Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice Makes More Meaningful Moments Possible

(NEWTON, NJ) – November is National Hospice Month and hospices across the country are reaching out to raise awareness about the highest quality care for all people coping with life-limiting illness.

“Hospice is probably the most important thing that people don’t know about. That’s why raising awareness during National Hospice Month is so important,” said Cecelia Clayton, MPH, Executive Director at Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice. “ ‘Know You Options’ is the theme of this year’s national campaign. Patients facing a life-limited illness have the right to choose the care they want. It’s important to make your wishes known to your family and doctors before the need arises.”

“National Hospice Month brings awareness not only to the hospice program but also to the nurses, home care aides, therapists, and social workers who make a remarkable difference for the patients and families they serve.”

“Every year, nearly 1.6 million people living with a life-limiting illness receive care from hospice and palliative care providers in this country,” said J. Donald Schumacher, president and CEO of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. “These highly-trained professionals ensure that patients and families find dignity, respect, and love during life’s most difficult journey.”

Hospice is not a place. Hospice care programs provide pain management, symptom control, psychosocial support, and spiritual care to patients and their families when a cure is not possible.

Hospice care combines the highest level of quality medical care with the emotional and spiritual support that families need most when facing the end of life. Through this specialized quality care, we see many patients and their families experience more meaningful moments together. Hospice helps them focus on living despite a terminal diagnoses.

As Nancy Gallo, a hospice volunteer at Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice noted, “”Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice is a wonderful organization that helped me and my family get through the toughest days of my husband’s battle with cancer and which helped Joe die with dignity in his own home. Words cannot express how grateful I am that Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice was there to help us in our darkest hours.”

“Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice is truly a remarkable organization which provided us such amazing, unconditional support when we needed it most; thus, I felt the need to repay them in some way. To that end, I have been a volunteer at Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice for over a year and absolutely love being a part of this wonderful organization,” said Gallo.

Throughout the month of November, Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice will be joining organizations across the nation hosting activities that will help the community understand how important hospice care can be.

Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice opened on April 15, 1980, and is a not-for profit organization offering a full continuum of high quality medical, emotional and spiritual services to hospice patients, their family members and the community. The hospice has had remarkable growth and now serves Sussex, Warren, and Pike Counties. We are the preferred hospice provider for the Atlantic Health Care System in Sussex, Warren and Pike Counties.

In 2014, the Karen Ann Quinlan Home for Hospice opened. The Home for Hospice is the only free-standing in-patient provider for our area. The facility is designed to ensure that individuals with life-limiting illnesses who are not able to return to their own homes will receive gentle end-of-life care from our exceptional clinicians.

Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice has many community activities planned during the month of November including: Haircuts for Hospice, Holiday Elegance Fashion Show, a Caregivers Essay contest in partnership with United Way Caregivers Coalition, hospice volunteer training, a Flag raising ceremony on Veteran’s Day, “It’s a Wonderful Life” holiday concert and more. We will also be issued a proclamation from the Board of Chosen Freeholders on November, 9 recognizing National Hospice Month.

Please visit our website at www.KarenAnnQuinlanHospice.org to learn more about all our upcoming events and more information about hospice and advance care planning.

America has a long and proud tradition of volunteer service. Now more than ever, volunteers are renewing their commitment to helping others and making new connections that bring us closer together as families, as neighbors, as communities, and as a nation.

The President’s Volunteer Service Award program is a great way to thank and honor those who, by their demonstrated commitment and example, inspire others to engage in volunteer service.

Recognizing and honoring volunteers sets a standard for service, encourages a sustained commitment to civic participation, and inspires others to make service a central part of their lives. The President’s Volunteer Service Award recognizes individuals, families, and groups that have achieved a certain standard – measured by the number of hours of service during a 12-month period or cumulative hours earned over the course of a lifetime.

Awards are given to youth ages 14 and under who have completed 50 or more hours of volunteer service; to individuals 15 and older who have completed 100 or more hours; and to families or groups who have completed 200 or more hours. Lifetime achievement is recognized with a special President’s Call to Service Award, which honors those who have provided more than 4,000 hours of service during the course of their lifetime.

Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice has been named official Certifying Organization for The President’s Volunteer Service Award. 

The ability to bestow Presidential recognition to our volunteers is a tremendous honor.  

Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice would like to give a special thank you and shout out to Cindy Reigstad, a teacher at the Helen Morgan School, coordinator of the annual mini-marathon called the Bull Dog Run and all the students who collected pledges for the marathon.

All 500 students in the school, fourth and fifth graders, took part in the event that raised more than $3,700 for the Joseph T. Quinlan Bereavement Center.

Julia Quinlan was on hand to thank the students and to help release butterflies in the school’s butterfly garden. The garden was established when the town lost an entire family except for one daughter in a car accident.

We want to know what you’ve learned in order to give a growing community of family caregivers the opportunity to learn from your experiences. We want to know: What have you learned? What’s your life like? What advice do you have for new caregivers? In exchange we are offering Visa® Gift Cards to the top three entries, as decided by our judges. HOW: Participants must submit a written essay of no more than five hundred (500) words expressing the participant’s greatest challenges and rewards while caring for a loved one. Each submission must be the participant’s own, original work. Each submission must include the participant’s full name and contact information including mailing address and telephone number. The contest begins October 15, 2016 and each submission must be received no later than 12:00 am EST, November 30, 2016. Only one submission is permitted per participant. Submissions must be received either (i) via the Internet form, which can be found at: below or (ii) via hard copy and mailed to: Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice, Attn: Caregiver Stories, 99 Sparta Avenue, Newton, NJ 07860.

Please click the link for a complete essay contest rules caregiversessayrules2

Hunter Buckley, senior at Delaware Valley High School, was crowned Homecoming Queen on Saturday, October 8, 2016.
Different from many homecoming traditions, Delaware Valley High School challenged the Homecoming Court to raise money for their selected charity; the male and female who raised the most would be crowned Homecoming King and Queen. Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice was honored to be selected as the focus of Hunter’s fundraising efforts and greatly appreciates the generous donation of just over $1,000.00.  Thank you, Hunter and congratulations on your crowning achievement. 

Photo: Hunter Buckley with mother, Lisa Rose.

On September 8, 2016, the Mitchell Insurance Agency & First Hope Bank proudly sponsored Mitchell Cares 2^nd Annual Charity Casino Gala. Our gala benefited a local home-care specialist organization (Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice) as well as a local child abuse advocacy program (Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Morris and Sussex Counties). As a result, we raised $20,000 to split between the two charities. The money raised will be used by CASA to provide advocacy for children who are victims of abuse and neglect and are in the foster care system. CASA ensures that these vulnerable children find safe, permanent and nurturing homes.  Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice would use the donated money to help provide: grief counseling and educational programs, and special amenities to enhance the quality of life for dying patients – such as heating, cooling, additional caregivers, holiday meals, transportation, and specialized equipment.

To read more about the fundraiser please visit http://themitchellagency.com/everyone-was-all-in-at-our-2nd-annual-charity-casino-gala/

My doctor suggested morphine to ease some of the pain I am experiencing with my life-limiting illness. I am afraid of morphine because I have heard that it speeds death?

Morphine is a powerful analgesic that is used to relieve pain. It acts directly on the central nervous system (CNS) to decrease the feeling of pain. It can be used for both acute and chronic pain.

Many people worry about the use of morphine. Morphine and other medications in the morphine family, such as hydromorphone, codeine and fentanyl, are called opioids. People worry that opioids will speed the dying process or they will become addicted.

Morphine is sometimes used when a person is in the advanced stages of illness, and his or her overall condition is declining. If the person is experiencing moderate to severe pain or shortness of breath, his or her doctor will often prescribe morphine. This opioid helps maintain the person’s comfort throughout the illness and up to the time of death. The person declines because of the illness with or without the morphine.

