Volunteer Connects the Bereaved to Grief Support

Mary "Missy" Wolf

Mary “Missy” Wolf reaches out to support those who've had loved ones die in our care. As one of our bereavement support volunteers, Missy makes 12 to 15 calls monthly from her home to the bereaved six or nine months after the deaths. She finds out how they're doing and lets them know we're here to help.

“I love that Suncoast Hospice care is all inclusive helping patients and the families. A lot of times people want to talk after a death but others around them don’t want to talk about it. They may feel isolated or lost. We give them an open invitation to receive our grief support if they want to participate,” Missy said.

Missy works full time for a commercial realtor’s office and has children. She began her volunteer service with our Suncoast Hospice Foundation in 2004, including doing ambassador calls to thank donors and special events, which help support the care and services we provide. She then joined us doing patient and family support and bereavement support.

She makes many bereavement calls on weekends when she feels people are in more relaxed settings and may follow up with them during the week. She enjoys making that connection.

“Most people I speak with are so appreciative of the care their loved ones received from Suncoast Hospice and appreciate that I’ve called, even if they don’t feel they need any help at that time. I find it rewarding to check in with them so they know they’re not forgotten. After my mother died and having a baby, I didn’t really have the ability to talk to anyone professionally and I was left to deal with my grief alone. It’s nice for people to know that someone is going to call them and ask how things are going,” she said.

Interested in becoming a bereavement support volunteer? Submit an online volunteer application or call 727-586-4432.

Are you hurting from the loss of a family member or friend? Join us for support at our groups or workshops.

Community Memorial Services: A Time for Remembrance

By Calvin Crews Suncoast Hospice chaplain

Chaplain Calvin Crews

It’s that time again for Suncoast Hospice and our community to come together at our community memorial service to remember friends and family members. There’s an added bit of excitement with this service because it will be held at a local faith community, as we’ve done in the past.

Our service will be July 25 at 6 p.m. at Anona United Methodist Church, 13233 Indian Rocks Road in Largo. It’s open to everyone of all faiths. Our services were held at our community service centers in the past several years. We’re looking forward to going back out in the community. As with all of our services, it gives us another opportunity to connect with the families we’ve served and to continue the journeys with them. 

We feel that this is an important service to many in our community because we all come together to comfort one another and share memories of our deceased loved ones. Some have made our services part of their bereavement process, attending year after year. Our services provide the perfect occasions for people to acknowledge and mourn those who’ve died, regardless of when the losses occurred. 

It’s also important for our own staff and volunteers to remember the patients and others we’ve served. In the book, Tuesdays with Morrie, author Mitch Albom states, “Death takes a life not a relationship”. Our services are to help those relationships stay alive through the remembering and honoring of our loved ones.  

Our services include meaningful words, music and other rituals that can support the moment that’s shared. At this particular service we’ll be giving an inspirational stone to each of our attendees to take with them as an expression of the moment and hope of the comfort that they received during the service.

Our society often thinks a funeral or memorial service provides closure. That just isn’t true. At the end of a person’s life, the most important need is to know that his or her life mattered and that he or she will not be forgotten. Our relationships with our deceased loved ones play out in our hearts every day as we remember them. A memorial service gives us another opportunity for remembrance.

It was once stated that if our tears become our stairs and our memories our road, we’ll always be able to travel with our loved ones in this life that is left behind.

We hope you’ll join us at our service on July 25.

If you feel you need support with your grief, you can always call us at 467-7423.

Counselors Help Community Heal from Loss & Grief

Counselor Dee Brandon

When someone you love dies or a traumatic death happens in your community, your world may start spinning. You don’t have to go through it alone.

Suncoast Hospice’s Center for Loss and Healing offers a broad range of counseling and support groups for those who’ve experienced loss and grief. Services are available to anyone in the community and provided based on an individualized fee scale.

Help with Loss of Loved Ones

Deangelis “Dee” Brandon, MSW is one of the center’s counselors who help people find their grounding and healing. She has served with Suncoast Hospice for 15 years, including working as a children’s counselor with one of our care teams and a counselor with our Stepping Stones children and families program.

In her role with the center, Dee does grief counseling with adults, children and families and works with support groups. Her mission is to help them find understanding and peace.

“I love what I do because I get to help people, which may mean holding their hands, bringing them coffee or listening to their stories. It may be a widow or widower or someone who’s dealing with a loved one’s sudden, unexpected death, such as a heart attack, suicide or accidental overdose. They want somebody to listen to them, help them problem solve and let them know that everything they’re going through is ok. It’s ok if they don’t want to eat or they want to cry,” Dee said.

Support with Traumatic Events

Her work also includes support for people who’ve been newly diagnosed with an illness, as well as crisis intervention, grief–in–the–workplace and other traumatic loss counseling.  

“We do a lot of crisis intervention, including counseling when there are shootings in the community. We reach out to police officers, firefighters and other professionals and give them education and support because they’re on our front lines and see a lot,” she said.

She helps others in the community who’ve been shaken by traumatic news stories. “That news may trigger something, so they’ll come in for a few sessions. Some examples include the recent sinkhole event or loss of homes or family members’ loss of homes. Those can be traumatic. We’ll get referred to families and give them support or information they can take to their loved ones.”

Do you think counseling might help you or someone you know?

Please call 727–467–7423 any time for information or visit our events calendar for a listing of our support groups.