Heartland Hospice serving Central Eastern Michigan patient, Derek, was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2017. Derek played sports throughout his life, coached his son’s little league team and was a life-long Detroit Tigers fan. Derek started hospice care earlier this year and during one of his visits with Rose, RN Case Manager, he mentioned, “My last wish was to take my sons to a Detroit Tigers game. Getting to experience a game with my sons is on my bucket list.”

Due to his decline in health, attending a game at Comerica Park would have been his last, but he would have been able to experience both of his sons’ first game. Unfortunately, due to the global pandemic, Major League Baseball games were postponed. The Heartland Hospice team and Derek’s wife, Jill, worked hard to figure out a different way to grant Derek’s last wish.

While he wasn’t able to take his sons to a game, the Tigers organization surprised Derek with a video conference call with Lance Parrish, who played for Detroit for the majority of his baseball career, and Dan Dickerson, who is the lead radio play-by-play voice of the Tigers on the Detroit Tigers Radio Network.

Derek, Jill and their sons virtually talked with Lance and Dan, who helped bring a piece of the game to them when no one was able to attend a game. “He was so happy and expressed that he hoped this was something his sons would never forget. The day was a special memory for him and was so positive and comforting during such a difficult time for Derek and his family,” said Rose.

Thank you to the Detroit Tigers organization for providing Derek and his family with such an amazing experience.

To see clips of Derek’s conversation with Lance and Dan, click here.

Heartland Hospice serving Central Eastern Michigan pet therapy volunteer, Linda McKinch, recently visited Fostrian Court Assisted Living with her dog, Trouble. Linda is a retired oncology nurse and has been a volunteer with Heartland since January 2020.

Trouble is one of nine dogs that Linda has at home with her, along with seven alpacas that Trouble loves to go outside and watch over. Trouble is a 4-year-old Great Pyrenees and enjoys her therapy sessions with patients, especially when she could lay her head on their laps before the pandemic. Linda and Trouble visited with about 20 patients outside of their windows. “The patients were all smiles and waving when they saw Linda and Trouble,” said Laura Scott, Heartland Hospice Volunteer Coordinator.

“Trouble is a farm girl, but she loves being a therapy dog and visiting patients. When we went to Fostrian Court and the activities director came to the door to greet us, Trouble immediately wanted to go into the building. Trouble seemed so confused as to why we couldn’t go inside but enjoyed being outside and seeing her patients from their windows,” said Linda.

PFCU is a Michigan credit union that has 13 branch locations and has been serving its communities since 1947. Each quarter, PFCU employees who choose to participate can donate money for a “jeans day.” The employees are presented with not-for-profit organizations in the area to vote on to receive their donation collection. Heartland Hospice serving Central Eastern Michigan was chosen as the winning organization for the 2^nd quarter of 2019. Heartland Hospice employees were presented with a check for $4,280.

Congratulations to the Heartland Hospice team!