ProMedica Hospice Serving Southwest Ohio partnered with The Summit Academy Community School for the second year in a row to collect and donate items to the school. The local, inner-city school specializes in educating students with ADHD, Autism Spectrum Disorders and related disorders. Last year, the hospice team donated items to fill their art room and wanted to continue the donations this year. ProMedica collected items to help stock the school’s “Honey-Beehive Pantry”. The pantry is an area where students, families and staff in need can go for many different items, free of charge. The items range from uniforms, to personal care, to groceries.

The ProMedica Hospice team also held a “Penny War” to help collect money. Six teams within the agency collected change for their designated bins for six weeks. After six weeks, $500 had been collected and the money was donated to The Summit Academy so they can give students prizes and a pizza party this year.

ProMedica Hospice is proud to be a community partner and support those in Southwest Ohio!

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!

Heartland Hospice serving Southwest Ohio recently hosted a blanket drive for Maslow’s Army, a local homeless organization. The Heartland staff and volunteers were able to collect over 90 new blankets, as well as a large cash donation.  During the winter, blankets are one of the most needed items according to Tim McCracken, a volunteer with Maslow’s Army who came to the office to collect the items.

Maslow’s Army is a non-profit that works on an emergency basis to help individuals and families experiencing homelessness. Heartland is committed to being a helpful, caring and responsive resource to the local community.

Amy Misch, administrator for Heartland Hospice serving Southwest Ohio, details the challenges her team faced with helping to raise awareness and funds for the Alzheimer’s Association’s Walk to End Alzheimer’s. With the coronavirus pandemic creating obstacles to how they have raised funds in the past, Amy and her team had to get creative.

“For the past several years, Heartland Hospice has supported the Alzheimer’s Association and the Walk to End Alzheimer’s. So many of our patients and families are directly impacted by Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia and the Alzheimer’s Association is such as helpful resource for them. It is only natural that we would want to be a part of the annual walk. Except in 2020 during a pandemic, that had to look a little different!

With COVID-19, the Walk to End Alzheimer’s became a virtual event and as a result, it became more challenging to raise funds and encourage participation. Our team looked at different ways to fundraise and be a part of this event. Many of us set up fundraisers on Facebook through the Walk to End Alzheimer’s mobile app, which was such an easy and impactful way to raise money. We also sent out emails and texts to our friends and family asking for support. Many of the team members also chose to self-donate. I am very fortunate that my husband’s company matches any employee donations, so we were able to double our impact through his company match.

On the day of the walk, we all walked in our own neighborhoods or in small groups of friends and family and posted on social media and the mobile app. I personally have been a part of the walk planning committee for several years and because of that commitment, I felt it was important for my team to be a leader in supporting this event. To date, we have raised over $13,250 and hope to raise even more by the end of the year! I am so incredibly proud of our team for their dedication to help raise awareness for these diseases.”

Heartland Hospice Serving Southwest Ohio wanted to spread some cheer and smiles to the residents and staff at Garden Park Health Care Center in Cincinnati, Ohio. In a conversation with Garden Park’s Assistant Director of Nursing, Heartland learned that many residents, including those receiving care from Heartland, are feeling very lonely because they are not able to see their friends or family as often. After hearing this, Mike, Volunteer Coordinator, and Cassandra, Director of Professional Services, Cassandra’s daughter, and Jessica, Heartland Hospice volunteer, decided to create encouraging signs and paint some of the residents’ windows to help cheer them up.

“It was a privilege to be able to be there for them. Helping create the posters was fun, but the best part for me was seeing some of the residents through the windows. We all need to know we matter, and people value us. These things become even more important when the residents’ friends and family cannot come into the building,” said Mike.