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Leaving a living legacy—
Caregivers help make holidays, end of life special
By Tom Prusha
Record-Courier staff writer
Harry Spencer McDairies gave his wife, Janice, her Christmas present two weeks ago. Inside the wrapping was a beautiful bracelet. On it was inscribed to "JJ My Love," and on the back were the words "Always Spencer."
"He gave it to me because he didn't think he would make it until Christmas. He wanted to see me get it so he gave it to me early," said Janice. Spencer McDairies of Garrettsville is dying of cancer.
Janice said it's tough during the Christmas season. "This is the first year, I've done all my Christmas shopping without going to the store," she said. She did most of her shopping from television's home shopping network and by ordering from catalogs.
"Every one of the presents was delivered to the door. I kind of liked that," Janice said. "But it would be nice to walk through the malls and see all the Christmas decorations.
"Spencer is in bed all the time - 24 hours a day. It was much easier when he was able to ambulate a little. Now just turning him over is hard," she said. "He is completely insecure if I leave. He wants me here all the time.
He doesn't want anybody else taking care of him." She said Spencer loves collecting John Deere tractor memorabilia. "He has John Deere sheets, blankets, clothes, all kinds of John Deere collectibles. "
Hospice volunteers from Robinson Visiting Nurse and Hospice went out and shopped for John Deere material. A volunteer made him a hospital gown with John Deere tractors on it.
"He was tickled to death with it. That was really special," she said. She said his hospice nurse took green metallic tape and wrapped it around his catheter and decorated it for Christmas. It really makes him feel special and loved."
Janice is getting tired but she still wants to help Spencer. "God doesn't give us more than we can handle - that's what it says anyway. But I'm getting tired. I just wish God didn't trust me so much." The two started a memory quilt and early on Spencer helped with the embroidery but now he is not able to see as well, and his hands are not working as well also.
"I'll still always have the quilt and I know he worked on it and it was love," Janice said.
Ken Wasiniak, hospice manager at Robinson Memorial Hospital in Ravenna, said one of society's greatest assets is the many family members who provide care to ill or disabled relatives. Today, 22 million Americans or 1 in 4 households provide assistance to older relatives, friends or neighbors according to the July 2000 Johns Hopkins Medical Letter.
In terms of end-of-life care, the longer living, rapidly growing aging population will create a greater demand for in-home care. Also, hospital stays until the time of death are on the decline due to cost issues. As such, there is a growing societal need for lay caregivers to provide care for their loved one at home.
He said Portage County is following the national trend of a rapidly aging population. These caregivers are providing care for loved ones at home with little or no training, resources or support. Many of them have health problems of their own.
According to the Foundation for Healthy Communities, which is sponsored by the Ohio Hospital Association, a main obstacle for hospitals in providing end-of-life care is the medical model's focus on curative care, not palliative care, which is care not only for physical symptoms, but also emotional, social and spiritual symptoms.
"Our challenge is increasing to help find ways to ease the pain of terminal patients inside and outside the hospital setting," Wasiniak said.
As health care delivery shifts to in-home care in response to changing societal needs, Robinson Memorial Hospital is taking strides to assist our community. Recently, a grant was awarded by the Foundation for Healthy Communities to Robinson Memorial Hospital's Health Education Center,
Robinson Visiting Nurse & Hospice for their pilot collaborate effort with the United Church of Christ in Kent to supplement the church's caregiver training program.
For more information on upcoming caregiver training programs at Robinson Memorial, call the Health Education Department at (330) 297-2574.
E-mail: tprusha@recordpub.net
Phone: (330) 296-9657
This is the last part of a 15-part series on death and dying. The series is sponsored by Knight Ridder News Service, the Record-Courier and Robinson Visiting Nurse and Hospice.
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