Where do your donations go?

When you make a donation to Hospice of Palm Beach County Foundation, your generosity offers comfort and assurance to families who are facing the end of life. The funds and resale store goods you donate are used to fill the significant gap between what is covered by Medicare, Medicaid and private insurance, so that each patient and family can have the highest possible quality of life. With more than 1,000 families in our care each day, your support has a profound effect on so many lives in our community.

In addition to funding our extensive Grief Support and Music Therapy programs, it is your support that directly provides our patients the non-reimbursed treatments and medications that are crucial to their comfort, and offers hospice care for families without insurance or the ability to pay.

Carl, a middle-aged man with metastasized cancer, wants to go on hospice care at home. He wants to get relief from his symptoms, spend his remaining time at home with his wife and children and make sure they get the emotional and grief support they need. To relieve the intense pain caused by the size of his tumor, he needs to continue radiation treatments. Yet, they are not covered under his insurance policy's hospice benefit. Thanks to our donors, we are able to admit him and patients like him who need complex treatments for comfort, such as radiation, chemotherapy, transfusions and IV medications. Many hospices, without our "open access" approach to care, simply would not admit Carl.

The Robinsons, a family with no medical insurance or resources, needs our care for their 12-year-old child who has cancer. Thanks to our donors, we are able to provide charitable care for this family, offering expert medical care and comfort for their son and the emotional and spiritual support their whole family needs.

Miriam, an elderly woman in an independent living facility, has developed difficulty breathing. Each and every hour it makes her uncomfortable, interrupts her sleep and causes her great emotional distress. She needs treatments to ease her breathing, but the medications are not covered under her hospice diagnosis. Your donations are used to provide these medications, giving her welcome relief.

Sharon is grieving the loss of her husband, who recently died from Alzheimer's. After 50 years of marriage and 10 years of caregiving, Sharon feels lost. Miles away from her adult children, she struggles with managing the intensity of her emotions, getting adequate sleep, and finding the hope that life can one day be good again. Your donations help to provide bereavement counseling for people like Sharon so that they can better cope with the challenges of losing a loved one.

These are just four stories of the thousands each year, as families are cared fro by Hospice of Palm Beach County. "As a not-for-profit hospice, our philosophy is simple to do whatever it takes to offer everyone in our community the comfort, compassion and dignity they need during their final months. Thanks to your support, we can make that possible," explained Greg Leach, president of Hospice of Palm Beach County Foundation. "We are so very grateful for our donors and the many good people who support our events and resale shops. Your generosity means so much for families at their time of greatest need."

THE IMPACT OF YOUR DONATIONS...

• For $15 per day, we can provide medication for one patient.
• For $155 per day, we can provide end-of-life care to one indigent patient.
• For $175 we can provide in-home assistance for one 8-hour day for one caregiver.
• For $250 we can buy a guitar for one of our music therapists.
• For $300 per day, we can provide one day of palliative chemotherapy for a patient.
• For $375 we can send one grieving child to Camp SeaStar.

As the fundraising arm of Hospice of Palm Beach County, the Hospice of Palm Beach County Foundation is an independent, 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization with its own staff and board of directors. The Foundation raises funds through special events and donations of all kinds.

A Healing Story

“I hope that everyone who is struggling with the loss of a loved one will reach out for the help available at Hospice of Palm Beach County...”

– Valencia Campbell

When Valencia Campbell was twenty years old, she and her husband, Cornel, had a beautiful baby boy named Jonathan. Life was full and happy for the young couple as they were working, going to college and raising their son. When he was just six months old, Valencia discovered that she was pregnant again, this time with a little girl.

Jonathan and Kayla

There was something very special about Kayla. No one in the Campbells’ large, extended family or circle of friends had known a baby quite like her. She seemed intently aware of people, paying close attention to them and engaging them. “She was like a little princess who attracted everyone around her, and they responded to her with so much love,” said Valencia.

Yet, life was about to take a tragic turn for the Campbells. When she was just three months old, Kayla died very suddenly from a traumatic medical event. As one might expect, her death was a devastating shock to the family and very difficult for them to accept. Bereft members of the family reacted differently – some withdrew, others cried continuously, and still others functioned in a haze of grief.

