LCMH Hospice Program to be honored at annual ball

by Patrick Thomas

It takes a special person to work in hospice care. Dealing with the emotions of pain, loss and bereavement can take its toll. But in those challenging moments, the hospice staff at Little Company of Mary Hospital (LCMH) proves its mettle.

“I started working in hospice 30 years ago, and I am still in awe of the dedication, responsibility and compassion I see on a regular basis and the giving of the staff in their time and efforts and their flexibility to patients and their families,” said Pat Schmiedl, bereavement coordinator for the LCMH hospice program.

Those qualities earned the staff of the LCMH Hospice Program a distinguished honor. On Saturday night, Feb. 6, at the Field Museum, the hospital community will gather for the annual Crystal Heart Ball, and the LCMH Foundation will present the Sister Nancy Boyle Award for Excellence to the LCMH Hospice Program for its exemplary care to patients and their families during a lifelimiting illness.

Schmiedl defined hospice as “a time when a family and patient have chosen not to pursue recuperation and healing as much as palliative, comfort measures and to stay in their homes more often, instead of going back and forth to the hospital for medical treatments.”

The program continues the mission of the Sisters of the Little Company of Mary, who were offering personal care to the sick and dying in the 1800s. Today they offer holistic care that focuses on a patient’s comfort, providing physical, spiritual and emotional comfort and support to patients with incurable illnesses.

The hospice team is made up of nearly 25 staff members, including nurses, certified nurses assistants, chaplains, social workers and a bereavement coordinator, and it receives assistance from several devoted volunteers.

When it started in 1976, the LCMH Hospice Program was one of the first of its kind on the Southwest Side. Schmiedl worked there in those early years before leaving to raise a family. She later worked in other social services fields and finally returned to LCMH. She said the number of people that staff members see is higher than ever because of the more diversified services hospice offers and also because of need. The hospice program partners with churches and various agencies.

“Faith-based organizations have always seen a need for this, formally or not formally,” she said. “The need now is more prevalent.”

Some patients have been children, while others entering hospice care are older than 100, Schmiedl said. Some patients have made hospice their final resting stop, while others have made remarkable recoveries from illnesses.

“There are times when things happen; and they do recover, and we celebrate with them,” Schmiedl said.

For the majority of patients, however, they are in hospice for comfort, and Schmiedl and other hospice staff members have been personally affected by those patients’ stories.

“I’ll never forget the first lady I worked with. She was my age, and she was dying of cancer,” Schmiedl said. “I could see her pain and her anguish, and I identified with her. I think that very often when we experience something like that, we value life.”

Patients and their families also value what hospice provides. Dalia Bagdonas-Rocotello, of Berwyn, said her mother Herminia L. Bagdonas was dealing with Parkinson’s disease in 1995 when she reached out to LCMH based on a friend’s referral. That first phone call led to a three-year relationship with hospice care.

“I knew from the start of the first call that they made you feel at ease,” Bagdonas-Rocotello said. “The care and compassion that all the staff provided— from the social workers to the nurses, chaplains and even the people bringing out equipment— every one of them was very kind and very passionate and very sensitive throughout a difficult situation.”

The hospice staff dutifully traveled to her mother’s second- floor Brighton Park apartment to offer a hand and be at her side. When her permanent caregiver needed to attend Mass each Sunday at 7 a.m., a LCMH hospice volunteer came and sat with Bagdonas for an hour. When Bagdonas wanted to unwind, a chaplain from LCMH would entertain her by singing songs with her. When she needed care, the LCMH nurses were close by.

“I used to think hospice meant cutting off all their medicine,” Bagdonas-Rocotello said. “But really it’s the whole idea of providing comfort care. It’s all about treating people with love, dignity and respect.”

After her mother died in December 2008, Bagdonas-Rocotello again connected with the LCMH hospice team and was invited to attend a meeting on grieving. There she received more needed attention and met a new group of friends. They meet every six weeks to have a potluck brunch and talk.

“I found it to be very helpful. No matter how old a parent is or how long they suffer, it’s still hard. It’s still a loss of life,” Bagdonas-Rocotello said. “It’s been very nice to have that support and to see each other.”

At the annual Crystal Heart Ball fundraiser, the LCMH Foundation will also present the Venerable Mary Potter Humanitarian Award to Christopher G. Kennedy, president of Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc. Kennedy will be honored for his devotion to humanitarian causes and dedication to helping those in need, LCMH officials said. Continuing his family’s legacy of civic involvement and commitment to charitable causes, Kennedy has been an instrumental supporter of the Greater Chicago Food Depository, Special Olympics Chicago, the Catholic Theological Union and several other organizations.

Tickets to the Crystal Heart Ball are $300 per person, and proceeds will benefit “Values. Vision. Innovation: The Campaign for Little Company of Mary Hospital.” Contact the LCMH Foundation to purchase a raffle or event ticket at (708) 229-5447 or visit the Web site at lcmh.org/gala.

This is part of the February 3, 2010 online edition of The Beverly Review.

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