(Clay Center, Kansas) – Throughout November, Meadowlark Hospice will be joining organizations across the nation in hosting community activities recognizing National Hospice and Palliative Care Month. This year’s theme is “Courageous Conversations.”

Meadowlark Hospice is planning proclamation signings throughout our service area of Clay, Cloud, Marshall, Republic, Western Riley, and Washington Counties. In addition, we are working with local public libraries to coordinate educational displays, helping those in our service area to educate themselves to start their own “courageous conversations”.

In a culture that often teaches us to resist mortality and a healthcare system defined by interventionism, the seemingly simple act of having a conversation about dying can have a profound impact. If I am faced with a terminal diagnosis, how would my values shape my end-of-life journey? How do I want my loved ones to engage with me toward the end of my life? It’s difficult to think about these questions but having these courageous conversations with ourselves, family, friends, and doctors can mean the difference between having the type of death a patient wants – one that matches up with their values and desires – and one that doesn’t allow them to have a say in their own end-of-life journey. Throughout Hospice and Palliative Care Month this November, NHPCO is encouraging everyone to have these Courageous Conversations to start a meaningful dialogue on “dying a good death.”

Each year, over one million Medicare beneficiaries receive care from hospices across the United States. Hospice teams craft plans of care that ensure pain management, therapies, and treatments all centering on the patients’ and their loved ones’ goals and wishes. Hospice care also provides emotional support and advice to help family members become confident caregivers and adjust to the future with grief support for up to a year.

For more than 39 years, Meadowlark Hospice has helped provide interdisciplinary, supportive care, allowing patients to spend their final months wherever they call home, surrounded by their loved ones.

In our own Meadowlark Hospice community, a family member of a patient recently said, “It is with tremendous thanks that we offer our appreciation for you all. The nurses who provided love and care as well as everyone behind the scenes were all instrumental in helping care for our loved one. Thank you for your attention to all the details and for the work you do day in and day out.”