Answering the Call

 

Answering the Call

 

This morning at work I got a different kind of call than the ones I answer most of the time.  For the most part, the calls we get are from family members seeking to find out about hospice care for their family member.  You can hear the sorrow and despair in their voice sometimes and it never gets any easier to hear that emotion.  I often pass the call on to the nurse or the admission coordinator and take a moment to say a prayer for that family and all that they will endure over the coming days, weeks, or months. 

 

One of the best parts of working for Hospice of the Hills is that we are not a corporate owned entity.  We are a family owned hospice.  The decisions about care we make are made by our owners and staff.  Understanding that not all patients are alike, I have watched our owners purchase special equipment for our patients out of their own pocket, I have seen our nurses and aide visits guided by need and not frequency regulations of Medicare.  In short, even when we know that the cost will far outweigh the funds received by Medicare or private insurance, we have done what needs to be done for the patient whether it be a medication that is more expensive but works a little better, or a specialized wheelchair that we have to rent or supplies that aren’t in our normal “scope” being provided because it will help the patient and their family.

 

Over the course of my nine  months here, I have been witnessed many times the amazing generosity of this organization and their staff.  A more giving, caring family of Hospice workers would be difficult or impossible to find.  This staff is amazing.

 

Today, the call was from a family member of one of our more difficult patients.  Difficult not in terms of personality, but difficult in terms of needs.  This patient required a lot of time for a number of reasons, both physically and emotionally.  This patient required a number of medication changes to get his pain under control.  Our social worker utilized much more of her training with this patient than most.  But when he passed, the sigh of relief was not because our job was done, but because his last day on this earth were made better by the loving, caring staff of our hospice who embraced him AND his problems and treated him as if he were their own father, brother, spouse, or child.

 

The family member in the midst of the “trial” of getting paperwork signed and the patient admitted to hospice, apparently missed the part where we tell them there will be no cost to the patient or family for our services, for the medications, for the equipment .  He had been waiting for a bill from our Hospice for the services we provided.   It had been over a month since the passing of his loved one and he was concerned about getting the bill so he could pay it.  When I told him he wouldn’t be getting a bill from us, he was incredulous.  Even for the extra visits you guys made, he asked?  Even for the “harp lady” that came and played for him?, he asked?  Even for all the medications that didn’t work and had to be disposed of that you paid for? , he asked.  “Not a penny , I said.  You will not receive a bill from us.  Medicare covers the bill for medications and equipment and visits.  What they don’t pay, such as the “harp lady” we pay.  You will not get a bill from Hospice of the Hills.”   He was silent for a moment and then he tearfully said, I am so grateful for your hospice. You are an amazing bunch of people.  I cannot tell you how much your care meant to my brother, to my family.  You are angels.  Please pass on to your staff how very much they are appreciated.

I told him I would and hung up.  And remembered the insurance patients that we only got paid a portion of the cost of service.  Or the young man with no insurance and no Medicare  that we received no payment at all for the weeks of care rendered to him.  And I was thankful that the question of payment is not the first and foremost question when we answer the phone and hear the words “my dad, my sister, my brother-in law, my mom, my aunt, my friend…needs hospice.”

No one is turned away.  No one is treated differently.  There is no distinction among our patients in regard to who can and who cannot pay, whose care cost this or whose care cost that.  That is Hospice of the Hills. What a blessing to be a part of this company.