Yes, hospice care is available in rural Maine
Alicia Mooney is a certified hospice nurse with 20 years’ experience in rural Maine, caring for patients and their families. Alicia works with Bangor-based Community Health and Counseling Services. Speaking from the CHCS Dover-Foxcroft office, she said, “My position takes me to all the area offices.”
What is hospice? What does hospice mean to me? Families considering hospice care usually ask Alicia Mooney those questions first. How does she answer? Carefully, she said. “The theory of hospice was around long before the Medicare hospice benefit.
“Generally, hospice is providing care to patients who have a terminal diagnosis of less than six months. That’s a basic definition,” Alicia said. “Regulatory wise, it’s a little more challenging as regulations have changed through the Medicare system.”
Alicia and I agreed it’s pointless losing readers in a maze of regulatory words and phrases. So, I asked her, “For people in Piscataquis County weighing sticking around or leaving, is having a nearby robust hospice service important?”
“Absolutely,” Alicia said. “I think it’s important to know, number one, [hospice care] can be done at home. Because that’s where most people want to die — at home. Some do not. But most people want to stay at home as long as they can.
“I think public awareness is a little bit better about the hospice program,” than 20 years ago, Alicia said, answering another question. “But there’s still a great opportunity to educate everybody about what hospice care is, and the benefits received.
“One of the things we hear from most of our families is, ‘I had no idea the care I was going to receive when we elected [to take] the hospice benefit.’ They’re absolutely amazed at how much support they get, and all the services covered to help keep their loved one, who’s dying, at home,”Alicia said.
“Piscataquis County has a great resource in Pine Tree Hospice [in Dover-Foxcroft],” Alicia continued. “Pine Tree Hospice is a volunteer hospice; we at CHCS are a medical hospice. If Pine Tree Hospice has a [patient with a] terminal diagnosis, regardless of where they are, they can go in and provide volunteer support. We [CHCS] are a medical hospice, regulated by Medicare, MaineCare, the insurance companies, as to what we are allowed to provide,” she explained.
Smiling when I asked about her motivation to become a certified hospice nurse, Alicia said she was providing home care services for CHCS patients [beginning in 1997]. “It was never my intention … to be a hospice nurse,” she said. Her certification came In 2000.
“And I realized what a privilege it is to be involved in this portion of a person’s life. Sometimes I think, ‘I wish I had known this person when [they were healthier],’” she said. “But, it’s my role to know this person now. And to help them with this transition, and try to make it as peaceful for them, and okay for the people left behind.”
Our conversation, for now, was ending. Points we missed? “I’d really like people to know how to find information about the hospice benefit. Whether Pine Tree Hospice, the Maine Hospice Council [in Augusta], or the CHCS web site. Just to have the awareness of what great hope and comfort can come from the hospice benefit.”
Two more points: “There’s always a need for hospice volunteers. Contact Pine Tree Hospice.” And, “There isn’t a bad time” to speak with someone about planning for hospice care. It’s a unique experience, a very personal [experience]. To me, it’s always a privilege to be able to support the patient and their family at this point in time.”
For more information:
Pine Tree Hospice
883 W. Main St
Dover-Foxcroft, ME 04426
(207) 564-4359
Community Health & Counseling Services
1093 W. Main Street
Dover-Foxcroft, ME 04426
207- 564-2267
http://bit.ly/2kuZKYQ
Maine Hospice Council
295 Water St
Augusta, ME 04330
(207) 626-0651
http://mainehospicecouncil.org
Scott K. Fish has served as a communications staffer for Maine Senate and House Republican caucuses, and was communications director for Senate President Kevin Raye. He founded and edited AsMaineGoes.com and served as director of communications/public relations for Maine’s Department of Corrections until 2015. He is now using his communications skills to serve clients in the private sector.