As it turned out my thoughts were less on the ten
years I spent with WellPoint and more on the relationship Mary and I had with
the woman who was being memorialized, Sandra Webster.
She and her husband, Ken, had been on the ship that
transported us to our first tour as a Navy couple, to the Philippine
Islands. We got to be fast friends on
the twenty-one day excursion and shared genuine sentiments when we landed, that
we would look forward to seeing them on the base.
As our sponsors met us and escorted us to our
quarters, you can picture our surprise as we met our new duplex neighbors, the
Webster’s.

In spite of that we became fast friends and remained
in contact with occasional meetings for almost fifty years.
The last twenty provided fewer opportunities to meet
because Sandra was diagnosed with esophageal cancer, an almost certain death
notice. Against all odds, Sandra beat
her cancer with radiation and a reoccurrence of peri-tonsillar cancer with
surgery in the radiated area. The
surgery perforated and for the last dozen years of her life she lived with a
feeding bag. She maintained a remarkably
positive attitude toward life and saw her sons marry, enjoyed the birth of
their children and even saw her grandson get sworn in as a Marine Officer by
her husband.
Her last days were spent in Hospice and I found
myself acutely aware that, even though my sister had used Hospice and several
other friends from several other areas of the country used the services, I had
no idea how arrangements were made or how they were paid for.
I found the subject to be much more complicated than
I would have thought, and would recommend additional reading on the topic if
you have a continued interest. Wikipedia
is a good place to start. Having said
that, I did find several items of interest:
·
Hospice in the United States started in
earnest in 1971 when Hospice, Inc. was founded.
·
Hospice is greatly under-utilized,
especially in the family support elements

·
The distinction between Hospice and
traditional care is that Hospice has a palliative focus, while traditional
medicine is focused on cure and healing. Balance between the two by patient,
family, and medical staff explains why most patients don’t enter Hospice until
the final days of life, rather than using the six-month entitlement, which may
be extended.
·
Hospice is primarily funded by Medicare,
which accounts for about 72% of funding.
Medicaid and other insurance picks up 12%, and about 10% is funded from
patients or other social agencies.
·
Hospice venues include hospitals,
nursing homes, and dedicated hospice facilities as well as homes, and care may
move from one venue to another through a course of treatment.

A subject that interests me that that a Chinese
concern has just purchased AMC, which controls a bundle of the movie houses in
the U.S. What are they going to do with
that? Maybe my next post will provide
insight.
Have any of you had experience with Hospice? How did it work for you? Write a comment to let me know.
No comments:
Post a Comment