May 2024

Embracing Dignity and Compassion: Volunteer Services at VITAS Hospice

Project 4031 and VITAS Healthcare share a mission to serve individuals facing the end of their lives with compassion. While Project 4031 focuses on alleviating financial burdens and fulfilling final dreams for patients, VITAS Healthcare provides comprehensive care, ensuring that every moment is lived with comfort and dignity.

Rebuilding a Vital Program

Brittany Lang, the Volunteer Services Manager at VITAS Healthcare has been with the company for _ years. But her relationship with VITAS extends far beyond that through her mother who has worked for VITAS for 30 years. In her current role, Brittany is dedicated to rebuilding the volunteer program, which was significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Volunteers offer unique services that deeply touch the lives of patients and their families.

Special Volunteers Making a Difference

Among the volunteers at VITAS, you’ll find a cosmetologist who visits patients at home, providing haircuts and personal grooming services. This small act can greatly boost a patient’s morale, helping them feel more like themselves. There is also a Buddhist monk who offers spiritual support and a calming presence to patients, meeting them wherever they are. These volunteers exemplify the holistic approach VITAS takes, addressing physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.

Understanding Hospice Care Levels

Hospice care at VITAS is tailored to meet various levels of need. General care allows patients to remain at

home with visits from nurses and caregivers. For those with more difficult-to-manage symptoms, symptomatic care provides a higher level of support, either at home or in a facility, ensuring around-the-clock attention. Hospice care can extend up to six months, offering comprehensive support throughout this period.

Expanding Care in Fort Worth

Exciting developments are on the horizon for VITAS. A new in-patient unit is opening in the Fort Worth area, capable of serving 12 patients with around-the-clock care. This facility will provide a higher level of care for those with complex needs, ensuring that more people receive the support they require.

Starting the Conversation

Brittany emphasizes the importance of starting conversations about end-of-life care with loved ones. She suggests asking, “Where do you see yourself in the next couple of years?” This question can open meaningful dialogue and help ensure that patients’ wishes are respected. Brittany encourages adult

children to tell their parents that they want to honor their desires without limiting their options.

Joining Hands for a Common Cause

Both VITAS Healthcare and Project 4031 provide compassionate care and support. By volunteering, you can play a crucial role in this mission. Whether through direct patient interaction or behind-the-scenes support, your involvement can bring comfort, dignity, and peace to those in the final stages of life.

How to Get Involved

VITAS Healthcare is one of the many organizations that we are privileged to work with through our Share the Care Program and Wings Volunteers. To volunteer with VITAS Healthcare, visit VolunteerMatch.org.

Project 4031 exists to provide terminally children, adults, and their families facing end-of-life challenges with peace and comfort by easing financial burdens and fulfilling last dreams. To volunteer with Project 4031 or be featured on our blog, email Nicole Herlin at Nicole@project4031.org.

ToolBox Grants at North Texas Community Foundation

How long have you been a Hospice nurse? Have you always worked in Hospice or the end-of-life field?

I have been a nurse for about 15 years and 6 of those years have been spent working in hospice/end of life.

What was your “why” and how did you get involved with this work?

My why has always been about being an advocate for others, making sure patient’s choices are always respected.

How does your cultural heritage and being bilingual help you in your career?

Being able to educate patients and their families about hospice care, what hospice is and is not, and being able to do it in the comfort and clarity of their native language is a privilege and honor. It allows me to learn, and it continuously challenges me to expand my knowledge.

How does the hospice experience change for patients of different cultural backgrounds?

The way we accept death, and dying is very much culturally driven, in my opinion; bonds with family, faith, and acceptance of medicine use is culturally influenced.

Similarly, our past experiences also influence our choices, specifically for hospice care.

For example, if you had a positive experience with hospice in the past, you will be likely to accept hospice for another family member or yourself, which in turn can lead to a more comfortable, and peaceful death.

What does an initial visit with a family look like?

It is much like an introduction, we call it Hospice 101; I try to come in and answer questions first because stress and anxiety is a very high part of this process, my goal is to educate families so their fears can lessen. We meet wherever the patient calls home. We encourage family and anyone who will be involved in the care to be
present to ask questions, clarify expectations. Hospice cares for their patients with the patient as a focus, we don’t focus on disease, we focus on comfort, and quality of life. We also care for the whole family not just the patient. Hospice requires a team approach.

What has been the biggest blessing in your career as a hospice nurse?

The biggest blessing as a hospice nurse has been getting to know my patients, and their families, we build strong emotional bonds from many tough situations/conversations we share. I come into a situation of lots of unknowns, uncertainty, and being able to sometimes just be present, is the blessing.

Can you share an experience that has impacted you the most during your career?

I have been so fortunate to experience lots of good, but with that comes occasional chaos. I think the chaotic/negative experiences have stayed in my mind and heart, mostly so I don’t repeat them or so I can help families avoid them if I see them coming. Hurt, and grief if so, strong especially when we love so much, and seeing patients die alone because their families are fighting over insignificant issues has been the most impactful lesson in my career.

How do you define success in your role?

