Hospice Ministries, Inc.

About Us

On August 1, 1997, this merger created an in-home and inpatient continuum of care, one of only several in the country. Hospice Ministries is community based not-for-profit organization governed by a Board, which is comprised of community leaders. Hospice Ministries serves 31 counties in Mississippi through its offices in Ridgeland, Brookhaven, and McComb. Our inpatient facility is located in Ridgeland and provides care for up to 40 patients.

Hospice Ministries exists to help terminally ill people and their families. Our goal is to help patients live life as fully as possible, as well as to support those who love and care for them.

Hospice

Hospice was a term used centuries ago to describe places of refuge (way stations for travelers) along the rough, rugged paths of the Swiss Alps. In these shelters, weary and wounded travelers could be replenished, refreshed and cared for during their journey. "Hospice" today refers to an organized program or a system of care rather than a particular place, where weary travelers get care during life's last journey

The very first hospice, St. Christopher's in London, England, was started in 1967 by Dame Cicely Saunders. She was the first to recognize that terminally ill patients weren't getting the specialized care they needed. All too often, the medical community emphasized cure at all costs and viewed death as defeat and failure. Because of this attitude of denial of death as part of the cycle of life, terminal patients were frequently isolated. Pain tended to be treated with limited amounts of medication only when the pain became severe. Physicians feared psychological dependence and physical addiction to the drugs used to control the pain. St. Christopher's hospice began the daunting task of changing society's attitudes toward the dying process, and in 1974 the first hospice was established in the United States in New Haven, Connecticut. In the decades since the first hospice opened its doors, thousands of others have sprung up in every corner of the nation.

For more than a quarter of a century hospice providers in this country have given palliative care and emotional comfort to terminally ill patients and their families in the familiar surrounding of home and in "home like" settings. Hospice does not seek to postpone or hasten death. Instead, hospice seeks to improve the quality of life, committed to the principle that people deserve to live the last moments of their life in comfort, dignity and peace.

Services

Our Volunteers are an essental part of the Hospice Team and assist in a broad spectrum of services for patients and their families including direct patient care such as reading, listening, or socializing with patients and their families. Indirect services include clerical or administrative support, gardening or making flower arrangements or supporting a special event. Volunteers are the very backbone of the Hospice program. Here are some ways in which you can serve:

Listen to concerns:You may help patients and their family members find their own answers to the emotional or spiritual questions which circle them during this time, by just listening and being a friend.

Keep the patient company: Your presence can be extremely comforting to the patient, even if the volunteer only sits quietly in the room. Often reading to patients or suggesting activities you could do together fills the lonely spaces of the day, by just being their friend. Family members may use this time for a much needed respite.

Provide a link to the hospice staff: Your reports on the needs of the patient and family are very important to the Hospice team.

Be a support person: You may often be the person patients and family members turn to for comfort, help and information. You may be their link and base of support during this confusing time. Being there as a friend.

Provide physical help: You may be able to run errands, handle light chores around the house or yard work. If licensed and permitted, you may help with hair washing, styling and cutting, shaving or massages.

Help behind the scenes: Our clerical and support volunteer staff are always in need of more help. Anyway you can help is always appreciated;

• typing, filing and other clerical duties
• fundraising, helping with special events
• answering phones
• support services