Literature Review

Here’s to Laura Ptucha-Skoog, hospice nurse YubaNet.com; by Timothy May; 3/10/25 “I’m not sure I’d say much at all, not at first. I would just try to listen.” This in response to the question of how a hospice nurse should respond if patients or family members make demands that seem unreasonable, unwise, or downright impossible. ... Laura Ptucha-Skoog should know; she has been an R.N. for decades and a nurse at Hospice of the Foothills for the last nine years. She loves her job, including the challenge of facilitating communication. Her ability to talk frankly with terminally ill hospital patients and families drew her to a career in hospice. “Often,” Laura explains, “the human elements are as challenging as the medical ones. Things like asking the right questions and listening to responses; making sure your patient and their caregivers understand what you are doing and why; verifying that everyone understands where you are in the process; listening to their responses with patience and empathy.” ... 

We are all storytellers. We all live in a network of stories. There isn't a stronger connection between people than storytelling. ~ Jimmy Neil Smith, Founder and President Emeritus of the International Storytelling Center

Poised for growth, Missouri’s largest aging services nonprofit changes name: Lutheran Senior Services is now EverTrue St. Louis Business Journal; by Jackie Hamilton, VP of Advancement, EverTrue; 3/7/25 One of the oldest nonprofit agencies in the St. Louis region is changing its name to reflect a dynamic change and growth in desired services and offerings for those 60 plus. Beginning this week, the 165-year-old Lutheran Senior Services (LSS) organization, which also is the 11th largest nonprofit senior living provider in the country, will be known as EverTrue. “It’s a transformative moment for the organization,” said Adam Marles, president and CEO of EverTrue. “From right here in St. Louis, we’re leading the country in aging services. In this next chapter, we needed a name and a brand that positioned us for future growth and opportunities, while still being true to our mission.” 

East End Hospice building Saved in LI fires: 'Angels watching over us' Patch, Westhampton-Hampton Bays, NY; by Lisa Finn; 3/10/25 From the ashes of the raging brush fires in the Westhampton area this weekend, a miracle emerged: Despite just being located feet from the spot where charred trees bear testament to the blaze, a structure still stands — the East End Hospice building survived the fire. "Here is our headquarters," East End Hospice President and CEO Mary Crosby wrote on social media. "... inside this building we coordinate the care of hundreds of patients each day. We answer more than 1,000 phone calls a week from families, hospitals, physicians and field staff. Without the dedicated people who work here, there would be no East End Hospice." On Sunday [3/9], she wrote: "Just 24 hours ago, flames roared around this building, damaging our storage structure and spilling into the parking lot. People have said it’s a miracle the building didn’t burn. We know the truth. It was the dedication and skill of our local fire departments that kept our headquarters standing. In the early hours of the fire. We received very little information until a text came through from a firefighter on the ground: 'We saved Hospice.'"

Trends in Pediatric Palliative Care Research (TPPCR) 2025; Issue #2 Siden Research Team; Commentary by Kim Mooney-Doyle, MD; 3/6/25Kim Mooney-Doyle – University of Maryland School of Nursing, MD, USA: I am a nurse scientist dedicated to advancing family health in serious pediatric illness. I have studied parent-sibling relationships and the social ecological factors that impact it for the past decade. ... Siblings are special and, too often, invisible in the care of seriously ill children, adolescents, and young adults. Two articles in this month’s collection bring the needs and experiences of siblings into focus using a family lens. A key take-away from this important work is that while siblings want to communicate with their parents about their brother’s or sister’s illness, it can be hard to initiate such conversations. As clinicians and researchers, we can work with families to devise strategies that foster these conversations, such as providing prompts or a scripted conversation guide to help a parent engage the sibling.  

The staging of 'The Story of My Life' at Asbury Memorial filled with serendipitous moments Savannah Morning News, Savannah, GA; by Amy Paige Condon; 3/6/25 ... [Ray] Ellis, a retired music and drama teacher who works now as a caregiver, and fellow church member Dottie Kluttz, a retired hospice nurse, were hanging decorations in Asbury Memorial’s Social Hall. Ellis shared how his dream of producing “The Story of My Life” was back on his mind … A former hospice nurse, Kluttz founded Savannah Hospice’s Story Keeping program in 2001 as a way for people near the end of their lives to share the story of their lives. …  [Click on the title’s link to read the serendipitous, synergistic encounters that unfolded, resulting in shows March 28, 29, 30.] [Upon underwriting for production costs,] Ellis proposed that ticket sales for the musical could serve as a fundraiser for Savannah Hospice’s Story Keeping program and the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research—a nonprofit near and dear to Ellis, who was diagnosed about three years ago with the progressive brain disease that causes tremors, stiffness and balance problems. … Stage and film actor Mark Rand, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s around the same time as Ellis, agreed to portray Thomas to Ellis’s Alvin—even after Rand thought he would never perform again. …

Tumor: why not use the warrior’s metaphor anymore taketonews; 3/7/25 ... The term "warrior" is often used to describe cancer sick people, referring to their strength, determination and ability to fight the disease. Although the intention is positive, docts and psychologists believe that this metaphor can generate negative effects on people with an oncological disease. The "warrior" label is not always appropriate and can have unwanted psychological effect on cancer patients. ... Use a language that does not reduce the patient to his struggle, but that enhances his entirety, including weakness, depression and pain, can contribute to a more human and respectful experience of care. ... [Click on the title's link for this further information below.]