Being able to help patients live, respecting their choices, with quality and comfort until they die is ultimately what I strive for day in and day out.

Lastly, what would you share from your experience of why hospice is a unique and special service to provide for a patient and their family?

The hospice word is so hard to hear, a lot of people really relate it with giving up. In fact, being able to accept reality and live in the present is what makes hospice unique and special. We worry about today, we make each and every day worth living, and when times get rough we take it one moment at a time, 1 hour at a time, 1 minute at a time.

Sarah Leavitt is a child life specialist with the Visiting Nurses Association. She was born and raised in Texas, where she graduated from the University of North Texas. Sarah completed her child life practicum at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital in Dallas, TX, and her child life internship at NorthShore Evanston Hospital in Evanston, IL. She has been a child life specialist for 8 years, all of which have been in the hospice field. She and her husband have two boys, 5 and 2 years old. They love doing crafts and spending time outside, playing, as a family. She loves working with children and families and hopes to keep doing so throughout her career.  

How long have you been a child life specialist? Have you always worked in hospice? 

I have been a hospice child life specialist for 8 years. I started my career in the hospice field and have always found such fulfillment with working within this population.  

How and why did you get involved with this work? 

I started my career, right out of my internship, in the hospice field. I truly did not understand the critical role that hospice plays in the lives of families when I first started. I quickly learned how much of an impact child life specialists have on the lives of children and families who are receiving this kind of care. Throughout my career, I have enjoyed being able to assist families during such a vulnerable time in their lives.  

What role does a child life specialist play in end-of-life care? How does this role differ from a social worker, a chaplain, or a nurse? 

Child life specialists provide emotional support for patients and family members through preparation, education, and instruction of coping mechanisms for diagnosis and prognosis. Child life specialists also provide developmentally appropriate and therapeutic activities, legacy activities, and medical play opportunities as ways to provide developmentally appropriate support. Child life specialists wear many hats and can provide support to patients and their family members in a multitude of ways. During the end of life, child life specialists can provide education and preparation about the patient’s diagnosis and prognosis. This gives children opportunities for closure, an opportunity to clarify misconceptions and talk about worries that they may have during this challenging time. Child life specialists are also able to help create memory making opportunities through legacy activities such as handprints, hand molds, fingerprint charms, and heartbeat or voice recordings.  

How do you work collaboratively with other members of the hospice team? 

In hospice, every interdisciplinary team member has a significant role in helping patients and family members. We often participate in joint visits and speak regularly to figure out how we can best make an impactful difference on our patients’ families’ lives.  

What does that initial visit with a family look like? 

Each initial visit is tailored to the needs of each individual family. My goal as a child life specialist is to ensure that each child has had education, preparation, and emotional support to help process their feelings surrounding their unique situation. If families are open to those types of support, I will typically start my visit by introducing myself, building a rapport with the child, and then proceed with education about diagnosis, preparation for prognosis, and emotional support to help guide their feelings. We will typically establish developmentally appropriate coping skills to help manage their feelings on difficult days. I will then offer the family opportunities for memory making and legacy activities. I will often assess additional needs during this time, such as if the patient has a dream that must be granted or if the family may have any desires for additional memory making or financial assistance. This is when we explore what those possibilities could be through the help of Project 4031.  

Can you share an experience that impacted you during your career? 

Throughout my career as a child life specialist, the most impactful moments to witness are the ones where you can see that the support that you are providing is making a difference in a child’s life. Witnessing the progress they make throughout their grief journey and seeing families get meaningful opportunities for memory making and closure is such a blessing that truly fills my heart. I have had families reach out to me years after losing their loved one to tell me what a difference our support has made in their lives and how impactful it has been with moving forward with their “new normal” after losing their person. These moments are what keep me motivated and show that what you are doing is providing a difference for these families.  

How do you define success in your role? 

Success in my role as a child life specialist is leaving a visit knowing you have made a difference. Sometimes this looks like providing clarification for misconceptions that children may have surrounding a diagnosis, giving opportunities for emotional outlets, and other times it is giving them opportunities for distraction because their hearts and minds are often consumed with the impending loss of their loved one. Project 4031 has made such an impact on many of our families and has so many times personally helped me with the feeling of success in my role. Giving families the opportunity for distraction through funding for a dream, giving them financial assistance when they are struggling, or giving them memory making opportunities such as family photos has been such a blessing for so many families. We would not have the chance to present those joyful moments for families without Project 4031.  

Many people fear “hospice” and yet most people who have experienced hospice are so grateful for the experience. Why would you recommend hospice to a family with a critically ill or terminally ill child? 

I would absolutely utilize hospice for my loved one and encourage others to utilize hospice for theirs as well when needed. Hospice care is so much more than the stigma it has of bringing your loved one home to pass. With a well-rounded team of physicians, nurses, chaplains, social workers, child life, and others, we can provide a variety of support for everyone involved. Some of our main goals as a hospice team are to provide pain management, spend meaningful time with your loved one and provide opportunities for memory making and closure, all within the comfort of your own home. You are never alone in this process, and everyone involved wants to ensure that you receive wonderful support and care.