In the midst of gathering her bearings, Valencia had decisions to make. Her semester at Palm Beach State College was about to begin. Now one month after her daughter’s death, Valencia had become extremely anxious and depressed, rarely leaving the house. She made the decision to continue with her education as planned, hoping that focusing on something outside of her pain would help break the downward spiral of depression and anxiety she was experiencing.

At school, she attended a class on grief, hoping that it would offer some relief. Someone attending that class recommended that she contact Hospice of Palm Beach County for professional bereavement counseling. She called that day, and it was a call that would change her life.

“If it were not for Hospice of Palm Beach County’s bereavement program, I don’t know if I’d be here today,” confided Valencia. “I felt like I was drowning in the sadness. I just couldn’t accept that my baby wasn’t coming back.” Working with a bereavement counselor, Valencia learned to cope with her stress and depression. She gradually learned to accept Kayla’s death and found ways to deal with it. She also came to understand that everyone deals with grief differently, which helped her family’s healing process.

“Now I know that Kayla is part of me - and that comfort will never go away. Feelings of loss come and go, but I have healthy ways of coping with them,” Valencia continued. “I hope that everyone who is struggling with the loss of a loved one will reach out for the help available at Hospice of Palm Beach County. It can make such a difference if you allow them to help you. I am not unique. If I can do it, anyone can.”

Valencia, Jonathan, and Cornel

Today, Valencia feels like a blessed person. In appreciation of the support of Hospice of Palm Beach County, her professors, family and friends, she set the goal of becoming a social worker to help others. Now, two years after Kayla’s death, she will complete her bachelor’s degree at FAU in 2012 and immediately pursue a Master’s in Social Work. She plans to get her doctorate. “I could never repay everyone who has helped me. Their efforts have shaped my determination and success today. No matter what, I promised myself I would never give up,” added Valencia.

Cheryl Dely, Bereavement Counselor - You’re not alone in your time of need

Cheryl was caring for an elderly woman who had just lost her husband. The woman was very distraught. For the time following the passing of her husband, she had friends, neighbors and Cheryl to help her cope. On one particular night, the woman was having a difficult time. Her neighbor stayed by her side for a while but had to leave. Cheryl was concerned that the woman would wake during the night or in the morning and become confused; it would be the first time that she would wake up alone. So Cheryl spent the night on a couch just outside the bedroom door to ensure the wellbeing of the woman. When the patient woke, Cheryl comforted her. She stayed throughout the day to help with plans, comfort her as needed and ultimately be a shoulder to cry on.

Getting involved in Education

(l-r) Christina Dekkar with Helen Crawford, Guidance Counselor/Teacher at Seminole Ridge High School

At the recent School Board Institute event at Park Vista High School, Christina Dekkar and members of the John J. Brogan Bereavement Center were on hand to provide information to all Palm Beach County Guidance Counselors in attendance. Attendees had the opportunity to learn about our school based-bereavement programs as well as other services offered through our bereavement center. "This was a great opportunity to introduce new guidance counselors to our programs and served as a refresher to those who already know about our program."

Camp SeaStar

Every year Hospice of Palm Beach County, through the John J. Brogan Bereavement Center, prepares an open invitation to any child that had a loved one in their services or is currently in their services, and any child that is attending one of their school programs in the community to Camp *SeaStar.

The focus of Camp SeaStar is to act as a support system for children and teens. The objectives of the camp are to aid these kids in:

• Identifying ways to cope with change
• Improving self-esteem
• Learning to recognize and validate their feelings
• Identifying safe ways of grief expression
• Recognizing that having fun and celebrating are still a part of life

"We look at camp as a continuation of the counseling they have already had," said Christina Dekkar, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) for Hospice of Palm Beach County. "We do activities that honor their loved ones. We also do Adventure Counseling. It helps children with team building and self-esteem. Children pick goals for the weekend and work as a team to overcome a variety of challenges to meet those goals."

The camp is held at Everglades Youth Camp and it is for two nights. The children have time to play games, canoe, and swim and there is a cabin decorating contest. The goal is to produce a camp that is safe and fun in an environment that encourages kids to share their stories. To end the camp everyone is involved in a drumming circle. "It is so heartwarming to see how much these kids grow over the weekend," said Christina. "Many kids make long-lasting friendships and keep in touch with each other after the camp is over."

Children and teens can attend the camp up to two times. If you have any questions regarding Camp Seastar or the other programs at the John J. Brogan Bereavement Center, don’t hesitate to call 227-5258.