Taos County celebrates its hospice workers
During the month of November, which has been named National Hospice and Palliative Care Month, hospice care workers around the United States and here in Taos are being recognized for their work helping people approach death with dignity and support.
Haley Vickery is a community liaison for ANVOI Palliative and Hospice Care, a small privately owned hospice organization (formerly Taos Hospice). Vickery said National Hospice Care Month is an opportunity to help spread awareness around what this important work means.
“It’s about awareness and about education, and...well, what I hope to do is give the community a not so fearful look at hospice,” said Vickery.
Hospice and palliative care is a care giving approach to help improve the quality of life of a patient who is terminally ill or suffering from a severe illness. To qualify for hospice care, two medical doctors have to certify that a patient is terminally ill or has a six-month or less life expectancy. Services often include home-based physical care and emotional support services for patients and their families.
“We just guide people through the stages at the end of life. [We] try to make the transition a little, a little...I don’t want to say easier, because it’s not easy, but less burdensome,” said Robyn Chavez, ANVOI director of clinical services.
Chavez said there is a lot that goes into preparing for a person’s death. She noted that preparation can be mentally, physically, financially and sometimes spiritually taxing on patients and their families. Hospice care seeks to alleviate some of those problems. She also said some people tend to live longer when on hospice because of the care they receive.
“We not only are saving people an extreme amount of stress and confusion, while they’re going through treatments or while they’re trying to navigate a serious illness. But we also save the healthcare system an incredible amount of money by reducing unnecessary medications, unnecessary [emergency room] visits, unnecessary hospital admissions,” said Jacob Crisp, the director of business development and palliative care program manager for Mountain Home Health.
Crisp said running a nonprofit offering hospice and palliative care can be challenging in a rural setting like Northern New Mexico.
He said there was a rural incentive that ended in 2020, which offered four percent in added Medicare benefits for hospice care facilities in rural settings. Crisp said that as a result of that Medicare cut, it’s been costly to travel to patients in rural areas.
People outside large metro areas, like much of Northern New Mexico, tend to experience more illness due to a lack of access to quality nutrition and medical services.
“Being in a place that is underresourced, not only medically, but socially...all of that impacts health,” he said. “And, we tend to have a sicker patient than maybe your more urban area where there’s going to be resources that they can access.”
Crisp also emphasized the importance of providing spiritual care to patients.
Rose Gordon has worked as a spiritual care and bereavement provider for Mountain Home Health for seven years. Gordon said that spiritual care is different from religious care. Her role is to offer emotional support and listen to patients and families mental health and spiritual needs.
She said that working in hospice care has informed her views on death and dying throughout the years.
“Our life and our death is a tremendous mystery. And those mysteries can’t be addressed by a formula. Leaving life, living life, let me say it that way...living life and then leaving takes tremendous courage,” said Gordon.
Hospice care can be taxing and difficult for some workers, too. Mary Walker, the intake coordinator for Mountain Home Health said it can be tough to be so close to the emotions of losing a loved one.
“I’ll admit, I have choked up on the phone with people and, because sometimes … thinking about losing someone, even if they’re 98 years old it’s hard for people. But sometimes we have unexpected situations and much younger people and it’s just...it can be difficult,” said Walker.
But Chavez said her job is also tremendously rewarding. Since she’s worked in hospice, she said her views on death and dying have changed.
“Everyone kind of shies away from the conversation about death. But to me, from what I’ve seen, it can be really peaceful, it can be special, it can be closure for a family and kind of almost a relief,” said Chavez.
Feedback from families
Jacob Salazar wasn’t very familiar with hospice when his father was admitted on hospice services with Mountain Home Health. He said his father was able to die, without much pain and in the comfort of his own home.
“[Hospice is] one of the most amazing services and... under utilized. I think that it really provides a space for people to grieve in a very healthy, holistic way during a very challenging time,” said Salazar.
Barbara Coca’s mother was on hospice services with ANVOI. Coca and her family said that hospice caregivers were there around the clock to care for her mother’s needs.
“They spent the night with us, they slept on the floor, they never left our side,” said Coca. “She was so afraid to die in the hospital. Hospice being available at home, where somebody is used to living their entire life, it’s just a blessing that these medical angels can come and help us [with] that transition into that next phase.