Really, we’re all doing just fine

Published 11:30am Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Comments

I’d like to respond to the questions I’m receiving from concerned colleagues and friends, as I’m still being stopped on the street and in stores and being asked … How are you? Do you have a job?

What’s this about Lakeland Hospice and Home Care and the Hospice House?

For the record: All current positions are being retained during the transition of merging Lakeland Hospice and Home Care with Lutheran Brethren Homes.

While some of us may have flexible duties for a while, especially during the construction process at the Hospice House, when it’s all over and done, there should even be a few new positions created too.

Lakeland Hospice is doing all right, really. We are and will continue to be in our fifteen-county service area, delivering quality healthcare to those patients and families facing the end-of-life.

We still need people with life-limiting diagnoses to contact us as early as possible, so we can give the most effective and comprehensive care to everyone, families and patients.

Remember: no matter what the diagnosis, age or wherever a person calls home we can help.

For those who aren’t terminally ill there is and will continue to be Lakeland Home Care, bridging the gap from hospital or rehab to home; from illness or surgery to getting people back on their feet.

We will still offer our first visit without charge and we will continue to serve with top quality home health care within 30 to 50 miles of Fergus Falls.

What about that Hospice House? It is going to provide awesome hospice care to anyone of any age, with any diagnosis. And it’s even going to be more comprehensive than before thanks to this planned enhancement.

By adding the assisted living rooms onto the existing hospice house, we’ll be able to provide the hospice house rooms at a rate that absolutely anyone will be able to afford and something most people don’t realize — if people living in the assisted living portion qualify for hospice while staying at the house they are going to get incredible hospice care while staying in their own room.

The house is being designed so there will not be the need to go to a nursing home just because one requires a few more services, the residents will already be home.

Up until now if a person’s health improved while staying at the Hospice House to the point they no longer qualified for hospice … they could not stay there. They had to leave.

Can you imagine having to tell someone, “I’m sorry but you’re too healthy to stay here any longer.” With the new changes, we’ll be able to offer to those who qualify the option of being able to stay at this wonderful place if they would like.

So, how am I doing? Really well, actually. Thanks to the vision of the good people at the Lutheran Brethren Homes, we at Lakeland Hospice and Home Care have hope for a great future, and excitement at being able to deliver the highest level of quality health care to our patients and residents.

The merging of these two entities will make for an incredible combination not only specializing in life’s transitions, but making for a powerful, comprehensive and compassionate continuum of services that meets the needs of our loved ones in Fergus Falls and the surrounding communities we serve.

Mary Widiger

Marketing and Business Development Coordinator

Lakeland Hospice

and Home Care

Comments

Editor's Picks