Kristal Spires
The goal of hospice care for any patient is to provide comfort and quality of life support for people experiencing their final days, weeks, or months of life. The medical care that goes into this is a very important part, but emotional support and companionship is also crucial too. In this article, we’ll look at the power of presence and how simply being there in someone’s last days can be beneficial with the Volunteer Coordinator for our Hospice Care Options Douglas Office, Kristal Spires.
Why Presence is Powerful
Patients who have someone that can be truly present with them are less likely to feel isolated and lonely, which is so important in someone’s final days. Additionally, these patients are often more comfortable and more at ease. The goal of hospice is to enhance quality of life – and comfort and ease are a huge part of that. Even when patients are not fully conscious while on hospice, Spires said that the power of presence still applies.
“Even when the patient is in and out of consciousness, just the presence of another person can be incredibly comforting,” said Spires. “Hearing is one of the last senses to fade. A gentle voice, a touch, just simply knowing that someone is nearby can ease that feeling of loneliness for them. That presence provides them reassurance and just the sense that they’re not alone.”
Supporting Caregivers Allows Them to be Present
While the main goal of hospice care and hospice staff is to care for the patients and help them transition as easily as possible, Spires said that often means supporting the family members as well. “They can’t take care of their loved one properly if they’re drowning themselves,” said Spires. “At Hospice Care Options, we dig into working together. We set up care plans that benefit both the patients and the caregivers, and that just gives them extra eyes and ears and people that really care and hear their needs.”
Hospice Care Options does this by providing home health aides to help with personal care like bathing, grooming, and other needs. Additionally, when taking care of their loved one becomes too much, Hospice Care Options supports at-home caregivers by providing respite care whenever necessary, for up to five days in a nursing home or hospice care facility.
How Volunteers Help Fill the Gap for Caregivers
Another way that Hospice Care Options assists caregivers is through the essential work of hospice volunteers. When caregivers are not able to be there with their loved ones, whether for certain periods of time, or because they don’t live nearby, Spires said that volunteers can help fill the gap.
“The first category for volunteers would be considered social visits,” said Spires. “That’s more like where they go into the facility or the home physically, whether it be sitting and reading or doing puzzles or painting, talking, or it could even be acts of labor like taking out their trash or light housework.”
Additionally, Spires explained, Hospice Care Options has volunteers who come and help with administrative tasks as well, and one of the tasks these volunteers can help with is with “tuck-in calls.”
“A tuck in call is where they call the patient each week, and they can either have a conversation with them or they can make sure they have all their supplies and everything before the weekend,” said Spires.
Spires said volunteers can make a big impact in the lives of hospice patients, and she wishes more people understood their importance.
“I just want to highlight the compassion and dignity that hospice brings to the end of someone’s life,” said Spires. “There’s a huge need for volunteers that can help with that.”
About Kristal
Spires grew up in Fitzgerald and has a diploma in networking communication as well as a certificate in theology. Before coming to work with Hospice Care Options, she worked as a purchasing agent and never expected to have a career in hospice care.
“Here I have so many connections and this sense of purpose,” said Spires. “I’m blessed to get to come in and meet the families and patients and just being a part of the end of their life, to me, is a blessing. We get the opportunity to just be there for them and love them, right where they are.”