September Newsletter 2024 - Hospice of the Valleys

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The ONLY hospice in Southern California to receive a 5 STAR rating! Hospice of the Valleys! Hospice of the Valleys is honored to be one of only five hospice organizations in the entire state of California to earn this distinguished rating. Hospice of the Valleys A recognized leader of excellence in comprehensive end-of-life care.

Notes from Friends Hospice of the Valleys serves hundreds of patients every year. We honor them by sharing their stories. They remind us every day of the meaning and purpose of 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. "Thank you to Everyone. We have been so blessed by your care." Thank you!

Celebrate the Heart of Volunteering Become a Hospice Volunteer Hospice is about family and community... And volunteers bring heart to hospice. Our team always had the need for volunteers in patient support, music, veteran to veteran support, fundraising, administrative support and more. Hold a Hand-Give a Hug-Touch a Heart. Becoming a hospice volunteers is a meaningful and rewarding experience. You can make a difference! *Seeking bi-lingual volunteers for patient support and music* Hospice of the Valleys: Canyon Lake, Fallbrook, Hemet, Homeland, Lake Elsinore, Menifee, Murrieta, Nuevo, Perris, Quail Valley, Romoland, San Jacinto, Sun City, Temecula, Wildomar, Winchester Please contact Chrisy Lawless, Volunteer Manager 951-200-7800 or CLawless@hovsc.org for more information. You may also refer to our website page HospiceoftheValleys.org for new training updates.

Seeking Fundraising Volunteers - You can make a difference - Outgoing and Self-Motivated - Detail-Oriented and Good organization skills - Ability to Interact Positively with Guests and a Team. If this sounds like you, we'd love to talk with you about how you can help! Please contact: Chrisy Lawless 951-200-7800 | CLawless@Hovsc.org

2 days left to purchase tickets An Evening in Paradise If you're attending Wine and Chocolate on Saturday, September 21, please make sure your account is updated with your contact information (including phone number) and the credit card you would like to use for the auction, raffle tickets, and any other purchases available that night. We look forward to seeing you at this year's Wine & Chocolate fundraiser! And don't forget to reach out if you need any assistance in setting up your account. We want to make this process as fun and simple as possible! We look forward to celebrating with you!

Kodi Lee and his band Saturday October 12th Wiens Cellars $950.00 - Table of 10 | $380.00 Tables of 4 To purchase tickets: Call 951-200-7800

How Do I Choose a Hopsice Care Provider? Leslee B. Cochrane, MD. Executive Medical Director Hospice Care is a specialized type of care that is appropriate to consider when a patient has a life-limiting condition and the available treatments are no longer effect. Medicare has developed a website where patients can access helpful information and compare various hospice providers: https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/ There is a valuable tool to use when choosing a hospice. Medicare uses a rating system based on a 1 to 5 Star scale, with the 5-Star Rating being the highest. The ratings are based on feedback provided through the Family Caregiver Experience Survey. Out of 300 Hospice Programs currently operating in California there are only five hospice providers who currently have a 5-Star rating and Hospice of the Valleys is the only Hospice Provider in our service area with a 5-Star Rating! The survey collects information from family caregivers on their hospice care experience using 6 domains and 2 global measures of care. The 6 domains are: 1. Communication with family 2. Getting timely help 3. Treating patient with respect 4. Emotional and spiritual support 5. Help for pain and symptoms 6. Training family to care for patient The 2 global measures of care are: 1. Rating of this hospice 2. Willingness to recommend this hospice Although all Medicare Certified Hospice programs are required to provide the same basic services, there is a wide range in the quality of care provided. For example, Hospice providers are not required to retain physicians who are Board Certified in Hospice and Palliative Care. When selecting a hospice, word of mouth recommendations from friends and family are usually the most reliable. When interviewing hospice providers, I would recommend that you ask if their Hospice Medical Director is Board Certified in Hospice and Palliative Care and I also suggest that you utilize the Medicare Compare website listed above to check their rating. Hospice of the Valleys is a non-profit community based hospice provider which has been serving our local community since 1982. We are proud to be a recognized leader of excellence in providing end-of-life care and the only 5-Star rated hospice provider in our service area. If you or someone you know have any questions about hospice, please give us a call at 951-200-7800.

Volunteer Corner We love our Hospice Volunteers. Hospice of the Valleys could not function without all the support of volunteers. We are so grateful for our wonderful volunteers!

Mary's Bench (Part 1) Mike Patton Bereavement Counselor/Spiritual Care This month marks six months since Mary died. She was 62 years old and have made a huge impression on everyone who knew her. Lisa and I were privileged to share the next to last chapter of Mary's life as dear friends and neighbors, living on Treasure Island in Canyon Lake with Bill and Mary from March of 2018 until they moved back to Michigan in February of 2024. At her California celebration of life many people contributed to "Mary's bench," a two-seat, Adirondack style bench with a table between the seats, that sits on Treasure Island in a shaded, grassy area with a beautiful view across the lake and toward the mountains. Her legacy is relational and the bench is a perfect spot to share time with another person - to sit and talk, or to sit and think, or to sit and remember, or to sit and debate. Mary was the perfect person to share a seat with as she embodied all the qualities that benefitted you. She was easy to talk with because she was a good listener. She was brilliant and able to communicate wisdom in many subjects. She was fierce in her love for God, Bill, their kids, and their grandkids, a fierceness that we would all benefit to embrace. Mary was a good person to debate with because she was so smart, so kind and so fair... again, a quality to emulate and one that benefits humanity. As I write this, my years of work alongside Bill in bereavement groups tells me that he is in a very painful period of his grief journey. I tear up thinking about how difficult her death is on him and their kids and grandkids. But I also imagine the day when Bill will return to Treasure Island and I will sit with him on Mary's bench, for a moment or more, and just take in the beauty of her memory, the chapter we shared, and the legacy she has left. So, whether you come and sit on Mary's bench, or simply take from her memory the relational legacy of faith, love, joy, and kindness - do yourself and humanity the favor of being a friend life Mary Lynn Koster (December 16, 1961 - March 2, 2024)

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