Lions Club hears St. Anthony’s Hospice presentation

Oct. 05--Death comes in many forms.

"Death can arrive suddenly without warning, such as an accident, or it may come with a rapid diagnosis or a very long fought battle with an illness," said Amanda Bowen, St. Anthony's Hospice marketing director. "St. Anthony's Hospice can help our community members that have those last two examples."

St. Anthony's began serving its first patient in January 1982 in Henderson County.The agency's services have expanded to also include Union and Webster counties, but its mission has remained the same.

"We still want our community members to have dignity when they die," she said.

So far in 2016, St. Anthony's has served 376 patients. As of Tuesday, when Bowen addressed the Henderson Lion's Club at their weekly meeting, there were 48 in-home patients, 14 in a nursing home and six in the care center located on Methodist Hospital's campus.

Organizations like the Lions Club and United Way help support St. Anthony's and allows them to help patients in the Tri-County area, regardless of their ability to pay.

One of Bowen's first tasks when she started at St. Anthony's in February was to write a grant to United Way. The grant was asking money to pay for indigent care.

Medically indigent adults don't have health insurance and aren't eligible for health-care coverage such as Medicaid or Medicare.

St. Anthony's Hospice spends about $450,000 a year for indigent care, she said.

Bowen relayed the story of a man she referred to as Mr. Smith, a pseudonym for a St. Anthony's patient who needed indigent care.

Smith was in his early 50s when he was diagnosed with cancer about 18 months before St. Anthony's Hospice visited him at his home. He had surgery after his diagnosis and went back to work.

About a month later, his cancer came back and he had do under chemotherapy, radiation and more surgery. In this stretch of time he was fired from his job.

There were complications from the second surgery. The doctors determined his cancer had spread and there was no other treatment option available.

Bowen recalls visiting Smith's home with an admissions nurse. She saw Smith sitting on a couch, exhausted from lack of sleep, talking on the phone.

He wasn't calling loved ones in what would be his final few weeks. Instead, he was tied up all day talking to a pharmaceutical representative to try to get his medications paid for.

That's how he'd been spending his last days. His family spent hours in the pharmacy trying to figure out what medications could be paid for, how many they could get and how long it would last.

"The man who once worked was now making $1,600 a month on disability and couldn't afford a hospital bed," said Bowen. "He had no insurance."

Smith lived another 20 days in hospice care. He received 10 nurse visits, four visits from a social worker, four visits from a chaplain and six aid visits to help with baths. His medication related to his diagnosis was also delivered to his house.

Instead of emergency room visits or talking to pharmaceutical reps, Smith spent his last days with his family.

"He got to go fishing with his son one last time," she said. "He got to spend time with his grandbaby for a few extra days. He hadn't gotten to do that because he was too worried and stressed and taking time to figure out how he was going to get his needs met before hospice came to visit him."

These hospice services were made possible by donations. A $100 donation paid for a hospital bed to be at his home, she said.

"It's amazing the small donations that help us in the big picture to provide care to individuals like Mr. Smith," Bowen said.

For more information about St. Anthony's Hospice, visit stanthonyshospice.org/. There is a donation link at the top of the page.

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