Community Hospice, Inc.
Top Jobs, p1
Community Hospice brings comfort and joy to patients completing life’s journey
By Heidi Howell
Writer, Bee Creative
If you had less than six months to live, what course of action would you take?
Naturally,
you’d want to accomplish as much as possible. For example, spend time
with loved ones, visit meaningful locales and make key decisions. There
would be details to work out and concerns to address. Whether you’re
active or confined, for most people, the end-of-life process can be
both beautiful and bewildering.
Fortunately, thanks to
Community Hospice Inc., patients and their families don’t have to
travel this uncertain road alone: caring teams of professionals can
help make the process much more pleasant.
What is Community Hospice?
Located
in Modesto, non-profit Community Hospice serves hundreds of residents
in Stanislaus County who are anticipating the loss of life or death of
a loved one, regardless of financial situation.
The agency
provides medical, physical, emotional and spiritual support for
patients and families facing life-limiting conditions. In association
with the attending physician, hospice staff assists with dignified,
compassionate pain and symptom management in accordance with each
patient’s wishes. To aid surviving loved ones through the grief
process, bereavement services are offered as well.
Hospice is
not a replacement for full-time care; rather, counseling services and
intermittent personal visits are offered by members of
“interdisciplinary teams” consisting of an RN (registered nurse) case
manager, LVN (licensed vocational nurse), home health aide and medical
social worker. Also ready to help as needed are a medical director,
licensed physician, chaplain, physical therapist, registered dietician
and volunteers.
“Our focus is on comfort,” says Jo Ellen Jordan,
director of patient care services. “We provide whatever level of
service that the person and their loved ones might need, including
supportive care to family members.” She explains that Hospice has
professional staff available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to meet
each patient’s requirements, as well as volunteer caregiver relief.
More than a paycheck
“One
of the things I’m learning being new here is that everybody who comes
to work for Hospice is not here just for a paycheck,” says Lori
Quitiquit-Hoffman, director of human resources. “People have come to
work here because the mission of Hospice seems to be a very important
thing to them on an individual basis. It doesn’t matter what role they
end up playing; their work contributes to helping make the mission
happen. There’s a sense of connection here that I haven’t felt in
previous jobs that is actually very cool.”
Jordan calls it the
“Hospice heart.” It’s “an inner feeling that a person has that this is
almost a calling – something they’re supposed to do. They get their
internal fulfillment from being able to help someone else,” she
says.
“When we get into our field or profession it’s because
we want to help people. This is one area where you really do make a
difference,” Jordan continues. “People are so appreciative of you just
taking the time to listen and walk this journey with them that I often
feel, and I know my staff feels this way, that you walk away from a
case feeling like you’ve received more than you’ve given.”
Jordan
says that people sometimes make comments like, “That must be hard; how
can you work in such a depressing field?” But upbeat Jordan is ready
with a reply. “We view life as a cycle; a consequence of living is
dying,” she explains. “We celebrate or acknowledge just about every
aspect of our life from birth to baptism and graduation, choices of
occupation, marriage, retirement. This is the last chapter of your life
– it’s part of that journey, part of the life cycle, and its normal,”
Jordan explains. “Yes, it’s the end of life as we know it today, but I
do believe that most of us believe that there is an afterlife and this
is just that transition. I consider it an honor to be invited into a
patient’s or family’s home and to accompany them through the dying
process.”
Critical need for nurses
Kyle Lingg,
director of community education, points out that unlike traditional
nursing situations, Hospice nurses are empowered to personally case
manage their patients. “It’s real nursing; they’re in charge. They must
be professional and knowledgeable; they have to make quick decisions.
People are dying in front of them. There are pain issues. We want
people to stop and think about Hospice when they’re going into nursing.
Or, if they’re in it now and are tired of it, they can try out this
kind of nursing,” Lingg says.
Like other health care settings,
Community Hospice is experiencing a nursing shortage. “We are actively
looking for nurses who are willing and interested in going into the
home and providing one-on-one care as they lend their support to the
dying process,” Jordan says. “These people are so grateful and
appreciative of everything that Hospice does. Not knowing what’s going
to happen from day to day can be scary. We walk with them day by day
and help them die comfortably and with dignity.”
Nurses are in
special demand for both Community Hospice in Modesto and the new
Alexander Cohen Hospice House on-site care facility in Hughson. Both
RNs and LVNs are encouraged to apply for full-time, part-time and per
diem (daily) positions.
Other job openings include certified
home health aide, unit clerk, housekeeper lead, housekeeper and
janitor. According to Lori Quitiquit-Hoffman, director of human
resources, there are approximately 22 total staff openings. She says
it’s helpful if people have experience in clinical settings, the
ability to cope with family and patient emotional stress, and good
communication skills to be able to listen with empathy.
Looking
to volunteer? Empathetic and dedicated volunteers are continually
needed in areas of bereavement, Community Education, family visitation,
grief support group facilitation, Hope Chest Thrift Store and Friends
of Hospice. Multilingual individuals are especially desired.
Helping
others while “giving back” to the community through Hospice can bring
satisfaction and fulfillment. To learn more about Hospice programs and
openings, please visit www.hospiceheart.org, check The Modesto Bee
and/or stop by the office at 601 McHenry Ave. in Modesto between 8 and
5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
© HHWS for The Modesto Bee
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