Hospice: By Your Side When You Need Us Most

The added layer of support and compassion from hospice can make all the difference – to the patient, their loved ones and their other caregivers. Wherever patients call home, our hospice team provides the comfort, peace of mind and care needed to navigate end of life.

Bethany, Michigan hospice account executive, saw this care firsthand while working as a facility administrator.

“When I first started my career in long term care I was an administrator at an assisted living. We had a patient that had been on hospice with Elara Caring, and I was very close to her. When the patient started to decline, Elara Caring initiated their By Your Side program,” she said.

By Your Side is specialized care available to Elara Caring hospice patients and their families that is responsive to the changing care needs of patients showing active signs of end of life approaching.

Bethany continued, “The day that the patient was rapidly declining, Elara sent in one of their By Your Side nurses to be the family as the patient was passing. When the nurse walked out from the room, she came to me, and she said the patient had just passed. As I was looking at her, I noticed that she had tears in her eyes. I asked if everything went okay, and she said, ‘I’m just emotional because it was a beautiful passing, and the family was there, and I was there, and it was a very wonderful experience.’”

Elara Caring hospice RN DeeDee was the nurse that day.

“As a hospice RN, our philosophy is not only to make sure patients are comfortable and safe, but it’s also to give this part of their life the best we can,” DeeDee said.

In addition to providing pain management, spiritual and emotional counseling, and caregiver support, the hospice team focuses on letting patients direct their end-of-life care goals.

“Whether that means getting them a cookie or getting their loved ones around them, we just want it to be looked at and felt as a good time in their life. We’re just making that journey more comfortable.”

Bethany said that hospice experience and interaction with DeeDee was an “ah-ha” moment for her.

“As an administrator of a building, I was able to see the difference in quality of care that each of the agencies within our area were able to provide and Elara Caring always stood out. The collaboration they did was far above other agencies. And when I was looking into my hospice career, I knew that was the only place I would want to go to.”

Today, Bethany and DeeDee both work on our Michigan hospice team, ensuring patients and their families get the highest quality in home care services when they need it most. Learn more about a career in home hospice and explore our available hospice jobs. 

Read more about Elara Caring’s in home hospice services or refer a home hospice patient. 

[pictured: DeeDee and Bethany, Michigan hospice team members]