Hospice event an opportunity

I understand why our culture tends to ruin death, but I think it can change. Death was revered in ancient cultures as an inevitable opportunity: To review life and find peace, to learn, to teach, to finally mend fences, to love more deeply.

Fear and denial get in the way of all this good, of making death a peaceful transition instead of a tense unpleasantness. As important and natural an event as birth, dying is a process which could easily be made much less fearsome, more positive, cathartic for all involved, and most importantly, more peaceful and comfortable for the dying. Such is Hospice of North Idaho's goal.

They reach it by addressing body and soul, with dignified respect, working with the patient's own doctors. They dictate nothing and ensure the dying are in control - an otherwise rarely met but great need of those in life's final phase.

You can help them in two ways. First, toast 30 years of nonprofit HONI in this community on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 5:30 at Hayden Lake Country Club. Their annual, semi-formal wine-tasting fundraiser is my favorite of the year. No sit-down dinner, no long speeches, come and go as you wish (but please bid for auction items). Just enjoy hundreds of donated wines and foods to sample, a chocolate fountain, and mingling with nice people.

Second, expand knowledge. Ten myths about hospice services:

1. Hospice is only for cancer patients. Fact: Fewer than half of HONI's clients have cancer. Hospice diagnoses also include heart, lung, and neuromuscular diseases, HIV/AIDS, and dementia.

2. Hospice is a place. Fact: Hospice is a philosophy of care and service to those with life-limiting illnesses (palliative care). Yes, last summer HONI opened Idaho's first hospice facility for a limited number of patients, but most HONI clients are served in home, hospital, assisted living, or nursing facilities.

3. Hospice is only for the last week or two of life. Fact: The hospice Medicare benefit provides care during the last six months of life. Not waiting for crisis, but engaging hospice services at this stage makes coping with the process much easier.

4. Hospice care is expensive. Fact: Hospice is fully covered by Medicare (and most other insurance) and requires little, if any, out-of-pocket contribution.

5. Hospice only serves the patient. Fact: HONI is family centered, including counseling and practical services for the entire family. Family bereavement services may continue up to 13 months after a death occurs.

6. All hospice care is the same. Fact: Hospices can be for-profit, non-profit, hospital-based, home health-based or independent. Hospices have different expertise, philosophies and approaches to patient and family care. HONI is the area's only nonprofit, directing all resources to ensure that people can live as fully as possible at the end of life, sparing the terminally ill and their families a common fate: dying in pain and without access to social support or spiritual counsel.

7. Hospice is only available weekdays. Fact: Registered nurses and other services are available 24/7.

8. Patients die sooner with hospice care. Fact: Hospice doesn't hasten or prevent death, but specializes in pain/symptom management. One study linked hospice care to longer patient survival. Some patients have stabilized under hospice care and been discharged.

9. Patients must sign a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) prior to admission to hospice. Fact: Although most patients choose to sign a DNR, HONI doesn't require one.

10. Hospice referrals are difficult. Fact: Referrals come from primary physicians. HONI has served more than 13,000 families in Kootenai, Benewah and Shoshone since opening in 1981.

Anyone is welcome to contact HONI for more information (and tickets) at (208) 772-7994 or HONI.org. I'll see you on Feb. 4.

Sholeh Patrick, J.D., is a former volunteer HONI board member and a columnist for the Hagadone News Network. Email [email protected]