Foundation offers alternatives for terminal patients

      Three months after it opened Harbor House, Safe Harbor Hospice Inc. has launched a not-for-profit arm to improve care in the state's largest facility for the terminally ill.
      The Safe Harbor Memorial Foundation will offer alternative therapies, a junior volunteer program and video chronicling of patients' experiences, according to executive director Saundra Smith.
      "We can't reverse terminal illness but we can help bring about emotional healing and spiritual healing," she said. "We want terminally ill patients to live their final days in comfort and live the quality of life they deserve."
      The foundation will pad art, massage, touch, chiropractic, talk, pet and relaxation therapies already offered at Harbor House - a 24-bed, 22,000 square-foot hospice on 4011 McLeod Drive that opened March 25 - with aroma and music therapies and bereavement services already offered.
      Smith said therapies enhance the hospice experience by reducing pain and anxiety and increasing social skills and self-esteem.
      The residential and in-patient patrons can dawdle in a small conclave painted to resemble a country-themed landscape or dillydally in front of a 300-gallon aquarium in the walkway of the two-story hospice.
      Pet therapy is most popular thanks to Sid, a fluffy greyhound who snuggles up against the patients - most of whom have cancer - or lounges at the foot of the bed, providing company.
      "Everybody loves him," Smith said.
      Judy Peters, manager of community education and volunteer services, said the junior volunteer program gives the patients the chance to reconnect to their past.
      "It gives them the chance to live again and build a grandparent-to-grandchild type of relationship," she said. "The patients have someone there who will listen to their stories and take interest in them. The youth are like their grandchildren that they don't see anymore or see sparingly."
      Conversely, Peters said: "The youth get to tap into their wisdom."
      The teen-agers will receive eight to 12 hours of training and work under the supervision of a Safe Harbor volunteer. Safe Harbor volunteers are trained 33 hours on bereavement techniques, coping and stress relief skills. Peters said teen-agers bring a fresh perspective to the hospice situation.
      "They're not afraid to be who they are," she said. Since they're third-parties to problem, they can offer unbiased advice, give a helping hand or lend a sVIEW-Jul-01-Wed-1998ic ear. "They don't have all the hang-ups of the adults."
      Smith threw an ice cream social at the hospice on Mother's Day. A string quartet entertained patients. One patient, in particular, benefitted from the visit.
      "He was close to dying," she said. "We moved the quartet in front of his room. The music put a smile on his face. A day later, he died. I told one of the girls and she said she was sad but happy that they were able to make him happy."
      Smith, who described herself as "a professional volunteer," said the foundation was born out of a such a need: "To make patients' lives better."
      Unlike other not-for-profits, the foundation has stable financial backing. Fred Schultz, executive director of Safe Harbor, said Odyssey Health Care, Safe Harbor's Dallas-based parent, can focus solely on client care.
      "We don't have to split time," between fund-raising and care, he said.
      Patients who give their nod can chronicle their lives on videotape. The benefits are twofold: "They can watch the videos and find out that they are not the only ones in the world who feels the way they feel. It also helps caregivers. They can learn what techniques are effective in working with certain patients."
      Already in place are grief groups helping families cope with loss, tackle legal issues, communicate better and tap spirituality, along with caregiver groups training medical personnel and volunteers in bereavement techniques, stress reduction, understanding death and dying and applying hospice care.
      Harbor House opened to fanfare in March. Its one-resident-to-a-room concept, extra beds for overnight stays, roomy closets, the alcove glass encasing outside the rooms where patients can store mementos, full working kitchens, lounge areas, 24-hour family visitation and chapel earned praise.
      Its 24 beds make it the state's largest hospice; Nathan Adelson Hospice, the city's other hospice with in-patient care, has 16 beds.
      The rose bush memorial, another foundation project, had auspicious beginnings.
      Smith befriended Dale Ward whose wife Geraldine died of cancer in September. Smith, then a Safe Harbor volunteer, coached Dale through bereavement. In turn, he offered his gardening skills as repayment. Grieving widows and widowers can plant flowers to commemorate their deceased spouses.
      "It's a way for them to ease their pain," she said.