30 Years and 30 Prizes Raffle Winners
Prize Winner
2013 Mazda 3 Touring- Juanita Deshotel
270 RKS Sportsman RV- Patrick Dupuis
Victoria Nox Watch – Paul’s Jewelry- Ellen Walker
Weekend Package – Hotel Acadiana- Roxie Foley
Afghan Blanket – Cathy Bourque, Yarn Nook, Cascade Yarn- Emma Williams
Canisters – Renaissance Market- John Thompson
$100 Gift Card and Basket – Coccolare Spa- Jeffery Dubois
Sacred Heart of Jesus Grotto- Cynthia Adams
Hospice of Acadiana Afghan- James Broussard
Dinner for 2 – Mr. Lester’s Steakhouse- Diane Broussard
Tub of Flavor – Tabasco- Michael Louvierre
$100 Gift Card – Acadiana Bicycle Co.- Kelsie Hughes
$100 Gift Card – Don’s Specialty Meats- Jim Hightower
$100 Gift Card – Brother’s on the Boulevard- Wilton Trahan
$100 Gift Card – Acadiana Golf Management, Inc.- Shavonne Forbes
$100 Gift Card – Zea Rotisserie and Grill- Lakrisha Forbes
$100 Gift Card – Mazen Grill- Anna George
$100 Gift Card – Walk On’s Bistreaux and Bar- Cindy Guidry
Dinner for 2 – Café Des Amis- Noah Keonolom
1 hour massage – Massage Envy- Glenn Pousson
1 hour massage – Massage Envy- Sallie Trahan
1 hour massage – Massage Envy- Chad Frederick
Gift Basket – Shaklee- Malcolm Chaisson
$75 Gift Card – Charley G’s- Joseph Francis
3 Car Washes – Ambassador Car Wash- Julie Yavarion
$50 Gift Card – Planet Nutrition- Carrol Simon
$50 Gift Card – Zoe’s Kitchen- Ricky Faulk
$50 Gift Card- Olde Tyme Grocery- Phillip Gallet
$50 Gift Card – Louisiana Hot Stuff- Tonia LaJaunie
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We are honored to be Acadiana’s Hospice!

Thank you Acadiana and The Daily Advertiser!

Below is an article in the June 11th issue of The Daily Advertiser.  Please check it out in full on theadvertiser.com!

WHY DO THEY VOLUNTEER? ‘BECAUSE I LOVE IT’
30 YEARS OF ‘BEING THERE’

Hospice of Acadiana volunteer Clint Crowe still remembers a patient he calls Mr. Landry. The 88-year-old man was dying of liver cancer and didn’t have much time left.

It was Crowe’s job to make sure that what was left of his life would be full of quality time.

“He liked to compare morality and religion,” said Crowe. “His priority was to live a moral life. He taught me several things. That at the end of life, we all go through a similar process. We (volunteers) give them the space to think about those big ideas.”

Crowe said sometimes his job as a hospice volunteer meant sitting quietly while Mr. Landry watched the birds outside his window. Sometimes it meant just listening as the elderly man reflected on his life and what God and faith meant to him.

No matter what the circumstances, however, all hospice volunteers are trained to provide the same thing — comfort and care to the dying. For many, it can be a heart-wrenching experience. A volunteer’s job is over when he or she is no longer needed and the patient is gone forever.

“When the telephone rings and they say your patient has passed away, you say, ‘Thank you,’ and then you hang up and cry,” said Charlene Miller, a 22-year veteran and hospice board member. “My husband used to ask, “Why do you do this if it upsets you?’ ” I said, ‘Because I love it.’ Sometimes it’s like losing a family member, but that’s what we are supposed to do.”

This year, Hospice of Acadiana will celebrate its 30th anniversary with a gala Friday at the Homewood Suites in Lafayette. The organization has been the only nonprofit, free-standing (not affiliated with hospitals) hospice agency in the Acadiana area for three decades and is one of only two in the entire state. The other is in Baton Rouge.

That distinction is an important one for hospice officials.

“Our mission has always been to see patients whether they can pay or not,” said Executive Director Louis Hebert. “Thirty years ago, back when we were founded, there were no other services like that. Now there are about 117 other hospices in a 50-mile radius of us. The difference is all of our money goes back into patient care, employees and our services. We don’t limit our services.”
Filling a need

The organization was started back in 1983 thanks to the foresight of a small group of local residents who saw a need in the community, Hebert said.

