Hospice of the Valleys Logo
951-200-7800 / 877-889-0325
Support Us
  • Hospice Care
    • Introduction to Hospice
    • Paying for Hospice
    • Types of Care
  • About Us
    • History & Mission
    • Awards and Accreditations
      • We Honor Veterans
      • CHAP
    • Service Areas
    • Meet The Team
    • Testimonials & Videos
    • Community Supporters
    • Newsletters
    • Careers
  • Patients & Families
    • Coronavirus/COVID-19
    • Grief Support
    • FAQs
    • Resource Library
    • Notice of Privacy Practices
    • Notice of Nondiscrimination
    • End of Life Option Act
  • Volunteer
  • Donate
    • Donate Now
    • Estate Planning
    • Vehicle Donation
  • News
  • Contact
Hospice Honors
Top Work Places 2014-2021
We Honor Veterans

SEPT. 2022

Request Information
Make a Donation
Volunteer Opportunities
Upcoming Events
Notes From Friends
Hospice of the Valleys serves hundreds of patients each and every year. We honor them by sharing their stores. They remind us every day of the meaning and purpose in our work and that human connection is at the heart of the hospice experience.The following are notes Hospice of the Valleys has received from the families of patients that we have been privileged to provide hospice care.

"Dear Hospice of the Valleys, We are so grateful for all you did to make my husband comfortable in his last days. Thank you so much. I would not have been able to do what you did. He died with less pain because of you."

"Thank you for your kindness and help during the last few days of my husband's life. I appreciate it so much. Everyone was so efficient and caring. Thank you for taking him as a patient. You're so great."

Celebrate The Heart of Volunteering
amazonsmile. You Shop. Amazon Gives.
Wine & Chocolate fundraiser - Tickets available until September 12th
A time to remember the sacrifices of prisoners of war and service members who are missing in action

The Perfect Prayer

Mike Patton,
Bereavement Counselor/Spritual Care

At the end of a recent bereavement group meeting, one of the participants said "the perfect prayer," in reference to the Serenity Prayer that we had just recited together. I was intrigued by the comment, not because I didn't completely agree, but because I'd never heard anyone refer to it in that way.

There are three requests made in the prayer... one for serenity, one for courage and one for wisdom. Please join me in mulling over these three requests made in the perfect prayer.

Serenity is peace of mind. Grief, life so many other things, interrupts our peace of mind. Loss can be so painful and breathtaking... I think of the shallowness of breathing when I'm contemplating the loss of my loved one... those quick shallow breaths that, left alone, will leave my lungs longing for a deeper breath. Serenity is like a long, deep inhale of fresh air... a satisfying refill of life-giving oxygen... and with that full tank of peace I am better prepared to deal with the disappointment of loss.

William Worden has helpfully outlined "acceptance of the reality of the loss" as the first major task of mourning. Accepting death, the finality of which cannot be changed, is a task that demands a thoughtfulness that is often lost in the haze of confusion that comes with normal grief. So, it makes perfect sense to ask for "serenity to accept the things I cannot change" when confronted with our grief and having to plan ways to deal with it.

Courage is facing fear with confidence. It is not being fear-less. When I browse the list of normal manifestations of grief, it is a brutal reminder of the physical, cognitive, emotional, social and spiritual tolls that grief demands, a frightening prospect. From the fogginess of the mind, to the interruption of normal sleep and appetite, grief demands so much.

Wisdom is a beautiful combination of intelligence and discernment. The wise man builds his house on a solid foundation so that hurricane winds and rising flood waters do not destroy the house. In the context of grief, it is the wisdom to discern the difference between that which is dry cement and cannot be changed, like the finality of death, and that which demands courage to change, like the misery of loneliness or the heaviness or deep sadness.

When we sit in the room with folks who have taken that courageous step to attend a bereavement group, it is strikingly obvious that we are in the presence of special people for whom the Serenity Prayer is... "the perfect prayer."

