Hospice SLO County

Thank you to Randy Kingsbury, owner of XpressFill and to his friend Ariel for donating their time and resources to add memorial tiles to our Memorial Garden. We are so appreciative! The Memorial Garden can be viewed at anytime and is located at 1304 Pacific St in downtown San Luis Obispo. Information on how to get a memorial tile installed for your loved one is on our website at www.hospiceslo.org. #hospiceslocounty #volunteerhospice #memorialgarden #tileoflife

Light Up A Life 2020 takes place the week of December 7, 2020. We are thankful to our amazing sponsors including our friend, Joan Gellert-Sargen who is a GOLD sponsor! Thank you Joan for your continued support of Hospice SLO County. To have your loved one memorialized at one of our ceremonies please go to our website at https://hospiceslo.org//hospice-of-san-luis-obispo-county- #HospiceSLOCounty #VolunteerHospice #lightupalife2020

Thank you to Tenet Health Central Coast for sponsoring Light Up A Life 2020! If you would like to have your loved one’s name read at one of our 5 memorial services go here for more information: https://hospiceslo.org//hospice-of-san-luis-obispo-county- #HospiceSLOCounty #Volunteerhospice #lightupalife2020

Happy Friday from Hospice SLO County pup, Walter! #hospiceslocounty #volunteerhospice #walterrules #happyfriday

Can you help us find a home for Chrissy, Ellie and Vincent? Their owner passed away suddenly. Part of Hospice SLO County’s Pet Peace of Mind program is to relocate pets when their owner passes away. Call 805-544-2266 for information. Please share. #HospiceSLOCounty #VolunteerHospice #petpeaceofmind

Yoga for grief provides a safe, restorative, non-judgmental, loving place to combine breath with movement. Grief yoga focuses on postures that specifically help the grieving body. It can help loosen the emotional and physical tightness from grief. The practice of yoga allows people to tap into their parasympathetic nervous system, which can bring about rest. Yoga and grief can be life-long practices which are both shifting and changing. No previous yoga experience needed. Reg...istration required at https://hospiceslo.org/workshops/yoga-for-grief-on-zoom Call Shannon McOuat for information 805-544-2266 #griefyoga #pauldenniston #Yogaforgrief #hospiceslocounty #VolunteerHospice #GriefSupportGroups #griefcounseling #caremanagement #endoflifedoula #respitesupport #petpeaceofmind

Would you be willing or unwilling to donate your entire body to be studied in an academic medical university by researchers, doctors, and students? Many people find their stress about the thought of dying to be reduced when they consider the possibility of improving the lives of others through organ donation or whole body donation. Helping a blind person see, providing a liver to someone with a disease, or donating skin to a child who has been burned is a selfless gift that g...oes beyond the donor's own life. Others object to the prospect of donation, sometimes due to religious reasons and sometimes "just because." Questions about the point of deathwhen and how it is determinedgive rise to questions about organ removal, called "harvesting," and at what point in the declaration of death that takes place. Once you've made these decisions, you can then take the next step, and record your answers in the appropriate documents. More info: https://hospiceslo.org https://www.caregiver.org/legal-planning-incapacity #hospiceslocounty #VolunteerHospice #GriefSupportGroups #griefcounseling #caremanagement #endoflifedoula #respitesupport #petpeaceofmind

Many years ago, most people died at home because that was their only option. As hospitals became more a part of end-of-life patient care, people began fearing death in hospitals, perceiving it to be too sterile and impersonal. They would implore their families to let them die at home. In more recent years, a movement toward hospice and palliative care has grown. Hospice is both a facility and an attitude toward end-of-life care, offering patients and their families death with... dignity, respect, pain control, and comfort. The difference between hospitals and hospice is the difference between curative care and palliative care. Curative care is treatment with the intent to improve symptoms, while palliative care is aimed at reducing pain and discomfort with the intent to reduce a patient's suffering. Many hospitals and nursing homes offer hospice and palliative care services within their facilities. Most insurance policies, plus Medicare and Medicaid, pay all or part of the treatment costs for patients receiving these services. Over the years, we've heard more and more about the right to die, also called death with dignity, which means people get to choose to die on their own terms, and in their own timeframe. Laws have begun to address the legality of this, but not everyone is waiting for laws to be enacted. As you make your decisions about where and how you prefer your last days to be lived, you may want to check out the information on the websites of the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and the National Hospice Foundation. More info: https://hospiceslo.org #hospiceslocounty #VolunteerHospice #GriefSupportGroups #griefcounseling #caremanagement #endoflifedoula #respitesupport #petpeaceofmind

Are you grieving the loss of a loved one (i.e. friend, partner/spouse, child, relative, etc.)? Support groups are a welcoming arena to talk about your grief. This group also includes "anticipatory grief" which means those expecting the loss of a loved one. Individual counseling is also available. All counseling is free of charge. For more information: http://www.hospiceslo.org/support-groups #hospiceslocounty #VolunteerHospice #endoflifedoula #respitesupport #petpeaceofmind #GriefSupportGroups #griefcounseling #Communityresponse #thresholdsingers #caregiversupport

Should you be kept alive on a respirator (breathing machine, or ventilator) or with a tube that feeds you or provides fluids to you artificially (feeding tubes)? If so, under what circumstances would you want to have those? If your breathing stops or your heart stops beating, do you want to be resuscitated? Under what circumstances? If you are in a great deal of pain and can't make clear decisions, do you want that pain relieved by receiving high doses of pain-killing drugs? ...These are difficult questions and not easily answered. Often, the answers come with caveats such as, "I don't want a feeding tube unless there is a good chance it's only temporary." Most resources suggest that the more specific the answers to these questions are, the more difficult it is to determine whether the criteria are being met. You may have very strong feelings about whether you would want to be kept alive, even if you knew the eventual outcome would be death. It's possible you might choose death sooner rather than later. Or perhaps you're very clear about your feelings but don't know how they can be expressed on paper. That's why it's so important to discuss these kinds of thoughts and feelings with others whose opinions you value and trust. You may want to sit down with other loved ones, clergy, a trusted medical adviser, or even an attorney to be sure you are thinking through all the questions and potential positives and pitfalls to the answers. More info: https://hospiceslo.org/resources https://www.caregiver.org/fact-sheets #hospiceslocounty #VolunteerHospice #GriefSupportGroups #griefcounseling #caremanagement #endoflifedoula #respitesupport #petpeaceofmind

Have you chosen who will speak for you if you can’t? Your healthcare proxy or medical power-of-attorney, is the person whom you know will make decisions the way you want them made and who can most easily stand at your bedside, if necessary. Your proxy will need to make decisions for you if you are in a coma, have a sudden heart attack or stroke, or have experienced a debilitating event and can't speak. In addition to your primary representative, you'll want to designate who your second-choice representative should be. More info: https://hospiceslo.org/resour/advanced-healthcare-directive #hospiceslocounty #VolunteerHospice #GriefSupportGroups #griefcounseling #caremanagement #endoflifedoula #respitesupport #petpeaceofmind