HealthPartners Hospice & Palliative Care

Dorothy has plenty of activities to fill her day, whether it is sewing, scrapbooking or helping her apartment building’s garden committee decide where to plant flowers. “I have more goals for my life than I have life left,” she said with a smile. Hospice care is many things to many people. For Dorothy, HealthPartners Hospice & Palliative Care is helping her live a full life in her remaining time.

Stabilizing Dorothy’s physical condition was the first task. “I was so sick when I first came to hospice,” Dorothy said. Hospice caregivers “helped me with the medications and my breathing. They taught me how to live with my illness. They made it so I felt well enough to go on a women’s retreat with my church and visit family in Iowa. They gave me oxygen to go and everything. If it weren’t for hospice, my life would not be as good as it is now.”

Charitable contributions fund important services not covered by everyday revenue

Dorothy’s time in hospice care has definitely benefited from programs funded through charitable contributions. Such programs include music therapy, massage and other complementary therapies. “I can’t say enough for the music therapist who comes and plays my piano,” Dorothy said. “Music is so important to me.” With assistance from charitable funds, our volunteers help Dorothy perform some of the tasks she wants to complete. “My volunteer is writing out my recipes so I can pass them along. My first volunteer took tape recordings I had done about my life and typed them up. She even grouped things together and put them in book form. It is something my family can have when I am gone. I know that God brought hospice in my life to help me and it has.”

Thanks to charitable donors we can attend to the complete well-being of our patients: body, mind and spirit. We can also educate their families about the dying process so they can feel more comfortable in caring for their loved ones. After patients die we help guide their families through the grieving process. Unfortunately, everyday revenue goes only so far in funding these many programs. We accept reimbursement provided by Medicare and private insurance but need donations in order to supplement the difference. That is why we are fortunate to have generous friends to assist us.

We hope you will support our work with a gift to Regions Hospital Foundation (RHF) to benefit the care we provide. (RHF is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) that, as part of its mission, raises funds on behalf of HealthPartners Hospice & Palliative Care.) With your generosity we will continue to help patients and families make the most of their remaining life together.