Staff Enriched by Visit to Sister Hospice in South Africa

(left to right) Terri Peterson, Stacy Orloff and Susan Bruno

Three Suncoast Hospice employees are in South Africa visiting our sister hospice – Hospice Association of the Witwatersrand (Hospice Wits). They are Suncoast Hospice’s Theresa "Terri" Peterson, a care team chaplain, Stacy Orloff, vice president of palliative care and community programs and Suncoast Hospice Institute’s Susan Bruno, director of institute business.

The staff have felt welcomed and enamored by the loving, joyful spirit of the Hospice Wits staff and the people they serve. They have been sharing their daily experiences with us back home, including providing education and team–building activities to their staff, observing their hospice care and soaking in the culture and history of South Africa.  

“I feel so privileged to share my skills with our sister hospice and to learn from them about caring compassion at all times,” shared Susan. This week, she told about some heartwarming home visits with patients and families. She had a touching experience reuniting and going out with Penny Mathe, a social worker who was part of the group that visited Suncoast Hospice last fall.    

Susan wrote, “Today we traveled the roads, some paved and some not, in Soweto to visit a few of Penny's patients. One patient was a woman living with AIDS, who lived with her daughter and granddaughter in an 8x10 hut made of cardboard, blankets and tin. Penny assessed the woman’s need for a food parcel and the possibility of moving her to another location with better shelter, while the community care worker (hospice aide) gently massaged her hands and arms to comfort her. They all spoke in their native language, Zulu. The universal language of hospice was understood by all of us. The patient was so appreciative of everything Hospice Wits has done for her.”

Want to hear more about their trip and our sister hospice? Visit our Care4Soweto blog.