Adviser LeadingAge New York Winter 2014 Winter 2014 | Page 32

ENHANCING PARTNERSHIPS

31

Building Community
By: Ron Puglisi, The Community Hospice

T

horoughbred horse racing,
mineral baths and a vibrant
cultural scene have always given
the upstate community of Saratoga
Springs a lot to boast about, but
the city isn’t exactly known for its
proximity to ocean beaches. That
posed a bit of a problem when a
terminally ill resident of Saratoga’s
Wesley Health Care Center told
her Community Hospice team of a
final wish: she wanted to die on the
beach, with the sun shining.
“That was her goal, but she wasn’t
healthy enough to accomplish
that, so we brought the beach to
her,” recalls Julie Alsante, a unit
coordinator at Wesley. “Hospice
came to us with her request, and
our staff members worked together.
We hung pictures on her wall,
brought in sand, we even had a
sound machine with the sound of
waves.”
Wesley’s employees are accustomed
to working as partners with their
hospice colleagues to make their
seriously ill residents as comfortable
as possible for whatever time they
have left.
“The hospice staff is very easy to
work with, both from the patient’s
perspective and the nurse’s
perspective,” says Alsante. “They

understand how we operate and
what we’re trying to do, and they
don’t place extra stress in a stressful
situation.”
The relationship between The
Community Hospice and the Wesley
Community, which also includes
independent and assisted living,
goes back many years. The hospice
census at Wesley has grown steadily,
and there are usually several
Community Hospice patients in
Wesley’s long term care facility on
any given day.
“Hospice enables the resident to
pass away with their needs met, and
really aids family and staff,” Alsante
says. “Family members know we
worked hand in hand, and they also
get the benefit of follow up grief
care from hospice after their loved
one passes away. For the families
who’ve maintained contact with us,
it’s clear they’ve truly benefited from
what hospice offers.”
Alsante knows first hand how much
loved ones are helped by hospice.
Her grandfather was a Community
Hospice patient in the late 1990s at
what is now The Center for Nursing
and Rehabilitation in Hoosick Falls.
She says it was a good experience,
especially for her grandmother.
Now, years later, she makes every
(Continued on page 32)

Adviser a publication of LeadingAge New York | Winter 2014