Jim Budis Reflects on Providing Hospice Care During Pandemic

Jim Budis, RN, MSN, CVHHH’s Hospice & Palliative Care Manager, knows well that health care and, especially, home care is, if nothing else, predictably unpredictable. The field is constantly evolving to keep pace with people’s changing needs. The emergence of COVID-19 created unforeseen disruptions and challenges for hospice providers and clinicians like Jim and his team of 19 nurses, social workers, licensed nurse’s assistants, volunteers, and support staff who never stopped providing care for the duration of the pandemic. In recognition of Hospice & Palliative Care Month, we asked Jim to share some of the unexpected silver linings that emerged over the past 20 months.

One thing Jim noticed is that families value being home more, together. Being in a facility like a nursing home during the pandemic often limited people’s ability to visit their family members. “I’ve noticed some families really wanting to get their loved ones home so they can surround them with family,” Jim says. He says that many families are spending more time together, and in tighter circles, to prevent the spread of infection. For families for whom bringing their loved one home from a facility is not an option, Jim applauds the expansion of compassionate care visits, which allow families to visit with family members living in facilities.

CVHHH continued to provide the full range of services to Central Vermonters at home. This includes hospice wherever a person resides, including in a nursing home and assisted living facilities. You can learn more about hospice care at CVHHH here.

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