This past week we were invited to film with Hospice Savannah in Georgia.
This tightknit historical community has relied on the compassionate, not for profit, caring services of the passionate team at Hospice Savannah since 1979, making it one of the oldest hospice organizations in the country. The founding directors understood the need for a more caring way of taking care of those facing end of life issues that felt more like companionship.
Now, forty-one years later, Hospice Savannah has grown to include 150 volunteers and a team of 125 full-time staff with 202 patients, currently, either at home or in their inpatient facility.
As CEO Dr. Kathleen Deloach Benton, who holds a masters in Bioethics and a Doctorate in Public Health Leadership, shared with us through her insightful words, “we are passionate about services we can offer as a not for profit hospice organization. Many of these services being truly holistic, caring options that have a dramatic impact on our patients – from music therapy and personal massage to capturing the personal stories of those facing the end of life with a storyteller who sits and listens to someone to talk to about the journey their life as taken them on; all the while recording these moments for their families and future generations to have and remember them by.”
It has been proven through a wide range of studies that hospice care at this level through not for profit organizations not only extends the life of their patients but also greatly decreases the anxiety for both the patient as well as their loved ones.
During our few days of filming, we were able to step into a day in the life with two of Hospice Savannah’s key team members, nurse Liz Matter and nurse’s aide Pat McPhatter. We joined them on one of their daily visits to the home of Judith Kessler. Dr. Roberta Smith, a former neonatologist at Savannah area’s Level 3 NICU at Memorial Health University Medical Center, also joined us at Judith’s home, who is in the midst of dealing with Parkinson’s. Dr. Smith, through her years of wisdom, offered some very sound thoughts on life itself. Judith and Dr. Smith have been together for twenty years now, sharing wonderful life adventures. As Judith offered, “I have no idea how I would manage if it wasn’t for the support I get weekly from Hospice Savannah.”
Keith asked both Liz and Pat, “why do you do what you do?” Both, without pause, said they felt this type of caring work was their calling, admitting it’s difficult when a patient transitions on, due to the close friendship they develop with them, they remember that the time they spent with each and every individual was emotional and enriching for themselves as well as supportive for the family and the patient.
As director of the foundation at Hospice Savannah, Jamey Espina helped us understand “we are all living longer because of the advancements in medical treatment. This, of course, is a good thing but with this often comes a patient that is much sicker. This translates to more in-depth care – some of which may often be just too complicated for loved ones to handle. Therefore, hospice care is now being brought into the patients’ worlds far sooner than years before. Surprisingly, many times because of these services and caring, empathetic support, patients not only have a better quality of life, but many times live longer or even step off hospice.”
A great example was William Corbin, a Vietnam-era Veteran, that was in a life-threating car accident and since then has declined rapidly. Corbin is now a patient at Hospice Savannah and his daughter, Topeka said she is already seeing a light at the end of what first appeared to be a grim tunnel of her dad going back home. William joked as his massage by Jordyn Vital came to an end and his musical therapist Kourtney Tigner finished singing one of his favorite songs by the Temptations, “I really like it here. Maybe I’ll stay awhile longer.”
As nurse Liz shared with us, “I don’t need work. I just fully understand what we do is really God’s work. I’ll do these things as long as I can. I get as much out of caring for patients as I hope they get from me.”
We are thrilled to have Hospice Savannah featured in our film “End of Life Transitioning: How hospice changed how we care for those who are passing on.”