There is no evidence that opioids such as morphine hasten the dying process when a person receives the right dose to control the symptoms he or she is experiencing. Research suggest that using opioids to treat pain or shortness of breath near the end of life may help a person live a bit longer. Pain and shortness of breath are exhausting and significantly impact the person’s quality of life.

If a person has never received morphine, the initial doses given are low. They are gradually increased to relieve the person’s level of pain or shortness of breath. Once a person has used morphine, it can either be used occasionally or more continuously as needed. There is not an immediate addiction to the drug.

There are many opiates available today which are many times stronger than morphine. The effects of morphine are well documented, and when used appropriately it can be an important part of symptom management in hospice care.

Hospice doctors and nurses teach patients and families about when and how to use morphine and other symptom management medications, so that patients can be comfortable, and can enjoy an optimum quality of life while remaining in the setting of their choice.

The month of September has been declared Pain Awareness Month.  Pain Awareness Month is a time when various organizations work to raise public awareness of issues in the area of pain and pain management. It’s important to know how to manage pain in those experiencing a life-limiting illness. Sometimes a preconceived idea about morphine can delay or halt the use of a medication that can offer pain and symptom relief. If you would like to learn more about hospice care and management of pain due to a life-limiting-illness please contact our office at 973-383-0115.

Susan Dell , RN
Nursing Supervisor
Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice

Call 973-383-0115 for more information

Mary Ellen A. discusses her experience at the Home for Hospice. She tells how the home and staff were so welcoming it was like family. https://youtu.be/u_WYymFGGUM

Karen Ann Quinlan Home for Hospice has been nominated for the prestigious Sussex County Economic Development Partnership New Business Award. The Sussex County Economic Development Partnership will hold its Awards Luncheon on Friday, September 23, 2016 at 12:00 Noon at The Lafayette House, Lafayette, NJ.

We Procrastinate.  We’re not proud of it, be we all do it.  It’s no secret that many of us “hit the ground running” each day; come up for air on weekends and marvel, perplexed and vexed, at the passage of time.  No wonder talking “face to face” has been put on hold.  Multi-tasking and technological advances, such as voicemail, email, facebook, tweeting and text-messaging, have nearly rendered dialogue as an archaic art form.

And yet, we know there are really important circumstances that warrant more than a perfunctory “fly by” chat with our spouse, child, colleague or friend.  Serious illness is one of the critical issues requiring a deliberate and sensitive discussion with our loved ones.  The value of having a true “heart to heart” talk with our family regarding our health, health care wishes and future health care cannot be underestimated.

A recent survey, conducted by the Conversation Project, reported that 90% of people say that talking with their loved ones about end-of-life care is important, but only 27% have actually done so.

80% of people say that if seriously ill, they would want to talk to their doctor about end-of-life care. 7% report having had an end-of-life conversation with their doctor.

Similarly, 70% of people surveyed say they want to die at home, but in reality, 70% die in hospitals or institutions.

I would urge everyone to make the time for meaningful, albeit challenging, conversations about life-changing issues.  If you find the task daunting, there are many wonderful social workers, counselors and clinicians in your community that are trained to help.  You’ll be so glad you did!

Marlina R. Schetting, MSW, LCSW, CT
Administrator
Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice 

When is the right time to have that difficult conversation?

Karen Ann Quinlan Charitable Foundation is a recipient of a Google Ad Grants award. The Google Ad Grants program supports registered nonprofit organizations that share Google’s philosophy of community service to help the world in areas such as science and technology, education, global public health, the environment, youth advocacy, and the arts. Google Ad Grants is an in-kind advertising program that awards free online advertising to nonprofits via Google AdWords.

Call 973-383-0115 for more information

Sue Dougherty, volunteer coordinator at Karen Ann Quinlan Hospice, will hold hospice volunteer training starting September 7. The training sessions will be held at the Joseph T. Quinlan Bereavement Center, located on 61 Spring Street in Newton, NJ. The training is free, but pre-registration is required. You can click here to register for the classes. Volunteers are a pivotal part of the hospice team and you can contact Sue at 973-383-0115 to find out how you can get involved. . https://youtu.be/0f-Mej4af90