Since that time, the agency has served more than 16,000 individuals with life-threatening conditions and their families. Officials provide several examples they say set them apart from others that are for-profit:

• 14 hospice-certified RNs

• 3 hospice-certified physicians

• 6 professional social workers

• 3 chaplains

• 3 licensed grief counselors

• A full-time physician on staff

• A team of more than 23 volunteer hospice physicians representing 14 medical specialties who visit patients in their homes

• The largest hospice medical staff in Louisiana with physicians available to staff 24 hours a day, seven days a week

• The only nonprofit hospice that treats patients regardless of ability to pay for services

Fighting cutbacks

Recently, Hospice of Acadiana has had to battle on the political front to keep the Medicaid reimbursements it receives through the State of Louisiana for patients on Medicaid.

Back in January, Gov. Bobby Jindal proposed cutting those funds as part of an effort to fix the state’s budget problems.

Hospice officials lobbied state lawmakers and were successful in getting the Jindal administration to reverse course on the proposed Medicaid cuts.

That cut in Medicaid reimbursements would have meant a lot to an agency that isn’t that profitable to begin with. In 2011, the agency’s expenses outweighed its revenues by more than $100,000.

Most of it was spent on services but about $3 million went to pay salaries and compensation and benefits for about 75 employees.

Hospice officials said since that report, they have had to make cuts in several areas.

“What we did, we had a lot of staff members that retired and some (cuts) are due to attrition,” said Rae Gremillion, director of community development. “And we consolidated departments. We’re running a smarter business.”

And for the past 30 years, that business has grown exponentially.

Hebert said hospice started out with just 10 patients and a handful of volunteers. Today, the agency sees more than 130 patients and has more than 300 volunteers.

But for those like Crowe, there is more to hospice care than just numbers.

Crowe said one simply can’t put a price on what he and others do for people who are facing the final end.

“I got involved in it because it involved death,” said Crowe. “And I feel that life is a choice. And the way you die is part of the choices that we make. My privilege as a hospice volunteer is to be able to be a sounding board for them to talk about their life and their death.”

Click here to read about-    A wonderful story about an special young man.

HOSPICE OF ACADIANA IS MAKING SURE ACADIANA’S STORIES ARE RECORDED FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS. BY ERIN Z. BASS • PHOTOS BY ROBIN MAY

November 2012

Through Dec. 21, people all over Acadiana will be telling their personal stories for the chance to have them preserved forever in the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Serving as recorder and facilitator of these stories is Hospice of Acadiana. Chosen as one of 26 partners in the national StoryCorps program, Hospice is the only organization in the state participating in what is one of the largest oral history projects of its kind.

Photo by Robin May

“Lafayette has a pocket of wonderful culture, and that’s why we were chosen,” says Hospice Director of Community Development Rae Gremillion. A mixture of 24 Hospice volunteers and staff members have been trained in the Legacy version of the program, which focuses on recording stories of patients nearing the end of their life.
In some cases, patients may not be able to tell their own stories so family members are welcome to step in and speak for them. Since 2003, more than 40,000 interviews have been conducted through StoryCorps, and each conversation is recorded on a free CD for the interviewee to share. Currently, Hospice is recording about 10 stories a month.
On a recent Monday, Hospice volunteers documented the story of Lafayette native Robert Byrd, speaking for his wife, Beverly, who is paralyzed. An interviewer and facilitator set up in Byrd’s living room, while he sat next to his wife in her hospital-style bed.
“I’ll tell y’all about the time we went to the casino and I was taking Beverly over there for our anniversary,” he recalls. “I was going to take her out and treat her to a nice steak supper. So, when we arrive there, I went to the maitre d’, and he said, ‘Do y’all have a reservation?’
I said, ‘No. It’s just me and my wife.’
And he says, ‘Man, it’s Saturday night, it’s 6:30. We’re booked ’til at least 11 or 12 tonight.’
So, I said, ‘Well, OK, we’ll be in the casino gambling. If you see a chance to get us in, why don’t you page me?’
He said, ‘OK, what’s your name?’ And I said, ‘Robert Byrd.’ As I walked away, I turned and I said, ‘Sen. Robert Byrd.’
And he says, ‘Oh, how many’s in your party?’
And I said, ‘Like I told you, it’s just me and my wife. It’s our anniversary.’
He says, ‘Well come on in.’ So they brought us in and they sat us down at the best table in the house.”

