For the staff working at Cayman HospiceCare, no day is typical and no hours are normal.
But one feature of the job that can be counted on is the dedication of the people at the organisation.
Hospice Manager John Borgwardt took up his post in September 2004, but had been volunteering there since April last year.
‘As a volunteer, I transported patients and helped in the day centre. I actually moved here 5½ years ago to retire. But the office manager left and they wanted to restructure the job into a regular hospice manager, so here I am,’ he said.
He was a funeral director in the US for 25 years. After he sold that business in 1992, he travelled around the country teaching empathic communication skills, problem solving and team building.
His experience as a Stephen Minister in the US since 1988 has also proven invaluable in his new role.
‘The Stephen Ministry is a lay trans-denominational care-giving ministry which offers facilitative grief support,’ Mr. Borgwardt said.
Stephen ministers are trained to deal with hospitalised and terminally ill people.
But, Mr. Borgwardt has to do a little bit of everything.
‘I don’t exactly have a job description. I do whatever needs to be done – administration, bookkeeping and operations,’ he said.
As with everywhere else in Grand Cayman, Hurricane Ivan set back the hospice. The hurricane hit during Mr. Borgwardt’s first month on the job.
‘The first three months were devoted to disaster management and repairs,’ he said.
In addition to recovering from the storm, earlier this year there was a turnover in personnel, with the hospice having to replace both palliative care nurses.
The five full-time employees are Mr. Borgwardt, two specialist palliative care nurses and two care givers; a fundraiser works part-time.
Heather Huizinga and Jenny Kwakwa are both palliative care nurses.
Mrs. Huizinga joined HospiceCare 9 April, from the Cayman Islands Humane Society, an organisation with which she is still closely involved.
Ms Kwakwa started at the hospice 14 June, literally just off the plane from the UK where she has trained others in palliative care.
‘Jenny got off her BA flight and the next morning went right to work for 12 hours. She was thrown, not eased, into the job,’ Mr. Borgwardt said.
Flexibility is one of the keys to success at their jobs, he explained.
‘There is a complex mass of human emotions when families face the loss of their loved ones.
‘Every family is different, every life is different, every death is different. The gift our nurses bring is that they can go in and assess what kind of intervention each family needs. They assess the physical, social, psychological and spiritual needs of the family,’ he said.
‘We don’t go out with directions for patients. We see what they want,’ Mrs. Huizinga added.
Fundraiser Jennifer McCarthy believes it takes a special person to be a hospice nurse.
‘I don’t think you could choose to do this job. You either have the gift or don’t. You can’t teach yourself that kind of compassion,’ she said.
The reception to the hospice has been encouraging.
‘People have embraced an extremely foreign concept – letting strangers into your home,’ Ms Kwakwa said.
But, sometimes potential clients misunderstand the role of the hospice, explained Mrs. Huizinga.
‘One woman who was recently diagnosed with cancer doesn’t want us to come see her. She told us, ‘If you come, that means I’m going.’ But, we can help at all stages of the disease,’ she said.
On average, the staff cares for 20 to 30 patients each month, Mr. Borgwardt said. In addition to the hands-on nursing care available, the hospice loans such things as hospital equipment, beds and commodes to patients.
‘All of our services are provided free of charge, but we need highly skilled nurses and that costs money,’ Mr. Borgwardt said.
The hospice needs CI$25,000 per month to operate. ‘It is really difficult and challenging in this environment,’ he added.
Since 1999, when the hospice was founded, it has relied almost exclusively upon donations from the community, which includes fundraising events and volunteer work, according to Mrs. McCarthy.
‘We also encourage membership through committing to a donation on a yearly basis,’ she said.
The care the hospice gives means a lot to both patients and their families.
‘Sometimes people leave us money in their wills and sometimes families encourage donations to us in lieu of flowers.
‘Not only is that a huge help financially but a positive indication of how the patients and their families feel about the care they have received,’ Mrs. McCarthy.
For the future, Mr. Borgwardt wants to heighten awareness of the hospice since it has traditionally been low profile.
‘We want to reach out to the community more to allow people who need our services to receive our services,’ he said.
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