Norene Smith is the proud recipient of a grant from the ProMedica Hospice Memorial Fund to purchase grief and bereavement materials for a free grief resource library in her local community. As a volunteer coordinator at Heartland Hospice serving North Central Indiana, Norene frequently provides her team with resources to support patients and their families through the grieving process. She sensed a need within her local community for greater and more accessible resources, especially amongst individuals diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and related memory disorders.

Often referred to as “The Long Goodbye”, individuals suffering from memory disorders, as well as their families and caregivers, often experience grief and loss throughout the progression of illness as abilities are lost, as well as upon the individual’s passing. Because of this progression of grief, Norene and her team partnered with their local Alzheimer’s/Dementia Services of Northern Indiana to install a free grief resources lending library. This library contains numerous books on a variety of grief-related topics, both specific to memory loss and of a more general nature.

These materials were supported by a grant from the ProMedica Hospice Memorial Fund, a financial resource that is generously supported by grateful patients and their families as well as donations in memory of individuals who have passed away. The ProMedica Hospice Memorial Fund enables grant-making to Heartland Hospice patients and families in the amount of $500-$1,500 to seven potential categories, including funding bereavement resources such grief libraries, end-of-life wish fulfillment, grief camps for children, community memorial services, caregiver transition expenses, educational events, and supporting patients and families in financial distress. For more information on this valuable resource, visit the website. 

The grief resource library is available to any interested parties and can be found at 1151 S. Michigan St. South Bend, IN. Books may be borrowed for any length of time needed and patrons are asked to return the book to the library once they are finished reading it so that it may also benefit others.

Mia, Account Liaison, continues to share her story to help educate women on the risks of heart disease and what to look for in the case of a heart attack.

 

Watch Mia's emotional video here.

Sharing a story from the heart is powerful. Hearing survival stories from women living with heart disease make the facts and figures we read come to life. Mia Albert, account liaison for Heartland Hospice serving North Central Indiana, shares her story to help educate women on risk and what to look for in case of a heart attack:

“I went to the ER for nausea, vomiting and pain between my shoulder blades. I thought I was having a gallbladder attack, but imaging showed my gallbladder looked fine. They did end up finding a kidney stone, so I was sent to a urologist who said he didn’t know what was going on with my symptoms but that it wasn’t a kidney stone.

Three days after I was released from the hospital with no real answer to my symptoms, I was back in the ER with excruciating neck and jaw pain. My EKG was normal, but when they drew cardiac indicators, my troponin was elevated which pointed them to the suspicion of a heart attack. They did a cardiac catheterization and not only confirmed I had a heart attack, but that I had multiple arteries that would require bypasses.

Unfortunately, this all happened in April 2020 and COVID-19 restrictions were very heavy. I waited two days in the hospital alone for my open heart surgery. My husband could come in for one hour before the surgery and got to wait for updates during surgery. But I spent the rest of my hospital stay without any friends and family. I was very fortunate to have many staff members who had heard my story through mutual friends. They came in my room to visit and pass along their support and prayers. A good friend of ours is a runner and he would run laps around the hospital and wave to me through my window as he passed by. I returned home a few days later after surgery where my husband, son and family took care of me. We were lucky enough to have meals delivered to our porch from our friends and church family.

To me, it is very important to share my story, especially with other women. When I saw the statistic that women are seven times more likely to be misdiagnosed when having a heart attack, I had this urgency to share everything I went through. I’m doing this for every woman who was ever told her life-threatening heart condition was stress, anxiety, her weight or all in her head. As women, and especially for myself as a mother, we tend to get so busy taking care of others that we don’t always recognize when we need cared for. We definitely have to advocate for ourselves, too. My story is the same story as too many other women and it IS costing us our lives.”

Heartland Hospice serving North Central Indiana recently coordinated a blood drive with their neighbor, Senior Helpers. During these difficult times, Heartland and Senior Helpers wanted to ensure they could give back to those in need in the South Bend area.

South Bend Medical Foundation is a nonprofit medical laboratory that has labs located throughout North Central Indiana. Heartland and Senior Helpers arranged for South Bend Medical Foundation’s Blood Mobile to come to their area to give employees and the community the opportunity to donate blood. Tom Gerard, Heartland Hospice senior account liaison said, “It was our first year doing this and it was nice being able to co-sponsor with our neighbor, Senior Helpers. I encourage all organizations to do something similar. I’ve been donating blood for years and know the importance of donating to help save lives.”

17 people donated blood; 10 of them being Heartland Hospice employees. Stephanie Reed, Heartland Hospice team coordinator, said, “I donated blood because it has been almost two years since the last time I donated, and I wanted to get back into donating regularly. It makes me feel good knowing that I can help my community by doing this.” Tracy Grabill, Heartland’s director of professional services, added, “I have never given blood before. After hearing of the need, especially during this time of COVID-19, I decided it was my time to give. You never know what life brings and I may be in a situation where I need blood and will have to be thankful to the people who have donated for me.”