Saturday, November 17, 2007

Socorro observes Hospice Month

Evelyn Cronce El Defensor Chieftain Reporter

Along with the National Association for Home Care & Hospice, Socorro General Hospital Home Health Care and Hospice will observe National Home Care and Hospice Month throughout November.

The home care and hospice month was set aside to honor care-giving heroes who make a remarkable difference in the lives of patients and the families they serve.

The hospice program in Socorro began in 1995, according to social worker Tina Cvitanovich. Here, the hospice program is not an inpatient facility. It is a program designed to help a patient who is terminally ill, along with their families and friends, to cope with the situation together and with dignity.

That was the case with Maria Paublita "Pauline" Baca, who died recently at the age of 97. Preciliano "Shorty" Vaiza and his wife, Judy, wanted to share their experiences with hospice to encourage people who need the service to use it and to clear up some misconceptions about what hospice is and what it is not.

Judy Vaiza said her mother; Baca, came to live with her not long after a bout of pneumonia had put her in the hospital. She said Baca had asked that she not be put in a nursing home and moved in with the Vaizas about a year later.

Initially, the Vaizas received services through SGH Home Health Care. Judy Vaiza said as the years passed and her mother's health deteriorated, it became obvious both to her and the health care workers that Baca was no longer able to get out of bed and could no longer care for herself. The family physician was called and recommended the family contact hospice. That was early in 2007.

Judy Vaiza said the first thing that happened was the hospice nurse met with the family, explained the program, and answered questions. The nurse came to the house about three times a week at first to make sure everything was in place and coordinated properly.

Cvitanovich explained hospice provides a hospital bed, oxygen, medications and whatever the doctor prescribes to make the patient comfortable. Costs are covered by Medicare and Medicaid. For people who do not have either of those, the hospice has a charity fund. That money comes from grants and donations, and is used to cover the costs of anyone without Medicaid or Medicare.

In Baca's case, they provided a special mattress to help prevent bedsores. Judy Vaiza said bedsores were one of the things she worried about the most. She said hospice provided the family with instruction on caring for her mother and between the instructions, the mattress and the added care the hospice aides provided by coming every day, her mother did not develop bedsores.

"I asked for an aide to come every day," she said. "That was not a problem. Everything I asked for was 'no problem.'"

Judy Vaiza said a volunteer came in to sit with Baca to give the family a short break.

"The volunteers would talk to her or read to her or feed her pudding, which she liked," Judy Vaiza said. "That's when I would have an hour to go to the grocery store.

"It's a wonderful program. They teach you so much, like how to get thorough the various stages. They need to be thanked."

Cvitanovich said there is also a provision for the patient to be put into the hospital for an occasional four-night stay to give the caregiver a longer break. While the patient is in the hospital, the hospice workers provide their care instead of the regular hospital staff, she said. The patient is transported by ambulance and can bring some of their things with them. In Baca's case, she brought her special mattress, too. The family took advantage of that service once in the eight months Baca was in the hospice program.

Judy Vaiza also there is always someone from hospice available by phone and the families are encouraged to call with a problem or a question.

"There's no such thing as a stupid question," she said.

Baca died on Sept. 22. Judy Vaiza said the hospice people who had been involved in her care all came to the house and sat with the family until the funeral home came for her.

"I think it's important for people to be at home, surrounded by their family and friends and their own things," Judy Vaiza said.

Shorty Vaiza said, "I think there's a misconception about hospice. It's not writing off the patient. They give them love. They make them comfortable."

Cvitanovich said people that she knows have been hospice patients for as long as more than a year or as short as two weeks. She also said a patient can be in the hospice program and leave it and may come back as a patient later if they want. There are no restrictions.

"We are not going to help a patient die," she said. "We are just there to make the patient and their family comfortable."

The hospice program offers to continue to work with the family and friends for about a year after the patient's death to help with the grieving process, she said.

The program holds an annual memorial. This year's memorial will be Monday, Dec. 3, 6:30 p.m., at the Socorro Senior Center on Ake Street. Anyone who wants to honor a deceased family member is invited to participate. It does not matter where or how long ago the person died.

For questions or to volunteer with the hospice program, please call 575-835-8343.

ecronce@dchieftain.com

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