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JUNE 2020

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How to Combat Covid-19 Cabin Fever

Dr. Leslee B. Cochrane,
Executive Medical Director

Dr. Leslee Cochrane - Hospice of the Valleys"Our nation owes a debt to its fallen heroes that we can never fully repay."

- Barack Obama

As we celebrated Memorial day 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic death toll in the United States approached the 100,000 mark. This is a staggering statistic and the pandemic has deeply disrupted every aspect of our lives including our work, our worship and the freedom to conduct every day activities such as attending school. In the beginning of the pandemic we did not know very much about how the disease spreads or the mortality rate. Fortunately, we have now seen a "flattening of the curve" and a dramatic slowing in the rate of spread of the disease. The first case of COVID-18 in the US was reported on 1/22/2020. Since then the country has reported 1,681,418 cases, and 98,929 deaths as of the writing of this article. According to the Johns Hopkins University Covid-19 website, this amounts to 30.2 deaths per 10,0000 population or a .03% overall mortality rate thus far which is much less than was feared woudl be the case. By way of comparison, the CDC estimated that approximately 80,000 people died of flu related causes during the 2017 flu season.

While any loss of life related to the Covid-19 pandemic is tragic, I was reminded during this Memorial Day weekend of the countless thousands of fallen heroes who sacrificed their lives to protect and defend the freedoms of which we ar now perhaps more keenly aware of. The Civil War, which was our deadliest conflict, ended in the spring of 1865 and had a devastating death toll of 650,000! Memorial Day traces its origins to "Decoration Day" which originated in the years following the Civil War as cities and towns would gather together to decorate the graves of fallen soldiers and pay tribute to them. In 1971 Memorial Day became recognized as a National Holiday set aside to honor all those who have died in the service of our Nation.

This year Memorial Day took on a new meaning for our family as our son Jared took his Officers Oath while accepting his Commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Army. This was both a joyful and solemn occasion as we pondered in a new way the sacrifices that America's sons and daughters are called to make in their service to our Country. I found myself experiencing a deeper sense of graittude for all those heroes who died so that I might enjoy the freedoms I so cherish. As the Covid-19 restrictions are lifted we are reminded once again that America is only the "Land of the Free"; because it is also the "Home of the Brave." If there is a silver lining to the dark cloud of Covid-19, perhaps it could be a new found sense of gratitude for the incredible freedoms we enjoy and a renewed commitment to remember and honor our fallen heroes to whom we owe a debt that we can never repay.

THINGS ARE NOT ALWAYS WHAT THEY SEEM

By: Dr. Lynn Euzenas
Director of Spiritual Care & Bereavement Services

Dr. Lynn Euzenas - Hospice of the ValleysThis time of sheltering in place has been a perplexing teacher. Baby boomers like myself have had to run to catch up with social media platforms and video conferencing apps like Face Time and Zoom. These days, especially after all of our Wednesday staff and IDT meetings, I think I am becoming more a baby Zoomer than a baby boomer!

New opportunities continue to present themselves to this Zoomer. Over the weekend I had the privilege to attend a virtual music recital from a local music school. Over two days, over two hundred elementary and high school students had recorded their performance pieces to stream over the weekend long recital. There were little ones just starting to play Suzuki violin, promising vocalists tackling opera arias, high school classical pianists, and 5th grade harpists with garlands of flowers in their hair. All so proud of the music they had prepared.

My focus were the dozen students of my friend, a piano and vocal teacher, who were performing. All did beautifully, presenting their songs and piano pieces with expertise and style, and an energy only students just learning music can bring forth. On the last recital one seventh grade girl, I'll call her Jocelyn, performed her song. To my ear, Jocelyn seemed to be having a very bad day. You all know that feeling you get, when listening to the Voice or American Idol...when you know when it just isn't going well for the singer, when things are out of rhythm, and the notes are not quite in tune? Your heart aches a bit for the performer. And so it was with this teen. When my friend asked me how I thought all her students did, I was honest when I told her I felt bad that Jocelyn seemed to struggle. She smiled broadly and said, "Ah, but you don't know the story!"

Things are not always what they seem. When Jocelyn first came to study with my friend she was painfully shy and learning disabilities robbed her of confidence. It didn't help that her younger brother was a brilliant fellow who was already a solo pianist and could do just about anything he touched very well. Jocelyn had mastered living in the shadows as a young age until she decided she wanted to learn to sing. When she began, she could not match a pitch on the piano or carry a tune at all, let alone memorize a solo piece, perform it on videotape, and agree to have it be part of a video-telecast recital! And yet there Jocelyn was, standing proudly and strongly, singing her piece from beginning to end, making most of the notes, and smiling fiercely with the great joy she felt in sharing her music! A triumph!

Things are not always what they seem. What could seem like a failure could be an amazing breakthrough! What seems a baby step for one could be a giant leap for another! A time of struggle and tragedy always bears the possibility of a new way, a new world, to be born! Celebrate the small, tender moments where you are now and let them sustain you: they are among many seeds of hope for the days ahead.

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