Hospice Care Month

Hospice Care Month

There comes a time in many of our lives when we either take or are given the responsibility of caring for a seriously or terminally ill family member. It's a hard job made harder by our confusing and fragmented healthcare system.

Fortunately, there's an incredible resource in our community that provides comfort, dignity and respect to those coping with a serious or life-limiting illness and their families. It's Hospice of the Chesapeake.

November is National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, and we're reaching out to help our community understand the care options that are available to them and their loved ones.

Hospice is unique in that it offers a team approach to treatment that includes expert medical care, comprehensive pain management and emotional and spiritual care. Caring for the whole person allows the team to address each patient's unique needs and challenges. Hospice also offers services for families and loved ones that provide emotional support and advice to help them become confident caregivers and adjust to the future with grief support for up to a year.

Hospices are some of the best providers of community-based palliative care. Palliative care delivers expertise to improve the quality of life and relief from pain. It can be provided at any time during an illness - during and after treatment, from diagnosis on.

The best time to learn about and plan for hospice or palliative care is before you are faced with a medical crisis. One of the most frequent comments we hear from families is, "Why did we wait so long before calling hospice?"

If you or a loved one is facing a serious or life-limiting illness, the time to find out more about hospice and palliative care is right now. We can help. Call us at 410-987-2003.

BEN MARCANTONIO

President and CEO

Hospice of the Chesapeake

Pasadena

Above the law

In a letter titled "It's illegal," Alejandro Tamargo piously stated that "(n)o one is above the law in a (d)emocracy" (The Capital, Nov. 2)

Why, then, are undocumented immigrants above the law in this democracy?

JOHN GOETTSCH

Annapolis

Col. Vindman

To Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, thank you for your courageous service for our country. Both of my family's date to the American Revolution. My father's family has had a family member in every war and most military conflicts since we settled in the U.S. My father volunteered for service in World War I and was one of the first soldiers to step onto French soil. It wasn't until after he died that we learned he was a decorated war hero and saved many lives.

My oldest brother volunteered for the Navy in World War II and fought in the Pacific. My cousin a doctor volunteered in Korea and ran a MASH unit. My husband fought in Vietnam.

Both of my sons volunteered and served their country one as an infantryman the other in the 82nd Airborne; my oldest grandson served as a medic in Afghanistan and my youngest grandson is currently at Parris Island.

I too served by working at 97th General Hospital in Frankfurt, Germany, during Vietnam; where they brought the most seriously wounded. We recognize bravery and sacrifice.

Please accept my apologies, on behalf of the millions of brave Americans who actually served our country, for the treatment you have received from President Donald Trump and his supporters. As you know, the president did not serve his country nor have most of his supporters.

There is a deliberate attempt by Trump and the GOP to harm our country. We're Americans and we are not going to let them win. My uncle, who fought in both World War I and World War II, once told me that when a good American goes down another good American stands up.

You stood up and we appreciate it. We salute you.

S. LEE CAUDLE

Crownsville