Since 1980, Benton group has care for more than 3,000 patients

Lying on a hospital bed in his southwest Corvallis home, Jim Howland looked up at the wall, where some of his silkscreen prints hang. He focused on them as a Hospice worker smoothed out the knots in his back, and slowly released the tension built up in his arms and legs.

“I’m making sure he has as much range of mobility in his joints as possible,” physical therapist Elizabeth Bolte said as she gently pushed Howland onto his side to work on his spine. She put pillows all around Howland’s 91-year-old body, checking in with him and listening closely as he gasped out responses to her questions.

Howland, one of the founders of CH2M Hill, was diagnosed with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), or Lou Gehrig’s disease, three years ago. The disease is progressive and affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. It has made it difficult for Howland to breathe and speak, and he spends much of his time in a wheelchair provided by Hospice.

Howland and his wife, Ruth, 89, have lived in their home for 55 years. When his condition became too much for Ruth to handle alone, she called in 24-hour care through Home Care and Elder Services. Shortly after, Benton Hospice staff began coming to the house.

Howland said he feels almost every need he has is now taken care of.

“It’s wonderful,” he said. “They’ve been marvelous.”

Benton Hospice has been providing end-of-life care to Benton County residents since 1980. Last month, the organization took on its 3,000th patient.

Hospice provides a variety of staff to patients who are in the final stages of their life, often because of chronic illness. The focus of the nurses, physical therapists, counselors and volunteers provided by Hospice is pain management, emotional support and, most important, giving a sense of control to people as they face their final days.

There is also help for families. Hospice volunteers are at hand to take Ruth to appointments if she decides not to use Dial-A-Bus.

For the Howlands, Hospice provides peace of mind and allows Ruth and Jim to continue living together.

“It’s such a gigantic help,” Ruth said.

Howland’s nurse, Caroline Zaworski, has been a Hospice staff member since 1995. She said the most rewarding part of her job is helping people find their own quality of life at the end of their life, and “giving them some control” of their decision-making and their surroundings.

“It’s a very holistic team approach,” Zaworski said. “I want to know people in their environment. In a hospital you don’t get to know people.”

Often, people enter Hospice so late that they barely have time to gain the benefit of the service. But other times, as in the case of Howland, who has been receiving Hospice care for nearly a year, the team really forms a close bond.

“They have the gift of knowing their time is limited,” Zaworski said, “and we help them find the resources to use their time the best they can, which is a real gift to their families.”

Benton Hospice has many volunteers who can help patients and families achieve some of their final dreams, Zaworski said.

“We help people get to the coast one more time, we help them do the things they want to do before they don’t have a chance,” Zaworski said. “There was a 15-year-old with a brain tumor, and we did an art show for her, and it was just wonderful.”

Staff also helps take care of the family’s needs. In the Howlands’ case, their children live far away, so Zaworski keeps in close touch with them, and also has gone with Ruth to some of her doctor’s appointments.

“I communicate with the son back in Boston and others who have concerns about Ruth and we try to get things arranged,” she said, and she said Jim felt better knowing that his wife was being taken care of as well.

As Anne Buckley’s garden slowly wakes up, she keeps spring alive inside her house with fresh bouquets of flowers, brought to her once a week by a Hospice volunteer.

For 30 years, Buckley has lived in her Timberhill home, tending to her roses and for a time growing a small vegetable garden. But recently, Buckley’s health — she has pulmonary disease — has prevented her from gardening, so having that bouquet arrive each week is important to her.

Buckley’s daughter, Mary Anne Nusrala, is a former Hospice volunteer who has moved in temporarily so that she has 24-hour care, which became necessary when Buckley fell and injured her arm.

Between Hospice and her daughter and son-in-law, Jim, Buckley can remain in her house rather than moving to a care facility, which means she’ll be able to watch her flower garden bloom again this spring.

“It’s the best thing that could happen to you,” she said.

The day after Bela Fonyo’s 100th birthday last year, he was rushed to the hospital as his body began to fail. Doctors gave him less than 24 hours to live, but Fonyo rallied and, after temporarily being placed at Corvallis Manor to receive nursing care, he was allowed to come home.

Fonyo’s daughter, Caroline Boggess, assembled a support network to keep her father healthy and happy, including Hospice care and daily help from the Mennonite In-Home Care team. Between them and the daily time she spends with her father, he has bloomed.

“Things have been really good, and he likes being in his house, he’s very happy here,” Boggess said.

Fonyo refuses to go see doctors, so having Hospice take care of him at home is especially important. Because of Hospice and in-home care, Boggess has been able to reduce the hours she spends taking care of him down to about four hours a day.

“The support of Hospice for me emotionally plus the extra care they give him is just perfect,” Boggess said.

Fonyo’s quality of life, his mood and his health have all improved under the combined care he receives from Hospice and the Mennonite team.

“I’m still here,” he said. “I do the best I can.”

And he’s grateful for the care he’s receiving.

“I couldn’t do it without them,” he said. “I have four or five different girls, and each one is nicer than the other. I can’t complain. They treat me well.”

Holistic care

Hospice is provided to patients of all ages whom doctors believe are likely to live no longer than six months. Care can be extended beyond that point if the patient survives but continues declining. Hospice’s emphasis is not on length of life but quality of life.

Hospice focuses on “palliative” care, that is, holistic care that is aimed at providing comfort and control of pain and symptoms. Along with providing medical assistance, Hospice serves patients’ family members with emotional support and counseling.

Hospice provides staff, medication and equipment to patients. Care is covered under Medicare, Medicaid and many insurance providers. Inability to pay is never a consideration. Hospice can be utilized in a person’s home or a care facility.

For more information on Benton Hospice, call 757-9616 or go to www.bentonhospice.org.