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Cloud County Commission Proclaims November as National Hospice and Palliative Care Month

Written By: Toby Nosker Published Date: 10-30-2023

Front Row l to r: Cloud County Commissioners Ron Copple, Mike Cleveland and Gary Caspers; Back Row l to r: Meadowlark Hospice Volunteer Coordinator Rhys Baker, Volunteer Michelle Graham, Meadowlark Hospice Director Amy Burr, Volunteers Gwen Miller, Sister Susan Marie Stoeber, and Sister Loretta Clare Flax

The Cloud County Commission has proclaimed November 2023 as National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, encouraging citizens to increase their understanding and awareness of care at the end of life, discuss their end of life wishes with their families, and observe this month with appropriate activities and programs.

This year’s theme is “Courageous Conversations.”

Meadowlark Hospice is planning proclamation signings throughout their service area of Clay, Cloud, Marshall, Republic, Western Riley, and Washington Counties. In addition, Meadowlark Hospice is working with local public libraries to coordinate educational displays, helping those in our service area to educate themselves to start their own “courageous conversations."

In a culture that often teaches us to resist mortality and a healthcare system defined by interventionism, the seemingly simple act of having a conversation about dying can have a profound impact. If I am faced with a terminal diagnosis, how would my values shape my end-of-life journey? How do I want my loved ones to engage with me toward the end of my life? It’s difficult to think about these questions but having these courageous conversations with ourselves, family, friends, and doctors can mean the difference between having the type of death a patient wants – one that matches up with their values and desires – and one that doesn’t allow them to have a say in their own
end-of-life journey. Throughout Hospice and Palliative Care Month this November, the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) is encouraging everyone to have these Courageous Conversations to start a meaningful dialogue on “dying a good death.”

Each year, over one million Medicare beneficiaries receive care from hospices across the United States. Hospice teams craft plans of care that ensure pain management, therapies, and treatments all centering on the patients’ and their loved ones’ goals and wishes. Hospice care also provides emotional support and advice to help family members become confident caregivers and adjust to the future with grief support for up to a year.

For more than 39 years, Meadowlark Hospice has helped provide interdisciplinary, supportive care, allowing patients to spend their final months wherever they call home, surrounded by their loved ones.

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