Hospice of Michigan is pleased to assist media in researching and developing
story ideas on hospice care, caregiving, end-of-life issues and quality of life research.
Below are suggested story ideas. To arrange an interview about any of these stories, please contact Cary Gersh at (313) 578-5042 or cgersh@hom.org.
Maggie Allesee Center for Quality of Life
Long-time Detroit-area philanthropist and civic leader Maggie Allesee provided a $3 million endowment to
initiate the Maggie Allesee Center for Quality of Life at the Hospice of Michigan headquarters
in Detroit, Michigan.
The Center - a first in the nation - supports research and education aimed at improving care for the
terminally ill and their caregivers. The Center also looks into quality of life issues faced
by older people, identifies ways they can live fully and educates them on how to plan for
their own end-of-life care.
Caring for someone with advanced dementia
Alzheimer's disease currently affects more than four million people in the U.S. and their
families and friends. Knowing what choices to make when a loved one is in the end stages of this disease
is one of the most difficult issues facing family care givers.
A partnership between Hospice of Michigan and the Alzheimer's
Association-Michigan Chapters, with funding from the Michigan Department of Community Health,
provides caregivers with a unique resource to guide them to the answers they need. The 28-page
manual, titled "Caring for a Loved with Advanced Dementia," grew out of an on-going research
program, Palliative Excellence in Alzheimer's Care Efforts (PEACE Project), and is based on
HOM experiences in caring for more than 1,500 dementia patients during the past six years.
Palliative care vs. curative care
An old medical adage reads, "...to cure sometimes, relieve often but comfort always." The
obligation to provide for the comfort of patients is part of each and every therapeutic
effort, whether that is in an ambulatory setting, in home care, long-term care or in the
hospital.
The initial goal of medical intervention is to treat aggressively in order to
rehabilitate the patient, to maintain an acceptable level of quality of life and to prolong
life. However, when a condition becomes terminal, aggressive attempts to treat are often met
with only additional complications. Each hospitalization can leave the patient at a lower
functional level. Increasing supports are required in the home due to progressive debilitation
and increasing caregiver burden.
At this point, medical efforts can be aimed at pursuing comfort and
aggressively treating symptoms (palliative care). The goal changes from survival (quantity of
life) to quality of life. Hospice care is palliative, in which the focus is on the relief of
pain and other symptoms, attention to emotional, psychological and spiritual domains of
suffering, and support for loved ones.
Telehospice
As part of a joint research project between Michigan State University and Hospice of
Michigan, patients and their clinical team are able to connect 24-hours a day, seven days a
week. Using standard telephone lines and video technology, including speaker phones, mini-video
cameras and television monitors, HOM patients have the ability to call members of their care
team for a face-to-face video consult any time of day or night. The equipment is provided to
patients enrolled in the Telehospice research program free of charge.
End-of Life legislation in Michigan
In January 2002, Michigan Governor John Engler signed 15 End of Life bills into law. HOM
President and CEO Dottie Deremo was one of 12 members on the Governor's End of Life Commission where
the bills originated. "The support and passage of these bills helps to eliminate barriers and
red tape and allows everyone in Michigan to receive the quality care they deserve when faced
with living out the last months of their lives," says Deremo.
Grief counseling
HOM provides bereavement support services to individuals for 13 months following the death
of a loved one. They also offer free support groups and information programs that are open to
anyone in our communities, whether or not they have used our hospice services.
A day in the life of a Hospice of Michigan volunteer
Many volunteering opportunities are available at Hospice of Michigan. They are an
important part of the patient care team, providing a special kind of caring and compassion to
Hospice patients and their families. Volunteers offer companionship, run errands, provide
respite relief to family caregivers, and much more.
Hospice and the inner city
The HOM Detroit Care Team includes the attending or HOM staff physician, Registered Nurse
Case Managers, Home Health Aides, Social Workers, Spiritual Care and Grief Support Counselors.
Hospice staff is on call 24 hours a day. They care for about 100 patients in Detroit each day.
Advance directives
Most of us would like to have an active say about the end of our lives. A Gallup Poll a
few years ago showed that 90 percent of Americans want to spend their final days at home
surrounded by family and loved ones. Actually, only 25 percent of us manage it that way. Most
of us die in a hospital hooked up to life-saving machines and assaulted by other, often painful,
measures to prolong our lives.
Thinking about dying is a topic we normally shun, preferring to concentrate
instead on daily living and on the future. But, once we accept that death is inevitable, we
can plan to make the end of our lives as comfortable and meaningful as we want it. We can have
a say in the quality of our death.
Today, there are federal laws on the books that allow patients to be involved
in end-of-life health care issues. In 1991, the Patient Self-Determination Act was passed,
requiring that patients be informed about their right to participate in health care decisions,
including being able to have an advance directive. Advanced directives are usually written
documents designed to give competent patients the opportunity to guide future health care
decisions in case they are unable to participate directly in the medical decision making.
For more information, see how to make your last wishes known.
|