Photo by Robin May

Byrd, who met his wife one night at Don’s Seafood while having a bowl of gumbo and a beer, has several stories where throwing out the name of the late West Virginia senator worked in his favor. He also has fond memories of traveling and dancing with his wife while working for Western Electric.
“Beverly was a fairly quiet girl until she met me and we got into square dancing and clogging and going to different casinos and resorts,” he says. “Because they would transfer me all over the place, we went to Oswego, N.Y., we went to Texas. We had a good time because it was just her and I for the first year.”
The Byrds had a son that next year and would eventually have another one. They also bought their first house on Sunny Lane in Lafayette, but, unfortunately, not all of their times were happy. The couple lost both of their sons over the years — the first one to suicide — and Byrd believes that trauma could be responsible for Beverly’s condition today.
“Beverly came down [with dementia] a couple years ago,” he says. “She started putting things in the wrong places. At first, we’d laugh about it. We’d say, ‘Ah, you’re hiding stuff.’ So, anyway, it kept getting a little worse and a little worse and then finally she kinda went into a coma.”
After renting a room at Cornerstone Village South, Byrd decided to take his wife home. A caretaker comes to their house each morning, so he can play golf and run errands, and Hospice was able to provide the furniture she would need. “Now, it’s Beverly and I looking after each other,” he says.  People like Byrd who participate in the StoryCorps program must give their permission. He says he wanted to tell his and his wife’s story to help other elderly people in their situation.
“I want people to know what we’re going through that haven’t been through this and know what to expect,” he says. “The doctors have already told me it’s not going to get any better. It’s a long process, and it affects different people different ways. In Beverly’s case, it made her completely paralyzed.”

Photo by Robin May

Beverly is still able to speak, although most of the time it’s not legible. Listening to her husband’s stories, she chimed in with a word every now and then. His final story was about asking Beverly’s father if he could marry her. While Byrd wants most aspects of their lives to be recorded for future generations to hear, there are a few memories he’s not willing to share.

“My father-in-law was a barber and he was kind of hard of hearing, so when I was asking for Beverly’s hand in marriage, I said, ‘Jack, me and Beverly been going out for about a year now and we’ve been talking about marriage.’ … Man, he sat there like a stiff board like he never heard a word, and her mother and Beverly said, ‘Ask him again, ask him again.’
“I said, ‘No, he heard me,’ but I said it a little louder. So, he said, ‘Come on, come with me.’ He took me out to a little shed they had in the back, and he gave me a talking to, but I have never told anybody what he said. Not even Beverly. It’s our secret.”
Robert Byrd and other Acadiana residents’ stories will be available at storycorps.org in 2013. You can also hear weekly broadcasts of StoryCorps stories on NPR’s Morning Edition.

Hospice of Acadiana reaches level 4 in the We Honor Veterans program!
 

Hospice of Acadiana – Only Hospice in Louisiana to Reach Level 4 in We Honor Veterans Program

Lafayette, LA — Hospice of Acadiana, Inc. has been recognized by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO), the Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) and the Louisiana-Mississippi Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (LMHPCO) as the only hospice in Louisiana-Mississippi area that has attained a Level 4 rating in the We Honor Veterans Program and is one of only 37 hospices attaining this status in the United States.  The We Honor Veterans campaign provides tiered recognition to organizations demonstrating a systematic commitment to improving care for Veterans. Using the model provided, Hospice of Acadiana has initiated programs designed to serve Veterans and, using resources provided as part of the campaign, has integrated the Best Practices for providing end-of-life care to Veterans into their organization. “All hospices are serving Veterans, but often aren’t aware of that person’s service in the Armed Forces,” said J. Donald Schumacher, NHPCO president and CEO. “Through We Honor Veterans, we are taking a giant step forward in helping hospice and palliative care providers understand and serve Veterans at the end of life and work more effectively with VA medical facilities and organizations in their communities.”

An integral part of the We Honor Veterans program is the continuing education that we provide through in-services to our staff, volunteers, community agencies, and veteran organizations, regarding the needs of Veterans from different war eras, end-of-life issues with Veterans that were in combat, as well as Veteran benefits.  “Knowing their commitment and dedication to the care of Veteran patients, we commend Hospice of Acadiana for attaining Level 4,” said Jamey Boudreaux, Executive Director of the Louisiana Mississippi Hospice & Palliative Care Organization.

At Hospice of Acadiana, we have initiated the “Veteran to Veteran” program, as a part of our partnership.  In this program, we have trained our Hospice of Acadiana volunteers who visit Veteran patients. We have identified our volunteers, staff, and physicians who are Veterans and who are able to participate in this outreach program.  It is generally understood that a Veteran is more likely to share experiences and issues with another Veteran who will understand the situation better. Presently, we have over seven (7) trained Veteran volunteers expressly trained in this area of care and who are helping to meet the needs of Hospice of Acadiana Veteran patients.

http://theadvocate.com/news/acadiana/3926964-123/hospice-project-to-capture-stories

The Kate Middleton shows her support of hospice care at an event in a Malaysian Hospice.  In her speech she stated: “With effective palliative care lives can be transformed. Treatment, support, care and advice can provide a lifeline to families at a time of great need.” This event follows Kate Middleton’s announcement in January this year that she would become patron of East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2202517/Kate-Middleton-brings-smile-face-terminally-ill-boy-gives-birthday-card-hospice.html