This November, in recognition of National Hospice & Palliative Care Month, Jewelene Griffin, RN, our Hospice & Palliative Care Manager, partnered with a number of local businesses, including Union Mutual Insurance Co., Norwich University, and National Life, to offer free, educational workshops for employees on advance-care planning, selecting a health care agent, and understanding end-of-life care options.
“Our goals were to educate our community on advance directives, to help people better understand the full-range of available end-of-life care options, including hospice, and to encourage central Vermonters to have honest and open conversations with loved ones about a very important subject,” Jewelene says. “As a result of our outreach, I hope that more individuals will feel empowered to talk with their families, friends, and physicians about their goals of care and to take the steps to document their wishes in an Advance Directive. At the very least, I wanted to give people the opportunity to ask me their care-planning questions.”
We know that 70% of individuals say they want to die at home, surrounded by family and loved ones. The same percentage of adults die in a hospital or institution. By informing Vermonters about their end-of-life care options—and how to document their goals of care—we hope to help bridge the gap between the care people say they want and the care they get.
Here is a recording of Jewelene’s conversation with Mike Smith of Open Mike with Mike Smith on WDEV. Jewelene, pictured above with Mike in the WDEV studio in Waterbury, sat down with Mike right before the Thanksgiving holiday to discuss her outreach and hospice at Central Vermont Home Health & Hospice. We urge you to listen to their conversation, which covered the ins and outs of filling out an advance directive, why it’s so tough to have these conversations (and how to break the ice with your family), and what it means to receive hospice care at home.
If you have any questions about hospice care or how to take the first step in filling out an advance directive, please contact Jewelene Griffin at 224-2240 or jgriffin@cvhhh.org. You may also visit the Hospice section of our website here.