About Hospice

Hospice of Jefferson County (HJC) is licensed by the state of Washington and is a Medicare/Medicaid–certified provider. We have been providing end-of-life services since 1980. We are a member agency of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and the Washington Hospice and Palliative Care organization. We have a reputation for high professional standards and service excellence.

Our focus is on reducing pain and enhancing quality of life while providing comfort and support. We develop an individualized program providing medical, emotional, psychological, financial, social, and spiritual care as requested.

Our Executive Director is Keri Johns. Keri graduated from Pacific Lutheran University with a BS in nursing. She completed her Advanced Hospice Administrator Certification in 2004 and her MS in Community Health Administration in 2006. She has been an employee of Jefferson Healthcare since 1990.

Our Medical Director, Joseph Mattern, MD, is a graduate of Drexel College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA. He completed his internship and residency at the University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison, Wisconsin. He is a member of the American Board of Family Medicine.

Our Hospice Nursing Director is Golda Posey.

Interdisciplinary Team

HJC uses an interdisciplinary, medically directed team to care for and support our clients as well as their families and caregivers. Our Hospice Team is made up of our hospice medical director, hospice RNs, social workers, home health aides, clergy, therapists, trained volunteers, and each client’s personal health care provider. The hospice medical director consults with the hospice team on a regular basis. Client care is directed by each client’s individual provider.

Together, this team provides comprehensive palliative care aimed at relieving symptoms and giving social, emotional, and spiritual support. Our holistic approach neither hastens nor postpones death but strives to make each day as meaningful as possible. Hospice care in Jefferson County is most often provided in the client’s home, but care also may be provided in a nursing home or other residential location.

Nursing Care

Each hospice client is cared for by an individually assigned nurse who makes both regularly scheduled and as-needed visits to the client to manage pain and symptoms. In addition, our hospice provides on-call nursing support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The goal of pain and symptom control is to help our clients to be comfortable while also allowing them to remain in control of their lives and sufficiently alert to be able to make important decisions.

For more information on pain control, go to www.hospicenet.org

Throughout the time that a client is under hospice care, the nurse case manager keeps the primary medical provider informed about the client’s condition and makes adjustments to the care plan as needed.

Therapies

As ordered by the client’s hospice nurse, Hospice will provide any necessary therapies, including physical, speech, and occupational therapies. Occupational therapy services include recommendations for safety modifications to the client’s residence, such as bathtub handrails and shower modifications.

Prescriptions, Medical Equipment, and Supplies

Hospice is able to provide, at no cost to the client, those prescriptions, equipment, and supplies that are directly related to the hospice client’s diagnosis. The nurse who is coordinating the hospice client’s care will ensure that the client has whatever is needed to manage pain and maximize comfort. In most cases, supplies and equipment are mailed or delivered directly to the client’s home or place of residence. HJC uses a national hospice pharmacy that provides 24-hour on-call support by licensed pharmacists. We also use the services of the local Bellevue Healthcare office to provide our medical equipment needs.

Social Support

Social workers are available to visit hospice clients and their caregivers on a regular basis. They provide individual and family counseling to help with the adjustment to terminal illness. They also can assist with financial issues and with access to other community resources that may be needed.

Home Health Aides

Home health aides are available to assist with bathing, oral care, hair and nail care, and shaving. The aides are also available to instruct caregivers about proper skin care, positioning, and safe transfer to and from bed.

Volunteers

Trained volunteers are available to assist hospice clients and their families in a number of ways. They can spell the usual care provider, staying with the client so the caregiver can take a break. They also are available to provide transportation, run errands, help with household chores, and be an occasional companion to the client, if desired.

Volunteers are available to sit at the bedside, read to the client, write letters on behalf of the client, and share hobbies and special interests.

Specially trained vigil volunteers are available around the clock for up to three days to accompany the dying and their families while a person is in the active dying process. These volunteers will come to the home, the hospital, or to other care facilities.

Spiritual Care Team

Spiritual care is compassionate presence and companionship for you and your loved ones in the midst of end-of-life challenges. Through this sharing, you may discover meaning, wholeness and spiritual healing, while exploring the depths of your humanness.

Is Spiritual Care for Me?

Our life journeys are spiritual in our quest for meaning, love, connection and hope. Thus, everyone has spiritual dimensions, whether we have faith traditions or not. Our last days on earth often inspire us to delve more deeply into spiritual issues. Be assured that confidential, non-judgmental spiritual care is available to you when you want it. Below is a list of examples.

EXAMPLES OF END-OF-LIFE SPIRITUAL ISSUES

• Search for your meaning in life and death
• Forgiveness of others, yourself or God
• Reconciliation with alienated persons
• Mourning the loss of loved ones
• Regretting your unfulfilled dreams
• Telling your personal story for a sense of completeness
• Fears about the process of dying and related pain or suffering
• Feelings of abandonment
• Concerns about the well-being of survivors

What We Offer You

We are trained, qualified spiritual care professionals on the hospice team. We offer to:

• Discuss your particular end-of-life spiritual issues.
• Provide spiritual care based on your needs and your beliefs, practices, faith traditions and rituals.
• Assist your family, friends, care givers, volunteers, and staff with issues, questions and grief processes.
• Be a simple, gentle and loving presence, in silence or in dialogue.
• Act as a liaison to local spiritual organizations, congregations, clergy and other spiritual leaders, as desired.

Our Invitation to You

We wish to enable you to come to a fuller awareness of who you are and how much you matter here and now, just as you are, in sickness as in health. Call us at (360) 385-0610.

Bereavement Counseling

Our trained bereavement counselor is available to help family and friends of our clients handle their grief. Bereavement services are available for up to 13 months after the death of a loved one. Our counselor also holds a community memorial service once a year to honor the memory of loved ones who have died. This memorial is open to all community members, not just those whose loved one was a participant in the hospice program. These ceremonies are planned during the holiday season because this is a time when many people struggle with their feelings of loss. Please refer to the events calendar for the date of the current year’s memorial service.

For helpful articles on grief and bereavement, go to www.hospicenet.org/html/bereavement.html

Contact Hospice of Jefferson County at (360) 385-0610