Hospice nurses: specialized care, focused on comfort

Hospice nurses: specialized care, focused on comfort
Index Journal, Greenwood, SC; by St. Claire Donaghy; 5/7/25 
For hospice nurses Kayla Beaty and Elizabeth "Regina" Ross, their goal is to provide patients comfort rather than cures, in the face of life-limiting illness with irreversible decline. Beaty is a home care nurse. Ross is a hospice house nurse. The two are employed by Hospice and Palliative Care of the Piedmont, based in Greenwood. ... "In this line of work, you seek to provide comfort, find out a patient and families' true needs and build a rapport," Ross said. Ross' dad died when she was 12. "That's what started me wanting to be a nurse," Ross said. "My mother also took care of my grandmother in her home while I was growing up. What brought me to hospice was a sister passing, here at this Hospice House. She was only 40 years old. My mother died a year later and my oldest sister passed last month. It's not just a job to me. It's a work of heart." ... "Comfort looks different to everybody," Beaty said. "It's about quality of life. It's not all doom and gloom either. We have fun with our patients and laugh and joke. It's often little things we take for granted."
Editor's note: Reminder, National Nurses Week is May 6-12. It's crunch time. If not already, can you still reach out to your local media to feature a story about your nurses?