Mike Noyola-Izquierdo, volunteer coordinator for ProMedica Hospice serving Southwest Ohio (formerly Heartland Hospice), was helping plan a patient's Heart's Desire. Mike had contacted Belterra Park as the patient’s “Perfect Day” included watching a horse race. He coordinated with Rey Warren, Belterra’s b-connected coordinator, and they arranged for the patient and his wife to watch the race in their Black and Gold Room, a personal suite with all the amenities. The patient was scheduled to be on the jumbotron, to call a race over the mic and to have his picture taken with some of the horses. Unfortunately, the patient passed away before he was able to experience his “Perfect Day”.

Since the patient passed, Rey still wanted to do something for the patient’s wife. He gathered meaningful mementos from all the jockeys, including an autographed hat, t-shirt and goggles that some wore during their most recent races. One of those jockeys was the youngest to have ever won the Triple Crown. Though the patient was unable to experience his “Perfect Day”, it was meaningful for Mike and Rey to present these mementos in his honor to his wife.

Recently, the team at ProMedica Hospice serving Southwest Ohio (formerly Heartland Hospice)* held a “Push for Paint” school supplies drive for Summitt Academy. Summitt Academy is a not-for-profit community school for Kindergarten through 8^th grade specifically designed for students with ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorders and related disorders. Much of the infrastructure of the school has been paid for out-of-pocket by the administration and teachers, except for the nominal student fee used to cover supplies needs for the school.

This year, however, at the suggestion of Cassandra Russell, director of patient services, ProMedica Hospice jumped into action! They were able to gather eight whole boxes of art and school supplies. Michelle, Summitt Academy Principal, has also asked the ProMedica team to participate in Career Day and have music and pet volunteers visit with the students. To complete the fundraiser, First Star Logistics joined in and gave $2,500.00! It was so successful that Summit Academy will be able to use all student fees for field trips this year and even started calling their art room, “The HeARTland Design Room”!

 

*Heartland merged with ProMedica in 2018 and recently rebranded to ProMedica Hospice.

Working in hospice takes a strong will, a full heart and plenty of compassion. Sometimes even our own employees must make those difficult decisions for their loved ones. Julie Moores, Regional Manager of Business Development, recently received upsetting news that her best friend for several decades, Mike’s, cancer had returned. She helped him with receiving hospice services and knew her Heartland Hospice serving Southwest Ohio team would take amazing care of him during this difficult time.

Mike is a life-long Star Trek fan and through the many years of their friendship, this was made very clear to Julie through Star Trek discussions, memorabilia, watching the series numerous times and much more. While discussing life, the difficulties of the past year and the recent devastating news about Mike’s health, Julie wanted to do something extra special for her friend and something she knew would fulfill one of Mike’s life-long dreams. She wanted to go the extra mile to let her best friend know how much she truly cares about him and surprise him with messages he will never forget!

Julie reached out to the ProMedica Hospice Memorial Fund, formerly Heartland Hospice Memorial Fund, for help. From there, everything fell into place perfectly and Julie was able to give Mike the surprise of a lifetime!

“Mike was hospitalized for almost five months last year. After his stay, he was sent home with a plan that he would be on the road to recovery. A few weeks after his return home, he had a follow-up scan that showed his cancer had returned and spread to multiple areas. Due to the aggressive nature of his type of cancer, his oncologist only expected him to live two more months. This was a terrible shock to all of us, especially his significant other, Ben. Mike and Ben are the kindest and funniest people I have ever known, so I really wanted to do something that would brighten their days and help them to feel special during such a difficult time. I thought it would be a great idea to reach out and try to get personal video messages from some of their favorite Star Trek actors.

We received messages from Brent Spiner, who portrayed Data on the series, and Jonathan Frakes, who portrayed Riker. When I showed the videos, Mike and Ben were beyond excited but also shocked that we were able to obtain personal messages! Mike said, ‘I can’t believe you guys would do this for me. I want these videos burned to a flash drive so they can be placed in my urn with my ashes so I can keep them always!’

Mike has always been someone who does kind gestures for other without any thought of himself. Being able to surprise him with these videos was incredibly meaningful to me and the hospice team. As one of my closest friends, to see the smiles, laughter and even tears of happiness that were the result of these videos was a fantastic experience, especially since there has been so much recent sadness. I am beyond thankful to the Southwest Ohio team for providing compassionate care to my friend and to the ProMedica Hospice Memorial Fund for helping make Mike’s final days a dream come true.”

Brent Spiner’s Video Message

Volunteers are an important part of the hospice team. Some volunteers visit with patients, some run errands for a patient or their family, some keep vigil with patients in their final hours and some stay behind the scenes and help with supporting the staff at the agency.

Heartland Hospice serving Southwest Ohio volunteers have been hard at work behind the scenes making handmade ornaments and Christmas cards to help make the holidays special for our hospice patients and their families.

Thank you to our volunteers for giving your time and dedication to our patients!