At Emmanuel Hospice, the first question we ask is, “How do you want to live?” Your quality of life is essential at all times but especially as you prepare for the final phase of life’s journey. Our goal is to enhance the time that remains by caring for you holistically. Together we’ll make a life plan to address your physical, spiritual and emotional needs. Our specially trained staff offer patients, family, friends, and colleagues a range of activities to put the mind at ease during this transition including counseling, keeping a journal of your life story, massage therapy, music therapy, and companionship from trained volunteers.

Recently, we ran across a Saturday Essay published in the Wall Street Journal. Adapted from a new book by author Katy Butler called, “The Art of Dying Well: A Practical Guide to a Good End of Life,” it addresses planning ahead in order to achieve a peaceful death. With over 200 years of experience doing just that, please know that we are here to help you start your life plan today. We understand the call for hospice is one of the hardest you’ll have to make. You don’t have to do it alone. Give us a call at 616.719.0919.

To view the Wall Street Journal essay, click here.

The Grand Rapids Press and MLive.com published this piece in their Health section on January 20, 2019 

When employees at Emmanuel Hospice received a call for help not long ago, it wasn’t from a family member seeking traditional hospice care for their loved one. Instead, the need was intense and immediate – to counsel workers at Waterford Place, a senior living organization in Jenison, where an employee had died unexpectedly and suddenly. The moment underscored how there are distinct differences regarding how professionals reach out to people enduring both kinds of loss. Grief from sudden death can be a very different experience than that of an expected loss.

“A lot of people aren’t sure how to respond.” said Ashley Huisman, bereavement coordinator and a social worker at Emmanuel Hospice. “In addition to providing counseling to our patients and families, before and after the death, we often provide support to organizations this way. No matter the circumstances, we meet people where they’re at to help them process what can be some challenging feelings.”

Sudden death can take many forms, including loss caused by a traumatic accident, homicide, suicide or the quick onset of illness. It can intensify and complicate the grieving process, prompting some to feel as though “they’re spinning out of control, or that they’re living in a silo, feeling alone,” Huisman said. Those same feelings can surface in response to an anticipated death, as well, she said. “Even when it’s expected, it can still feel sudden to some,” she said. “In either case, it’s important to look and listen for signs, and help those who are affected ‘normalize and become re-grounded.'”

Huisman cautioned that when certain red flags arise, it might warrant calling in others to assist. “When someone says of the deceased that ‘I just want to be with them,’ that’s an OK phrase,” Huisman said. “But when they say, ‘I’ve decided on a way to be with them,’ or they have an action plan to harm themselves or others, they’re definitely not in a good place.”

Certain elements can trigger how we react to a sudden death. They include how the person died, how close the relationship was, whether we witnessed the death, our past experiences with death, how we were informed of the passing and our culture and belief system. A sudden death that occurs around the holidays can create even more challenges. Often, people mourning a sudden loss feel guilty if they don’t want to participate in a family event.

“We help them feel comfortable with expressing that,” Huisman said. “It’s OK that you’re not happy, and that you don’t want to attend, to say that you’re not comfortable with that right now.” Unless you’ve been involved in the aftermath of a sudden death, “it’s difficult to know what a person is going through,” she said. “They feel isolated, or sometimes feel on the edge of insanity.”

Huisman said it’s important to look for “border-line factors” that can include not eating or sleeping for extended periods. “Eating or sleeping too little or too much are, in general, acceptable grief symptoms,” she said. “But it’s not when they start to extend those behaviors – such as gorging or starving – to a point where they may need medical attention.”

“It’s all about meeting people wherever they’re at. It’s (about) being open and accepting and providing the care they need.”

If you or someone you know is in need of grief support, we are here for you. Please give us a call at 616.719.0919 or visit https://emmanuelhospice.org/grief-support

By Tom Rademacher

Leaning on his younger brother – and a unique partnership between two organizations – a West Michigan man under hospice care was able to venture once more into the woods and enjoy a pastime that has sustained him since he was a boy.

Though afflicted with a serious liver disease, Mike McKian found the strength and energy to visit his beloved hunting grounds in Cheboygan County, harvesting what likely will be his last deer as the sun was setting on his pop-up hunting blind.

McKian, 59, made the trip with brother Patrick and their friend, Rick Brockel, and with the support of both Emmanuel Hospice and McLaren Home Care & Hospice. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources also pitched in with a special permit allowing McKian to hunt from a standing vehicle, though he ended up forgoing that option.

About midway through their week-long stay there last month, Mike found himself in the blind and watched as a large doe came across his field of vision from right to left. It turned broadside to him, and he took it with one shot from his trusty .243.

It wasn’t a trophy like the many bucks Mike has taken there – or even as big as some of the does he’s killed – but it had special meaning because of the health challenges he’s had of late, and the fact that his brother was such a factor in the hunt.

Life’s been tough for Mike lately, especially when you count the fact that he lost his wife, Maria, to the effects of dementia less than two years ago. He’s countered his own battles by trying to stay busy making fishing rods. He lives and receives hospice care at the home of his parents, Frank and Genevieve McKian.

Mike’s social worker from Emmanuel Hospice, Kaitlyn Cavanaugh, learned of his desire to hunt once more, and reached out to McLaren in Cheboygan. Emmanuel collaborated with McLaren to make sure Mike had medications, supplies and care while out of Emmanuel’s service area.

“Our mission is to put our patients’ wishes first,” Cavanaugh explained, “and our calling is to make every moment meaningful. We do what we can to help our patients have the best quality of life possible.”

Palliative care and hospice care might seem to be the same thing. But to those who deliver health care under either umbrella, there’s a difference.

“All hospice care is palliative care, but not all palliative care is hospice care,” said Brenda Jaszczyszyn, Director of Education and Quality at Emmanuel Hospice in Grand Rapids. “And there are other distinct differences.”

Hospice focuses on caring — not curing — patients who, in general, have a life expectancy of six months or less. Hospice care is usually delivered wherever a person calls home. It’s a philosophy built around the key concept that a person at the end of life has physical, psychologi- cal, social and spiritual aspects of suffering. It leans on a team of caregivers who provide access to an array of ser- vices — everything from drug regimens to music therapy and much more, depending on the hospice organization.

Palliative care provides treatment for patients facing serious and life-threatening illnesses. But unlike hospice care, palliative care can be accessed at any point during an illness and alongside curative treatment.

While hospice is covered by Medicare, Medicaid, most private insurance plans, HMOs and other managed care organizations, palliative care is not as widely covered by all insurance plans. Also, palliative care is generally dependent on a referral from a primary care physician and is generally conducted in a clinic or in-patient setting.

Jaszczyszyn has worked 18 years in hospice and has seen the benefits of palliative care close up with her own mother and mother-in-law.

Palliative care was administered to help her mother deal with the onset of cancer and pain that attended her condition for about a year. When her pain was brought under control, they stepped back from her active care, but are just a phone call away if they are needed again. When the time comes for hospice care, the family is ready.

Her mother-in-law found respite in palliative care when she finally eschewed pills for her hip pain and found relief in the surgical implantation of a neurostimulator that allowed her to walk her dog several miles a day, even as she progressed through her 80s.

Palliative care is gaining ground, said Jaszczyszyn, noting that in 2000, just 632 hospitals offered this type of care. As of 2015, more than 1,600 hospitals had palliative care as part of their offerings. Many hospitals in Michigan offer palliative care, and some communities have added out-patient services, as well.

“With palliative care,” she said, “you can get care any- time during the disease trajectory. It helps you to manage so many factors and, in some cases, leads to a longer life expectancy.”