Helene and Hospice: "We're seeing such personal sacrifices ... It's heartwarming and heartbreaking ..."

10/06/24 at 03:45 AM

Helene and Hospice: "We're seeing such personal sacrifices ... It's heartwarming and heartbreaking ..."
Hospice & Palliative Care Today; Zoom meeting with Teleios Collaborative Network (TCN), Chris Comeaux and Tina Gentry; 10/2/24
[These excerpts are from a Zoom meeting between TCN's leaders Chris Comeaux (Hendersonville, NC just outside of Asheville, NC) and Tina Gentry (Fort Mill, SC) and this newsletter's leaders Cordt Kassner and Joy Berger. Click here for the longer transcription. Continue reading for ways you can help.] 
Chris Comeaux: There's great tragedy, great devastation, and there are beautiful miracles occurring at the same time. … I know I'm going to keep using words like historic, unprecedented, devastating. There are not even words to describe what we’re seeing. ... 
Tina Gentry: It's just heart wrenching. You want to be able to go and fix things and you just can't do it, right? You don't feel like you can do enough. And knowing that there are certain limitations and that we have to rely on other resources to help support our teams. We have to do what we can and then trust that others will do what they can to help.  ...
Chris Comeaux: All of our all staff is accounted for. Some are still without water, electricity. [Some] staff at Four Seasons [Hospice], CCWNC [Community Care of Western North Carolina], Amorem staff … have completely lost their homes. They’re gone. We have a wonderful partner that serves many of our hospices. Yesterday, they found the body of their dear neighbor. They can't even get to their house. It would be a 10-mile hike through things that today--in modern days--you would go, “How is that possible?” … I've always heard the word, “aftermath.” I now understand what people mean by “aftermath.” ...
Tina Gentry: … We’re seeing such personal sacrifices from those team members on the ground. It’s really heartwarming and heartbreaking all at the same time. ...
Chris Comeaux: … What I've seen is, sometimes you have friendly rivalries in the hospice and palliative care world. That's gone. We're all family right now and that--I just, whew--that moves me to tears. That's the type of stuff that's like, you know what? Ok, that gives me hope that we are going to get beyond this. ... [See this in Today's Encouragement.]
Key Themes:

  • Devastation; being cut off from communications and supplies; early PTSD
  • Immediate needs: water, non-perishables, medical supplies, gas
  • Importance of triaging immediate needs; next steps; longer term rebuilding; places that were “wiped off the face of the earth”

Stories of Hospice Help:

  • Tina’s husband and Chris’s son, harvesting portable gas cans, filling and driving them to hospices in need for staff to make patient visits.
  • Mike Smith from Hospice of Iredell County "brought tons of water and food to Four Seasons, first thing on Monday morning."
  • Dave Cook from Hosparus and Bluegrass (Kentucky) "are putting together right now, water, non-perishables, medical supplies. I think they're trying to make a run here in the next two days or so."
  • Drew Mihalyo from Dragonfly DME & Pharmacy "called all of the CEO's that he works with. They're trying to position additional supplies because of concerns of disruption, you know, to add insult to injury, the whole dock workers strike is something that has us concerned for that supply chain as well."

What can you do? You may help TCN's hospice members impacted by clicking on the links below

Editor's note:  This list is a starting point. For other hospices affected by Helene, please email (with a link similar to those above) to Publisher and Editor in Chief. 

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