November 23, 2007

A Final Home at The End of Life’s Journey

A family shares experience at the Clarissa C. Cook Hospice House

By Scott Daniels

My brother Doug was one of those people always concerned about the welfare of others. He always had a joke or a story to tell. Even if he was upset or in pain, you could never quite tell how serious it was because he'd make a joke out of it.

He was strong in faith, very involved in his church, his visitation of shut-ins and those suffering with bad health. If someone just needed a friend, Doug could be that friend. After retiring from the Rock Island Arsenal, Doug needed more to do. He was training to become a nurse at 55 years old. But as so often happens, life takes turns and twists that no one can predict.

Doug had just completed a particularly trying semester in nursing school in December 2006. He was walking his dogs on a Saturday afternoon, looking forward to a mini-family reunion in Texas in January, when he had a major seizure on the side of the road in his neighborhood.

From that point on, his health spiraled downward. A spot of melanoma that he had surgically removed seven years prior, and had been diligently tracked through medical check-ups, had somehow spread throughout his body, even to the point of metastasizing in his brain.

By March 2007, the determination was made that his cancer treatment was only possible as a "quality of life" issue. Doug knew the realities. He was studying to be a nurse, and he knew what the gradual and continual deterioration of his body meant.

This man who continually gave of himself for others now was facing the unbearable decision of how he wanted to spend his last days. He desperately wanted to get back close to his friends and family in Fulton, Ill., and the Quad-Cities area. So when Mayo Clinic gave him hospice options and the Clarissa Cook Hospice House had an opening, Doug was ready.

The Clarissa Cook Hospice House was Doug's final home on Earth for close to two weeks, until his death on Wednesday, April 18, 2007. His care throughout his stay there was excellent and the facilities, both for the patients and their families, was outstanding. Everything about the facility was done with the needs of patients and families in mind.

The accommodations were spacious and welcoming, inviting and convenient for me as a family member who was staying with him. The house is well-supplied to serve patients and families, and there are wonderful gathering areas for family to meet, including a beautiful deck right off Doug’s room.

The facility impressed me with the great care and attention that was made to serve every aspect of caring for Doug and our family.

The best aspect of the hospice house was the nursing and administrative staff. Doug had such wonderful nurses during his entire stay. They not only cared for him, they truly cared about him.

I really can't say enough about what the staff’s impact had on him, the relief it provided to Doug’s wife, Susan, who had been through so much with him, and their effect on me and the rest of my family during his stay.

The Clarissa C. Cook Hospice House is wonderfully designed, operated, and filled with a staff that goes beyond treating the medical situation. My brother was special to his family and friends and in his last days it was so important that he be treated with dignity and respect, care and understanding.

He received all of that at the Clarissa C. Cook Hospice House, and we are extremely grateful for their presence in his life at a particularly trying time.

A first-year anniversary

This month, the Clarissa C. Cook Hospice House in Bettendorf celebrates its first anniversary as the Quad Cities’ first freestanding hospice house.

In its first year, the house served the needs of more than 280 patients and their families by providing specialized care in a beautiful home-like facility. Serving all the needs of patients – medical, spiritual and emotional – is the mission of hospice care providers.

“We want death here to be peaceful, not a struggle, and we want patients and families to be comforted. This is the home of our patients. They are honored guests, and our staff members are their guides,” explains Pat Christy, operations manager of the Clarissa C. Cook Hospice House.

The Clarissa C. Cook Hospice House is just one option of hospice care from Genesis VNA and Hospice. Hospice care also is available in patients’ homes and in hospitals. For more information about end-of-life care, call: (563) 421-5400 in the Quad Cities or (563) 242-7165 in Clinton/DeWitt area.

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