Life's Journeys
Sports
A message from Dottie Deremo,
President/CEO, Hospice of Michigan
his year Hospice of Michigan
marks its 20th anniversary.
Twenty years ago we were
pioneers in what was then a new
health care industry.
T
enjoy life, their family and friends,
and make contributions to society.
It's so important to allow time for
this so that people are prepared for
the end, instead of in crisis."
Hospice care fills a need
Preparing for life's end
We have come a very long way
from our beginnings: a cramped
office space in the Southfield
Rehabilitation Center and beds for
just five patients. Known then as
Hospice of Southeastern Michigan,
we accepted our first patients in
November 1980, following two years
of intense study and planning. Today,
as Hospice of Michigan, we are a
model for hospice programs across
the nation.
Three staff members from those
early days still are employed by
Hospice of Michigan. Eileen Walewski
oversees patient financial services.
Mary Zaremski is a registered nurse
at Farmington Hills Hospice Home.
Marilyn Brady is a registered nurse
working in our quality and compli-
ance department. Marilyn joined our
organization when it had existed for
just 10 months, but she had actually
sought this assignment from the very
beginning.
What brought Marilyn to Hospice?
Why has she stayed so long in this
demanding environment?
Marilyn's message echoes a mes-
sage I have stated repeatedly in this
column: notify Hospice of Michigan
when it becomes clear there will be
a final stage to an illness, not just
final days.
Throughout our 20-year history, we
have partnered with many health care
organizations in research activities
that focus on understanding and
treating pain, managing symptoms.
and utilizing an interdisciplinary
team to meet the needs of mind,
body and spirit. It is the spiritual
aspect that has led us to establish
programs specific to the needs of
different cultural groups. Jewish
Hospice is an example.
Interest in the hospice movement
continues to grow. Today there are
more than 3,000 across the country,
including 100 in Michigan.
This progress is particularly mean-
ingful to Marilyn Brady who, for 20
years, has spread the good word
about the way hospice can mitigate
fear and suffering for families con-
fronting the end of life.
"We're continually learning and
evolving," she says. "The real heroes
are the families and caregivers. We
are a resource and offer support. It is
their lives that stop while they walk
that last walk wil.h loved ones."
For additional information about
our Jewish Hospice program, call
Bobbie Blitz, our Jewish liaison spe-
cialist, at 248-443-5907, or page her
at 248-966-8262.
A better way
Marilyn will tell you that she had
lost three loved ones within a 10-
month period. Trained as an oncology
nurse, she helplessly watched them
die in hospitals and in pain, and she
vowed there had to be a better way.
She became interested in the work
of Dame Cicely Saunders in England.
Saunders emphasized holistic hospice
care: pain management for physical
symptoms; acts of kindness for spiri-
tual and emotional well-being. Marilyn
found her niche with hospice.
Marilyn remembers that it was
Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan
that first organized a Hospice board
to begin a three-year demonstration
project, bringing together a consor-
tium of 21 hospitals in Metro-Detroit.
Spiraling costs was a factor in this
project, but so was a belief that
people could die more comfortably
at home, away from a stark, clinical
environment. New medical technolo-
gies were keeping people alive
much longer and physicians, trained
to sustain life, often continued treat-
ment even when there was virtually
no hope. The question, Marilyn
asked, is when is enough, enough?
"What people gain from Hospice,"
she says,"is the knowledge that there
can be a peaceful exit with dignity
and comfort, and it can be for weeks
or even months. Our clientS, though
terminally ill, still desire to remain as
independent as possible and to
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Scott Lachman
Lachman Earns
Scholarship
Scott Lachman of Farmington Hills
has been awarded the second Jay
Robinson Memorial Scholarship.
Lachman, a sophomore at North
Farmington High School, will use the
$1,000 award to help defray the cost
of the B'nai B'rith Youth
Organization's three-week
International Leadership Training
Conference in Pennsylvania this sum-
mer.
Lachman has participated in the last
three JCC Maccabi Youth Games in
tennis and table tennis. He is a mem-
ber of North Farmington's varsity ten-
nis team, as well as school choirs and
student council.
He attends Shaarey Zedek Hebrew
High School and has volunteered at
Yad Ezra, the Salvation Army,
American and Juvenile diabetes foun-
dations, the American Cancer Society
and the Day of Sharing carnival.
Active in Jolson AZA, Lachman
served as BBYO Youth Leadership
Conclave coordinator.
The Robinson Scholarship is award-
ed in memory of Jay Robinson, who
was active in the Maccabi Youth
Games from 1982, when his son was
on the Detroit team at the first games
in Memphis, until the senior
Robinson's death in 1998. Robinson
was instrumental in the games being
hosted in Detroit in 1984, 1990 and
1998.
Robinson's widow, Barbara, chaired
the scholarshgip committee. She said
Lachman "embodied all the things Jay
would have hoped that someone
would get from the Maccabi experi-
ence. "