‘Quality’ not ‘quantity;’ Hospice support keeps patient active longer
Joy Dick celebrates the extra time she had with husband, Roy Dick, thanks to Reid Hospice.
Roy Dick was an active, spry 77-year-old, even after a squamous cell cancer diagnosis that ultimately would take his life. And thanks to the help of Reid Health Hospice care, he remained active even up to the last few days of his life, according to his family.
"It gave him a quality
of life where he wasn't sitting around worrying about quantity," says his wife,
Joy, recalling Roy's last few weeks before he passed away in 2017. He drove his
truck. He watched his grandkids play baseball. He got to see a granddaughter
plow for the first time.
"Hospice was the reason I got to keep him at home," Joy says. Roy and Joy lived most of their lives in the country near Cambridge City. They raised four children, along with grain, hogs and cattle. They had 10 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. "He loved family," recalls Melissa Dick, Roy's daughter-in-law. "He did everything with his grandkids."
The cancer diagnosis
came in January 2016. It was followed by treatment that included chemotherapy
and radiation. He was referred to Reid Hospice for care that May, though he was
able to survive another year.
"Our goal is to help the
patient have the best quality of life," says LaCole Fleagle, RN, with Reid
Hospice. The services include ongoing assessment of patient condition, pain and
symptom management, spiritual support, patient and family education on
end-of-life issues and help with grief.
"Our team works with the
patient's doctor and family with a goal of the ensuring the best quality of
life."
With the Hospice team
there when they were needed, Roy was able to continue to do many of the things
he loved. "He could get out and go to the barn," Joy says. "He drove his truck
the week before he passed away."
He also got to watch grandsons Mason and Braxton play baseball the last week of his life. "If the boys were playing, that's where he wanted to be," Melissa says. "They were there when we needed them," she says of the Hospice team. "They always told us how to take care of him, how to give him his medicines. If we called them, they were there."
Reid Health Hospice is moving a few blocks down the road from its current location to 1913 Chester Blvd. The new location will allow the program to grow and better serve its patients and their families. For more information on Reid Health Hospice, call: (765) 983-3344 or visit: https://www.reidhealth.org/services/hospice-services
