

As Joyce was slowly losing her ability to hang on to life, Hospice made those days tolerable, even positive. They would provide the health care check she needed in our home without the necessity of going to a doctor’s office, which her dementia made almost impossible to make happen.

Hospice services would visit and give Joyce not only the medical care, but the palliative care that helped her to feel like a loved, cared for and respected human being!

Also, they kept her pain free during the last months of her life. This was something I cannot begin to over emphasize, as it was of enormous importance!

While others, even members of her direct family would say, “She is not the Joyce I knew”, “She doesn’t even know who I am” and hence stop visiting, Hospice was there to say to Joyce, “We still value and love you.” It allowed me to reenergize my own caregiving skills and show my loving wife of 43 years how much I loved and cared for her.

I was at first hesitant to enroll Joyce in hospice because I thought it was admitting that I was giving up on her. I could not have been more wrong! Hospice gave her and me the ability to handle her passing with great dignity and respect. They provided her with the support she needed and gave me relief so I could do the errands and reenergize myself. Without Hospice, that otherwise would have been impossible.

If you have any questions or reservations about your decision to put someone you love into hospice, please feel free to contact me and we can explore your questions and concerns.

Once again, I cannot be more appreciative that we have this world class hospice operation here in Orleans County. I send all of you my deepest condolences for whatever distresses you are facing, and I hope you can avail yourself of the help that I found in the last days of my wife’s life.

Jerry Fisher MBA, PhD.

Kendall