Hospice staff members, Matt Hanlin, RN, Sarah Thornton, RN, Joanne Obert, CNA, and Ariel Mehochko, CNA, received Who’s Your Angel awards presented by the Blessing Foundation on March 23, 2022.
Lynn Wiewel, daughter of recent Blessing Hospice & Palliative Care patient, Timothy J. Wiewel, acknowledged these four care workers by saying:
“This wonderful team of amazing people helped me and my father (Tim Wiewel) throughout the most difficult time of our lives. Every single one of them went above and beyond in the way that they not only provided excellent, empathetic care to my father, but always took the time to check in on me as well.
JoAnne and Ariel were two of the most hard-working, jovial people I have ever had the pleasure of working with. My dad could be quite the handful (to say the least), but this team never even broke a sweat. I was so grateful to have their help and always looked forward to seeing them.
Sarah was the nurse we had at the beginning, who helped us understand fully what hospice entailed, and made us feel comfortable and confident in our decision to go with this program. She was incredibly kind, always patient with our many questions we posed, and most importantly, you could tell she genuinely cared. While we missed her during her maternity leave, it was a true comfort to have had her be the one on call when he passed. I will be eternally grateful for her calm presence and support during that time.
This leads me to Matt - words cannot even begin to describe what a huge impact he had on our lives. My father was an incredibly stubborn man who was set in his ways; yet somehow, Matt managed to get through to him in a special way that not only kept dad calm, but also got him to do things that I never could (like drinking his ensures or trying harder to move around)! In addition to the absolute top-notch care that Matt provided, he always took it upon himself to spend some extra time with me. Where most people just do their jobs and go home, Matt was consistently reaching out to me to see how I was holding up or if I needed any additional support. I know he had an enormous workload, but you would never know this by the way he was so patient and always made us feel like we were the most important people in the world. The condolences I received from him after dad passed were incredibly heartfelt and meant the world to me. Blessing truly has a one-of-a-kind gem on their hands with Matt, and it gives me great comfort in knowing that other hospice patients and their caregivers are being supported by someone so genuine.”
The “Who’s Your Angel?” program is an opportunity for patients and their families to express their appreciation to anyone in the health system who had a positive Influence in their healthcare experience. The donor makes a financial gift of any size in the name of the employee and writes up a story sharing their experience. The Foundation deposits the gift to the patient care area or restricted fund that most closely matches the employee being honored, in this case, the deposit was made to the Blessing Hospice – Big Hearts TAPP specific purpose fund. 100% of the donations to the Foundation are used for the needs of patients in medical necessity and financial disability.
The Foundation deposits the gift to the patient care area or restricted fund that most closely matches the employee being honored. Any staff member can be nominated and nomination forms can be found in over 35 different departments within the health system, from Palmyra to Pittsfield, to Golden and more!
For more information regarding the “Who’s Your Angel?” program, or giving of any kind to Blessing Health System, contact The Blessing Foundation at 217-223-8400, Ext. 4800, or by clicking here.