Nathan Adelson Hospice makes last days easier

You matter to the last moment of your life and we will do all we can, not only to help you die peacefully, but to live until you die -- Nathan Adelson Hospice motto

People shouldn't think of hospice care as a last resort when they're dying, Nathan Adelson volunteer Leona Adkisson said, but they should take advantage of the service. Nathan Adelson Hospice has been in existence in Pahrump for two years.

"Most people have the wrong impression of hospice. Many people say that's where they go to die," she said.

Adkisson used Nathan Adelson Hospice volunteers when her companion, Ed Polak, was dying of lung cancer. She later became a volunteer herself.

"He had chemotherapy every week for about a year and then he got bad enough that the doctor recommended he get a hospice. I felt the comfort of knowing that if something happened, I could call somebody and they would respond to me and help. So, the nurse would come over once a week," Adkisson said.

A nurse came over to give Polak his medication, while another worker helped give him a bath, she said.

"At the end, I had a woman come in and stay with him for a couple hours while I had my hair done," Adkisson said. She recalled her companion didn't want anybody else at home, but she didn't want to leave him alone.

"He passed away in December of '99. Hospice was wonderful. I called and they came right away. They took care of all the (funeral) arrangements."

Adkisson recalled she wanted to be a hospice volunteer a few months later, but she was advised to wait a year because of the emotions she felt after Polak's death.

While 3,000 hospices exist across the country, Nathan Adelson Hospice serves Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Pahrump. It was founded in 1978. The services for the terminally ill can even include aromatherapy, pet therapy, massage therapy and music therapy, in addition to running errands, keeping the terminally ill company and providing bereavement support groups to families who have recently lost a loved one.

"What we do is we offer terminal care to people who have been given six months or less to live by their doctors, and basically what we provide in the home is care systems and support systems in the home if people want to live there by choice," said Andrea Willey, who was recently promoted administrator of the Pahrump office.

"We offer services and support to the care giver so a spouse or family member or a friend, whatever it may be, so that they can help the patient in the home. We have nurses or RNS on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Willey said.

Volunteers sit with the patients so the care giver can go out for appointments. Registered nurses help them manage pain. Social workers provide emotional support. Nathan Adelson Hospice also has a spiritual counselor in Pahrump.

"We accept Medicare, Medicaid, Champus and any private insurance. Because we are a nonprofit organization, if somebody does not have the ability to pay, we do not turn them away. It becomes our burden to locate an insurance that will pay," Willey said.

"We specialize in pain management and keeping people comfortable and keeping people physically comfortable. We also provide emotional support through our social workers and spiritual counselors. Then, following the death of a patient, we offer bereavement support services for 13 months. What that means is a bereavement support group which meets monthly, maybe twice a month depending on what the group wants," she said.

Nathan Adelson Hospice holds a candlelight ceremony every December to remember the patients who have died in the past year; last December, Willey said they remembered 15 patients.

Adkisson said there is a need for more volunteers. Nathan Adelson Hospice has 11 volunteers and 10 paid staff in Pahrump, Willey said.

"There is no other hospice in the valley here and no one touching on the bereavement side of things. I see a huge need in this valley for services for people who, even though they may not have been on hospice, they need some counseling and support for bereavement issues," Willey said.

Nathan Adelson Hospice has served about 300 people in Pahrump during the past two years, when all family members are counted, she said. There are about 30 people currently getting services.

"I enjoy it. I think if we just had more volunteers, because sometimes you only spend a couple hours a week," Adkisson said. "I guess I'm more of what you call a caregiver. I go and sit with the person, so the other person can get out."

Sometimes a patient is sleeping and just needs someone to keep them company, sometimes they're just watching television, some people like to talk, some people don't, Adkisson said. Other times, she said, they run errands. Volunteers try to get a terminally ill person a better quality of life, she said.

Volunteers are asked to commit to a minimum of three hours per week, although Adkisson said she is volunteering about six hours per week. She said she hasn't become too emotionally attached to her patients, except a woman she knew previously.

"I think you just realize all you can do is talk with them and be there so they're not by themselves. It gives them a little piece of mind," Adkisson said.

In Pahrump, a bereavement group meets at 3 p.m. on the second and fourth Wednesday of the month at the Pahrump Senior Center. Adkisson said she survived cancer herself last year, after undergoing surgery, radiation treatments and chemotherapy.

"We invite anybody who's lost somebody," she said. "Sometimes you think you're the only person in the world that's been in this spot."

Adkisson gave some advice to people who have recently lost a loved one: "Set your goals and keep busy."