Volunteer Helps Care Team Office Run

Chris handles some paperwork.

In her retirement, Christine “Chris” Beach wanted to find a meaningful place to volunteer her time. One of her friends  volunteered making evening phone calls for Suncoast Hospice and Chris chose to become a volunteer with us, too.

Chris jumped in enthusiastically last July serving as an office volunteer for one of our south Pinellas facility care teams based at our St. Petersburg community service center. Office volunteers help our care teams and departments countywide operate.

Chris works Mondays and sometimes Thursdays at the center providing essential support to her team. She enters all of the volunteer visit notes, updates the telephone support list, runs reports for another office volunteer to use and prints labels for that volunteer’s mailings to patients’ attending physicians.

“The office is a good fit for me. I do whatever they need me to do and I’m willing to do more,” said Chris, adding how she appreciates the welcoming environment there.

Chris gets set for computer work.

“The people who work for Suncoast Hospice are really sweet. It’s so nice to be around happy people. I feel like I made a home here. I love it here,” she said.

Is volunteering one of your New Year resolutions?

Become an office volunteer. Individuals with computer skills are particularly needed. Apply online or call 727-586-4432.

Saluting Nurses In Recognition of National Nurses Week

Nurses Care at Care Center

It’s National Nurses Week May 6 to 12 and we’d like to acknowledge our fabulous nurses who take loving care of our patients and families.

Our nurses are compassionate and uplifting and bring comfort in so many ways. They’re experts at resolving the pain and symptoms of our patients. They also give education and emotional support to our patients and families, helping them understand what to expect with their illnesses and listening to them as they cope with their feelings.

Working with the Care Teams

Collaboration with the other care team members is also an integral part of their job to ensure the best possible care to patients and families. Melanie Harmon, a registered nurse (R.N.) with our supplemental staff-PRN department, celebrated ten years with Suncoast Hospice this year. She shared how she and one of our chaplains worked together swiftly to bring comfort and peace to a patient right before she died.

R.N. Home Visit

“One of our patients had a debilitating illness and was close to death. I rubbed her swollen foot, and she liked it. I called one of our chaplains to help her and he came that day. He baptized her and said the Lord’s Prayer with her family all around her bedside.  It was amazing what he did and wonderful to be there,” Melanie said.

Fulfilling Careers

Two of our other nurses say that working in hospice care is extremely meaningful. “It has been an honor and educational experience going into people’s homes and hearing their stories,” said Stephen Mitchell, a licensed practical nurse (L.P.N.) with our supplemental staff-continuous care department. Cynthia Peterson, an R.N. with one of our care teams shared, “I just don’t think there’s anything more rewarding than being at the bedsides of the dying and helping their families. It’s the best job.”

Do you want to make a difference in the lives of patients and families? Check out our current job openings.

Celebrating Volunteers In Recognition of National Volunteer Week

This week is National Volunteer Week and we’re celebrating our fantastic volunteers and the many staffers who work with them.

Our volunteer coordinators and other employees supervise and support volunteers who serve in many areas, including in our resale shoppes, community service centers and care centers and with our care teams, providing comfort, assistance and companionship to our patients and families. Our volunteers are loved and appreciated for their dedicated service.

Several staffers have expressed their pleasure of working with our volunteers. “It’s wonderful to nurture teen volunteers and hear how their hospice experiences have enriched and changed their lives,” said Laura McGary, a teen volunteer coordinator. Jill Pelletier, a finance department administrative assistant shared, “One of the things I love here is our wonderful volunteers. I really enjoy interacting with them. They do a lot for us.”


Showing Appreciation

Janet Pattison, a volunteer coordinator with one of our south Pinellas care teams, has been touched by her volunteers’ support to our patients and families. “I have the privilege of hearing their stories. They’re doing amazing things,” Janet said.

Picnic Time

Janet along with three other south Pinellas care team volunteer coordinators hosted a volunteer appreciation picnic at Sawgrass Lake Park in St. Petersburg last week. The volunteers enjoyed their special celebration and some delicious food grilled by a psycho-social team leader with one of the teams and her husband.

Please check out our debut issue of Suncoast Hospice Spotlight online magazine showcasing our volunteers and the many ways they support our mission. Click here to read it.

Do you want to make a difference as a volunteer? See our many volunteer opportunities.

Improving Quality of Life

By Donald Simmler
Suncoast Hospice physician

Dr. Donald Simmler

As a Suncoast Hospice physician, I work with our care teams and community physicians doing home care. Most people wish to remain at home when they're dying. It's a closer, more personal connection and a privilege to be invited into people’s homes to care for them.

I witness how patients and their families deal with the difficulties of day-to-day living, handling things as best as they can. They've been given a life-altering message, “It’s time to consider hospice.” They may be uneasy – feeling angry, frightened, distressed, skeptical and distrusting. They may have misconceptions about what we do.

Each patient and family is unique. My care starts with understanding the histories of our patients and their families, where they are now and what their hopes are.

At Suncoast Hospice, patient and family respect comes first. Patients’ and families’ care decisions and wishes always need to be respected. I assist our remarkable care teams with easing distressing symptoms, improving functionality, managing medications and offering recommendations that may improve the well-being of our patients. Our goals are to help people live the best way they can for as long as their sickness allows and, when we no longer can help in this way and as time becomes very limited, we provide more intense support and comfort.

I stand with our whole Suncoast Hospice community, including our extended support staff and wonderful volunteers, as we together help those who are dying and their families. We care for them. We care with them. We walk beside them. We cry with them.