Guest Editorial
In July, Niagara Hospice will celebrate 30 years of service to the residents of Niagara County. Our organization has grown considerably and has helped over 25,000 families since 1988. This was made possible by a small group of dedicated volunteers that brought hospice care to Niagara County, and has been sustained by an incredible staff providing compassionate hands-on care of our patients.
National Nurses Week begins each year on May 6 and ends on May 12, Florence Nightingale's birthday. We would like to publicly thank and recognize the nurses who have chosen hospice care as their area of expertise. They are dedicated, compassionate nurses who share their hearts and hands every day for the comfort of their hospice patients.
True, it takes a special kind of person to be a hospice nurse. It is much more than a job; it is a true passion and a calling for professionals wishing to provide more one-on-one care to their patients, and to get to really know their patients and their family members. A hospice nurse's job holds difficult challenges, because we know our patients are going to die while under our care. It's our job, our duty, to make sure they are able to do it in the most comfortable and dignified way possible, and to counsel and guide their loved ones as they watch their family member slip away.
Nightingale said: "How very little can be done while under the spirit of fear." A hospice nurse's patients come to them in fear; coupled with the fear of their family, the hospice nurse does their very best to alleviate that fear and to be the "something else that can be done."
We would like to take this opportunity to thank our Niagara Hospice team of caring nurses during National Nurses Week. Thank you all for your remarkable empathy, your professionalism, and your willingness to always go the extra mile for your patients and their families.
Thank you to all the nurses out there for choosing a profession committed to providing selfless service to others.
Danielle Burngasser, R.N., C.H.P.N., V.P. of Hospice clinical operations
Janet Ligammari, R.N., director of facility services
Niagara Hospice