At the end of life, doctors’ actions and patients’ wishes may be misaligned, according to a Rutgers Health study Rutgers; by Greg Bruno; 2/28/25 For terminally ill cancer patients, the final days of life are immensely personal, having the choice to continue cancer treatments, or to stop treatments and prioritize a more comfortable passing. What a patient wants, however, isn’t always what they receive, according to a Rutgers Health study published in the journal Cancer. “A patient's end of life is often not a reflection of what they want, but rather, who their oncologist happens to be,” said Login S. George, a health services researcher at the Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research, and lead author of the national study. “The data doesn’t indicate patient-centered treatment decisions, but rather, more habitual or default ways of treating patients,” says George, who is also a member of the Cancer Prevention and Control Program at Rutgers Cancer Institute, the state’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. ... [Click on the title's link for more statistics, insights, and recommendations.]

In loving memory of the hour we lost ... I'll drink 2 cups of coffee at the same time. ~ UnknownHappy (?) Daylight Saving Time

The Medical Minute: Measles cases rising in the US, what you can do PennState, Hershey, PA; 3/6/25 A case of measles in a child was confirmed in Montgomery County on March 2 ─ the first reported case in the state in 2025. Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported 164 measles cases in nine states. Texas alone has seen at least 140 cases since late January, including one unvaccinated child who died. Measles is a preventable, highly contagious, airborne virus that can cause serious health complications, including death, especially in children under 5, said Dr. George McSherry, division chief of pediatric infectious diseases at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital. “Measles is a very serious illness. It’s one of the most infectious of the infectious diseases,” McSherry said. “If you put a person with measles in a room with 100 unimmunized people, 90 will get it.” Click on the title's link for more important information. 

Mahogany CEO: Hospice on cusp of ‘tremendous revolution’Hospice News; by Holly Vossel; 3/7/25 Mahogany Home Health and Hospice recently launched services in southwestern Ohio. The new hospice startup is the first Black-owned hospice and home health organization statewide with a drive to improve utilization among underserved populations. This is according to Victor Couzens, owner, founder and CEO of Mahogany Home Health and Hospice. The organization recently received a green light from state licensing agencies to begin serving Cincinnati and Dayton, Ohio and surrounding communities. ... Couzens recently told Hospice News, ... "As a hospice chaplain, I was often confronted with the pressure of trying to fit a square peg into a round hole when it comes to how underserved communities are actually reached and cared for. It’s about offering insights, or even evidence-based approaches, to meeting the needs of Black and brown people, the needs of the LGBTQ+ community, the needs of immigrants and just any other groups who do not make up the majority of the patient population. ..."

"The hospice heart": Hospice industry battles misconceptions, staffing shortages as expectations grow Pharos-Tribune, Logansport, IN; by  Josh Flynn Pharos; 3/9/25 ... There are a lot of misconceptions about hospice care and one of the largest is that entering hospice care is equal to giving up. ...Hospice care is one of the fastest growing industries as the Baby Boomer generation continues to age. The hospice care industry was valued at $34.5 billion in 2022 and is expected to grow in value to $67.7 billion by 2030. But misconceptions about hospice care and nursing shortages could threaten that future success. ... Maria Rogers is the public relations liaison at Guardian Angel Hospice in Logansport and she has devoted herself to tackling the misconceptions that surround hospice care. ... “You don’t have to be actively passing away to receive our services,” Rogers said. ... Jennifer Edwards, executive director of Heart to Heart in Mishawaka and Logansport, said many families don’t understand the role of medicine in hospice care. While something like chemotherapy would be discontinued, a hospice staff would never discontinue medications or fail to treat new problems that came up. ...

Report finds those with Parkinson’s have unmet hospice needsMcKnights Long-Term Care News; by Kristen Fischer; 3/6/25 Hospice use varies depending on whether a person has Parkinson’s disease, Lewy body dementia or Alzheimer’s disease and those with Parkinson’s may have more unmet needs, a new study finds. Researchers evaluated data on 11,327,324 Medicare beneficiaries enrolled in hospice between 2010 and 2020 as part of their study, which was published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open. ... Hospice enrollees who had Parkinson’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies were less likely to be disenrolled from hospice due to extended prognosis compared to those with Alzheimer’s disease. People who had Parkinson’s disease but not dementia with Lewy bodies were more apt to have longer stays over 180 days and turn hospice away compared to those with Alzheimer’s disease. (Short stays were defined as those less than seven days.)