Finding Quality Care in the Age of the Internet

Dr. Leslee B. Cochrane,
Executive Medical Director

When you are looking for a good mechanic or excellent restaurant, chances are you will first turn to friends and family for their recommendations. You might also go online to check out reviews on Yelp or Google; but since you do not know the people submitting those reviews personally, it may be hard to determine how much you can trust them. IN the age of the internet, the new warning is do not believe everything you read on the internet! Unfortunately, despite the enormous amount of information readily available at the click of a button, sorting through all that information to find high quality health care providers is a bit like searching for a needle in a huge haystack.

Here are three simple strategies to help you navigate our way through the healthcare haystack when you need to find high quality healthcare information or providers. The first strategy is to always remember to believe your beliefs and doubt your doubts. Simply put, you can place more confidence in reviews you receive from friends and family members that those from anonymous online reviewers. The second strategy is to consider the reliability of the source, whether that be an email, web site or an online review. Once you have found a reliable source, the third strategy is to carefully review and compare overall quality ratings and patient satisfaction surveys. Ideally, you are looking for facilities and providers that score well in both the quality of care and patient/family satisfaction with care categories. One such excellent resource for reliable information about various types of Medicare healthcare providers can be found at the official Medicare Compare Website https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/. From that website, you can search for various types of Medicare providers in your area by entering a zip code and then selecting between various provider types including Hospitals, Skilled Nursing Faculties, Home Health Agencies and Hospice Providers. The site will then show you how many providers are in your service area and you can use the "compare" feature to select several different providers and compare them side by side. For most categories providers, you will see both an overall quality rating and some form of a patient-satisfaction survey rating.

For example, if you log into Medicare Care Compare and search for "Hospice care" in Murrieta, you will find that there are over 120 different hospice programs listed. Of those Hospice Providers, 109 are "for-profit" and the majority of 120 agencies listed are headquartered outside of our service area with some as far away as West Hollywood California. Having this information is important in selecting a hospice provider, as you do not want to wait for several hours for help to arrive from a faraway office when you call. You will also discover that many of the hospice programs listed have very limited or not information posted about the family and caregiver experience, which makes it very difficult for you to compare them to other providers. Well-established local, non-profit hospice programs such as Hospice of the Valleys provide both quality and family satisfaction information for you to review. Hospice of the Valleys has been serving our area for over 40 years and we are quite proud of our 99.1% Quality of Patient Care rating and grateful that 93% of the families we server would definitely recommend Hospice of the Valleys to others.

In addition to the above information, there are additional helpful resources available on the Medicare Care Compare website including the following hospice specific information below. I hope you find this information helpful the next time you find yourself searching for a needle in a haystack.

Suggested questions to ask when choosing a hospice
How Medicare covers hospice care
Alternatives to hospice care

Seeking Fundraising Volunteers
Have You Tried This Custom Coffee Yet?
Volunteer Corner
Sign Up For Our Monthly Newsletter

View our past newsletters
  • Top Work Places 2014-2021 Award
  • Hospice Honors Elite
  • We Honor Veterans
  • Community Health Accreditation Partner Seal
  • Hospice of the Valleys IEHP Quality Hospice Network
  • Hospice Care
  • Introduction to Hospice
  • Choosing Hospice
  • Paying for Hospice
  • Hospice Of The Valleys Service Areas
  • About Us
  • History & Mission
  • Types of Care
  • Meet The Team
  • Testimonials & Videos
  • Calendar
  • Community Supporters
  • Careers
  • Blog
  • Contact Us
  • Patients & Families
  • Grief Support
  • FAQs
  • Resource Library
  • Notice of Privacy Practices
  • Notice of Nondiscrimination
  • End of Life Option Act
  • Ways To Give
  • Donate Now
  • Planned Gifts
  • Vehicle Donation
  • Volunteer
© Copyright 2025, Hospice of the Valleys. All rights reserved.
We serve Southwest Riverside and Fallbrook communities.
Website by Stebbins Media