Healing at Home: Celebrating those Who Serve in Roles with Home Care and Hospice

November is also National Home Care & Hospice Month, honoring the quiet strength of providers who deliver comfort, dignity, and care in people’s homes. Home care supports independence, especially for elders and people with disabilities. Hospice ensures quality of life at the end of life, not just more time, but more meaning.

In taking care of my grandparents, we’ve experienced both of these services.

Christmas 2021: Before

Our home care team are essential in ensuring that we can manage everything we need to. My grandfather had built a social network with our team that keeps him laughing between the card games. Ironically, my grandmother spent decades ensuring that those with intellectual disabilities and seniors would be able to stay in their homes, well cared for before she took care of my grandfather prior to her passing.

In my grandmother’s last days, home hospice gave us an opportunity to make the best of a really disheartening situation. My grandmother made the decision herself which I later learned would be a gift, in that we didn’t have to decide what to do and in the time it gave us with her. She had the opportunity to share stories, recipes, and hang out with us without the constant beeping and interruptions of the hospital. As much as I hate that she won’t physically be present at my wedding, she helped pick my dress- a moment that I could have only shared with her at home and I am forever grateful for. They said days when they sent her home in October, we were gifted months as she was with us until January.

Know a hospice team member or a home care professional? Tell them thank you. Their job comes with challenges like workforce shortages, underpayment, and the physical labors of the job. Those who receive these services are eternally grateful for their help.

Your LivingScript:  No one wants to do this but  it’s a necessity. What does a good death look like in your culture or family? Talking about it and finding out the wishes of those you love well before you need to it is a powerful act of love and care.