Interest, funds raised for Aroostook Hospice House of Comfort

    PRESQUE ISLE — Betty Walker, a member of the Grant Memorial United Methodist Church’s Missions and Social Concerns Committee, recently presented a $500 check to the Aroostook Hospice Foundation, Inc. in memory of Maxine Duncan, a much loved church family member. Walker explained that committee members had voted to make a multi-year commitment of funds raised from the church’s annual Thanksgiving dinner to the hospice organization.
    Duncan’s life has also served as the inspiration to the Duncan family to spearhead a community effort to bring a free-standing hospice house to Aroostook County. As a result, in June of 2009, a group of interested volunteers met and formed the Aroostook Hospice Foundation, Inc., a non-profit 501(c) (3) entity.
    This newly formed organization is dedicated to bringing a free-standing four- to six-bed hospice house to The County in the next five years. The Aroostook Hospice House of Comfort, as it has been named, will provide support and care for the terminally ill patient, their family and friends in a homelike setting. The Foundation’s goal is to assure the patient has quality time in an atmosphere of peace, comfort, hope, compassion and tranquility. A team approach of hospice professionals consisting of physicians, nurses, health aides, social workers, chaplains, bereavement staff and volunteers will work with each patient and their family to customize and follow a plan that reflects the patient’s needs and wishes.
    Traditionally hospice care allows the patient to remain in their own home for as long as possible and provides support to the patient and family by keeping the patient comfortable and as pain-free as possible while still maintaining their dignity and quality of life. Unfortunately, in-home hospice care is not always a viable option for the terminally ill patient creating the need for a free-standing hospice. There are numerous reasons for this. For example, there may be no extended family member locally who can become the primary caregiver, or as often happens, the patient’s caregiver is elderly, frail or has a medical condition that prevents them from being able to sustain the demanding 24-hour care necessary. It is also not unusual for a hospice patient who is being cared for at home to experience a change or deterioration in their symptoms and require a more active 24-hour intervention. Finally, the caregiver could simply need a temporary respite. The Aroostook Hospice House of Comfort, when built, will fill the local community need in all these situations and do so in a homelike environment.
    Today, terminally ill patients across Aroostook County who want or require an alternative to in-home hospice care have no satisfactory option that would enable them to be in a homelike environment and yet remain close to a familiar environment of family, friends, clergy and doctors they know. The reality is the nearest free-standing hospices are located south of Bangor. The distance from The County alone makes free-standing hospices untenable for most county families. Bringing the Aroostook Hospice House of Comfort to the area would make it possible to provide the comfort and support so essential for terminally ill patients and their families in the final days of their lives. This is the dream of the Foundation.
    Those people or groups interested in donating or volunteering should contact Rick or Nancy Duncan at 764-6068.