Hospice is "God's Work"
Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare - Continuing Care & Allied Services/Senior Health
As a Wheaton Franciscan Hospice volunteer, Jean Kolo is part of a team dedicated to providing comfort and support to patients living their last weeks and months. It’s an important role, and one that is deeply appreciated by patients.
Hospice is not a place; it is a compassionate manner of caring for those who cannot be cured, providing comfort and enhancing quality of life with a holistic approach that includes the patient, family, and close friends. While hospice is part of a full spectrum of health care services available to individuals, though, it is a service that is provided at a cost to Wheaton Franciscan Hospice. Because our program primarily sees patients in the last days and weeks of their lives when costs are the most expensive, reimbursement does not usually cover expenses. In 2008 Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare subsidized the hospice program by $407,186 or approximately $550 per patient. In addition, 85% of our 738 patients were covered by Medicare, which does not fully cover costs for that last expensive period.
Support from the Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare Circle of Life Foundation helps offset some funding shortfalls, but the program is in need of constant financial support. Volunteers such as Jean Kolo fill a critical role with the program.
As a member of the hospice team, Jean is particularly attuned to the needs of the patient’s family members and loved ones -- she became a hospice volunteer after personal experience with the Wheaton Franciscan Hospice program for her husband in 2006. Jean articulated her desire to become a volunteer shortly after her husband’s death, at the memorial service that was attended by many of his hospice caregivers. The team recommended Jean take some time to grieve – follow-up bereavement counseling is available to the family at no charge for up to one year, and hospice caregivers know how important this period is. Jean was advised that, when she felt ready, she could reconnect to go through the training.
Jean did indeed reconnect and her services now make an important contribution to hospice care, in more ways than one. As a volunteer, Jean has become an integral part of the team helping hospice patients. “I feel I’m doing God’s work,” says Jean. “Visiting patients, providing respite for their spouses or other family members – I find great joy and peace in helping others as I was helped.”