Medi Home Health & Hospice in Petersburg, Richmond, and Charlottesville seeks to ensure all our patients in Virginia find relief from pain due to life-limiting illnesses. You can help another find comfort and solace by volunteering your time for a patient of hospice. We want you to feel appreciated, educated, energized, and informed!
Medi Home Health & Hospice Offers Donations in Support of Community
This July Santa Clause delivered in the form of Medi staff members! In the spirit of generosity and giving, Medi Home Health & Hospice in Petersburg, Charlottesville, and Richmond, VA collected and donated everyday items to help families going through difficult times. Canned goods and personal care items of all sorts were brought in by Medi staff to create special gift baskets. Health care workers and physicians in the community who Medi partners with were then asked to submit stories of families who would benefit from receiving a gift basket. Hopefully this act served as a welcome relief to a family in a time of need. Pay compassion forward and help make the world a bit easier for someone else.
We wish blessings to all and all a good night!
Donations offered by Medi Home Health & Hospice to help a family in need.
The Medi Richmond office's donations from staff.
Gift baskets created for Charlottesville families in need.
Medi Home Health & Hospice of Charlottesville was featured on CvilleSeniors.org.
Have ideas on how to give back to the community? Looking for a volunteer opportunity? Please call Medi Home Health & Hospice at 804-282-4301 and ask to speak to the Volunteer Coordinator today!
Hospice in the United States is strictly regulated by the Joint Commission on Health Care.
Take a look at the 2014 Home Care National Patient Safety Goals as developed by the JCHC.
- Identify patients correctly
Use at least two ways to identify patients. For example, us the patient's name and date of birth. This is done to make sure that each patient gets the correct medicine and treatment
- Use medicines safely
Record and pass along correct information about a patient's medicines. Find out what medicines the patient is taking. Compare those medicines to new medicines givne to the patient. Make sure the patient know which medicines to take when they are at home. Tell the patient it is important to have their up-to-date list of medicines every time they see a doctor.
- Prevent infection
Use the hand cleaning guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the World Health Organization. Set goals for improving hand cleaning. Use goals to improve hand cleaning.
- Prevent patients from falling
Find out which patients are most likely to fall. For example, is the patient taking medications that might make them weak, dizzy, or sleepy? Take action to prevent falls for these patients.
- Identify patient safety risks
Find out if there are any risks for patients who are getting oxygen. For example, fires in the patient's home.
These are some of the basic standards which home health care organization must meet to qualify as an accredited institution caring for patients as designated by the JCHC. More information can be found on their website.
Medi Home Health & Hospice seeks to meet and exceed these standards in our care for patients and their families. Every Medi staff member, including hospice volunteers, are educated on the basics of hospice. We strive for excellence and personal attention in our care, to create a safe, comfortable environment for all.
Each volunteer completes a comprehensive hospice training to become prepared to support and visit terminally ill patients. Volunteers must be comfortable with the special task of caring for others who are at the end of their life. If you are interested in learning more about volunteering for hospice, please contact our office at (804) 282 - 4301.
Terminally ill patients in our communities of Richmond and Petersburg, VA deserve the best, most compassionate care in their final days. Patient families also deserve attention and care when going through the the lose of a loved one. Medi Home Health & Hospice continues that attention and care for the family after their loved one has passed away. Our volunteer led memory bear program provides a special way for families to process their loss and reflect on more positive times experienced with someone they loved. Sewers take clothing of patients provided by family members and create unique stuffed bears. These memory bears can be positive, lasting mementos in the lives of surviving friends and family. Take a look below at some of the delightful craft work by one of Medi's talented volunteers.
Two bears for two sisters made from their mother's green and pink robes.
Nine little bears for nine grandchildren to remember their grandmother.
One paisley printed bear with nine little bears.
If you enjoy sewing or begin visiting patients as a volunteer for Medi Hospice, please contact our office for more information as to how you can get started making a special difference in others' lives today!
In hospice every other week we hold meetings where the entire team comes together to discuss all patient care plans. These are called IDG, or Interdisciplinary Group, meetings. During this time the nurses, aides, chaplains, clinical manager, medical director, social workers, chaplains, and volunteers are provided the opportunity to discuss any developments of patients physical, spiritual, psychological, or emotional needs over the previous two weeks.
