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The Bird House is a community-based not for profit dedicated to providing compassionate, dignified end-of-life-care by focusing on the physical, spiritual and emotional needs of our guests and their loved ones in a peaceful, home-like environment. |
Hospice Home ~ Strangely Wonderful, Fulfilling, Comforting
Shared by Linda Newman Woito
I am the daughter of a woman who was fortunate to have been a resident of Des Moines' Kavanagh House on 56th Street, one of the first Hospice facilities in Iowa. My mother Anne suffered from complications of Alzheimer's, including inability to swallow (resulting in pneumonia from food aspiration) plus congestive heart failure. Fortunately a sensible medical Doctor told us my mother's refusal to eat was likely a "blessing in disguise" because the body responds to starvation with some natural sensation-numbing phenomenon.
Regardless of whether this phenomenon is true, we were indeed blessed to transfer my mother Anne to Kavanagh House in September 1998. Trained staff told us she could hold on for 7-10 days without food. We were positive they were wrong, believing Mother would pass sooner because of her heart.
Mother proved Hospice correct. The next 10 days were strangely wonderful, fulfilling and comforting. Staff trained in the transition from life to death explained the physiological and psychological changes that would take place with Mother, and talked us through our own processes. A full time Chaplain was available to help us through the hardest times. Mother was given palliative anxiety medication. She was not in pain and remained generally unresponsive to family members but, as explained, she probably heard every word.
Because of the 24-hour care, far-flung family members were able to visit at their convenience. We took turns staying overnight. We gathered to cry together, laugh together, say prayers together. We were grateful for daily visits from our Westminster Presbyterian ministers.
Kavanagh's quiet space, trained and caring staff, and chapel were literally life sustaining for our family. As Mother slipped to the "other side," Kavanagh House kept us steady.
Mother passed on the 10th day after admission. The night before, my sister and I stayed overnight in a Kavanagh bed in a separate room. Staff woke us in the morning and we were with her as she passed.
In contrast, my Aunt Faye had Hospice Services delivered to her small Des Moines apartment in 1986. That experience was hard, hard, hard. We all felt helpless, frustrated and even angry. Most were not there when she passed. Death in this situation was "bad," in contrast to the comforting Kavanagh House with its emphasis on the natural "process of dying."
I cannot state this any stronger: Please, please consider working toward a Hospice Facility in the Iowa City area!!! I ask: Why should we have to go out-of-town to die?
I also ask: Why should residents of this so-called sophisticated area of Iowa be left to flounder?
One final note. I just returned from Creston, Iowa where I visited an aunt (age 93) who is registered in Hospice Care at a Nursing Home. She was in the Creston Hospice facility, but a June tornado destroyed it. Little Creston, little Kalona, little Hiawatha. Towns with much smaller populations than Iowa City can do it.
Why not Iowa City, or Coralville?
Thank you for listening.
Regardless of whether this phenomenon is true, we were indeed blessed to transfer my mother Anne to Kavanagh House in September 1998. Trained staff told us she could hold on for 7-10 days without food. We were positive they were wrong, believing Mother would pass sooner because of her heart.
Mother proved Hospice correct. The next 10 days were strangely wonderful, fulfilling and comforting. Staff trained in the transition from life to death explained the physiological and psychological changes that would take place with Mother, and talked us through our own processes. A full time Chaplain was available to help us through the hardest times. Mother was given palliative anxiety medication. She was not in pain and remained generally unresponsive to family members but, as explained, she probably heard every word.
Because of the 24-hour care, far-flung family members were able to visit at their convenience. We took turns staying overnight. We gathered to cry together, laugh together, say prayers together. We were grateful for daily visits from our Westminster Presbyterian ministers.
Kavanagh's quiet space, trained and caring staff, and chapel were literally life sustaining for our family. As Mother slipped to the "other side," Kavanagh House kept us steady.
Mother passed on the 10th day after admission. The night before, my sister and I stayed overnight in a Kavanagh bed in a separate room. Staff woke us in the morning and we were with her as she passed.
In contrast, my Aunt Faye had Hospice Services delivered to her small Des Moines apartment in 1986. That experience was hard, hard, hard. We all felt helpless, frustrated and even angry. Most were not there when she passed. Death in this situation was "bad," in contrast to the comforting Kavanagh House with its emphasis on the natural "process of dying."
I cannot state this any stronger: Please, please consider working toward a Hospice Facility in the Iowa City area!!! I ask: Why should we have to go out-of-town to die?
I also ask: Why should residents of this so-called sophisticated area of Iowa be left to flounder?
One final note. I just returned from Creston, Iowa where I visited an aunt (age 93) who is registered in Hospice Care at a Nursing Home. She was in the Creston Hospice facility, but a June tornado destroyed it. Little Creston, little Kalona, little Hiawatha. Towns with much smaller populations than Iowa City can do it.
Why not Iowa City, or Coralville?
Thank you for listening.