How Hospice of North Iowa can help families

This is the third of a three-part series discussing the importance of hospice and its effect on North Iowa families faced with terminal illness.

Hospice of North Iowa has served Mitchell County and nine other surrounding counties for many years, becoming a part of Mercy Medical Center-North Iowa on July 1, 1997.

Barb Godfrey, Mason City has been the community liaison for Hospice of North Iowa since October 2015 and was previously a nurse in the Mercy system since 1990. She said her passion for the job comes from personal experience.

"My dad passed away at Hospice of North Iowa in 2010," she said. "I now feel this is my passion."

Godfrey said hospice is a team of individuals who serve the patient and their family wherever they are.

"We are here to help a patient find resolution at the end of their life," Godfrey said. "In traditional care, without hospice services, if an individual needs urgent help, they have to go to emergency room or call an ambulance. With hospice, a person calls for a nurse, who is on-call 24-hours a day, and she will be sent out to help."

Godfrey stressed a patient keeps his or her personal physician and the hospice team adds support. She also emphasized her organization and local physicians work well together.

Godfrey said hospice has three levels of care for clients, who meet requirements. To qualify, the organization can be contacted by the patient, a family member or may be referred by a nurse or doctor. The patient's medical records are reviewed by the person's own primary care physician and hospice's medical director, to determine if the patient is eligible as defined by Medicare guidelines.

One of the major guidelines is if the patient's life's expectancy is six months or less.

"Some have been in the service beyond six months, even for a year or two," Godfrey said. "Some see conditions improve so much they no longer meet Medicare guidelines for hospice, and they graduate out of the program."

The program covers all terminal issues including accidents, not just cancer, which only accounts for a little more than one-third of all hospice patients.

"Hospice is a nonprofit organization," Godfrey said. "All money goes back into our ongoing mission of caring for and comforting patients and their families. Medicare, Medicaid, and commercial insurance companies reimburse us. Medicare pays 100 percent of cost related to a terminal diagnosis.

"But no one is ever turned away due financial constraints, because we have such generous donors from the community who feel it is so important to care for the family."

Godfrey said there are three levels of hospice care, which include home care and acute-level hospital care.

The third level, which hospice provides, is an extra layer of support for the patient and their family. It is provided through nursing services, social workers, spiritual care and hospice aids, who can provide bathing, oral and hair care, light meal preparation and light housekeeping. Massage therapy is also available.

The program also focuses on the needs of the caregiver, by providing respite care. In respite care, assistance is provided so primary caregivers can leave town when needed, and patients can be moved to care facilities for a short time to provide relief for families.

Another service for patients is the availability of music therapy, which is a great comfort for patients as they end life.

Spiritual support is also available for patients and their families, "but they don't take the place of personal clergy," Godfrey said.

Bereavement and social services are also available to the family for up to one year after the death of the patient. Hospice offers both support groups and volunteers, who come to set with grieving families.

Along with regular staff, Hospice of North Iowa has 145 trained volunteers who serve in many ways, such as landscapers, receptionists, greeters, cookie bakers or companions in homes and hospital visits.

"Hospice wants to provide community support and education, not just for the last days of life, but for the last phase of life. We want people to call early to obtain education for what hospice can do for the patient and their family," Godfrey said. "I will come out and visit with individuals and families to explain how hospice works."

Godfrey is available for group presentations. Reach her at 641-428-6208.