Before we begin our IDGs at Medi, one of our chaplains usually takes time to reflect on a local or national event which may have impacted us and offer a prayer, song, or reading. These spiritual moments can help center the team and can give everyone a renewed or unique perspective to take with them through the coming days.
Last week Chaplain Erin was kind enough to share some thoughts about "breaking down" which I would like to share with all of you. Often times in life we feel special moments passing us by. There are sights, sounds, smells, conversations, and much more we experience on a daily basis. We may wish that we could stop time, break down, and hold on to these experiences longer.
It could be a gold, summer sunset.
A long talk with your parent.
The homemade taste of a dinner freshly cooked.
A hug from someone you love.
I was reminded of a scene from one of my favorite shows "Mad Men". In this scene ad man Donald Draper is pitching his idea for advertising a new product Kodak developed to some of the execs of Kodak. Draper wants these execs to buy into his advertising approach. The background information on this scene is less important than the feelings it evokes. Don's words as he flips through pictures of his family can be both haunting and touching, regardless if we know his story or not, because we can relate to his ideas. Captured in the soft music, smokey room, and Don's voice is a yearning for the past. The wish to stop time. To go back and experience things we once had.
Nostalgia.
These moments can be beautiful, meaningful, and insightful. And we may wish to hang on to them a little longer than time allows us. On the other side of these moments is a pain in knowing that they do not last forever. As if we are passengers on a train chugging down a track, our lives keep moving forward despite the passing of these experiences into memory. All we are able to do is lock away those memories in our minds and reflect while making the best of the present. Pictures, songs, thoughts and other things serve as nostalgic tools to bring us back to days gone by.
At the end of her spiritual reflection, Erin shared with us a song. I share the same song with you here... And if you are in need of a "breakdown", a little time to stop and take in the moment around you, I hope it comes your way soon.
Medi Hospice in Petersburg Reaches Level One Recognition
As a proud partner of the national We Honor Veterans program, we continue our efforts to promote awareness of veteran end of life issues in our south side Virginia community. For those of you in our faithful readership who missed the big announcement, here is the link to the post back in January.
This program looks to create a health care system ready and able to accommodate the unique needs military vets and their families may have at the end of life. Hospices across the country strive to accomplish these goals of accommodating and appropriately respecting our veterans with this special campaign. Through continued staff education on topics such as post traumatic stress disorder , community partnerships between organizations providing care to veterans, and events recognizing the sacrifice made by our military personnel, we hope to ensure that veterans are able to enjoy the highest quality of care and life possible while dealing with terminal illness.
The program consists of four achievement levels required of hospices to gain recognition and continue to increase the reach of the We Honor Veterans message, all the while providing practical, useful information to health care providers regarding veterans and recognizing veterans for their sacrifices. Each level asks hospices to complete specific tasks as a systematic, grassroots way of spreading the We Honor Veterans campaign. Progress through the four levels is tracked and approved by We Honor Veterans, with level four being the highest, most difficult achievement.
To reach Level One, for instance, a hospice must provide 3 educational in-services on the We Honor Veterans program to its own staff. The hospice must also reach out to community partners to advertise the program and establish a contact person at a nearby Veteran Affairs office. In addition to those requirements, a hospice must create and implement a Military History Checklist into the admission process for patients. The checklist provides the hospice an opportunity to gather details of the patient's military service, such as the branch, time period, and locations they may have served. Implementing this individualized information into the plan of care allows hospices to understand the patient's military past and see that they are receiving the benefits available to them in their time of need.
Medi's Partner Level 1 certificate
Medi Home Health & Hospice of Petersburg, VA is proud to announce that we have achieved the Level One milestone as set forth by the We Honor Veterans program! We are already working hard towards Level Two and would love your help along the way! If you or someone you know would like to get involved as a volunteer of our hospice, please contact Travis Kennedy, the Volunteer Coordinator at 804-732-0108 or via e-mail at tkennedy@msa-corp.com. We would be especially grateful for any military veterans who are willing to take the time to visit veteran patients for at least one hour per week, serving as a friend and companion. A volunteer may be one of the last good things to happen in a patient's life, so please consider donating a little of your time to others.
