Hospice: Caring Physically, Mentally, Spiritually

Hospice means taking care of patients physically, mentally and even spiritually. Their main goal is to make sure everyone affected by the end of a life is comfortable with the process.

When there is nothing more that medicine can do, hospice is there to help heal the spirit. Erika Lehmann's mother, Marilyn, began hospice care last August.

"She has gotten worse, we ended with having her have to be in bed all the time and I couldn't do it by myself anymore," Lehmann said.

Hospice care allows for patients and families to get the care they need in the comfort and privacy of their own home.

"It’s really a wonderful thing to be able to be with my mother as much as I am and not to have to run and go see her but actually have her here in the home with us,” Lehmann said.

While Lehmann may not know how long she has left with her mother, she's satisfied knowing she is at least being taken care of.

"Well we hope to make them feel like they are being cared for and that there is some body supporting them like they don't have to do it all alone," Registered Nurse with Compassionate Care Hospice Sue Bakker said.

Bakker has been a registered nurse caring for hospice patients for two years now. She keeps doing it because no two cases are the same.

"I love the patients that I care for and it’s just a whole different type of nursing," Bakker said.

For this family, hospice is just what they hoped for.

"It’s just gone beautifully and it’s just taken a lot of pressure off of me," Lehmann said.

Hospice care is not only reserved for the last few days of a person's life but can be months.