Blessing Hospice is dedicated to providing exemplary End of Life Care to the community. To help meet that mission, Blessing Hospice has several programs and services available.

• Blessing Hospice HOPE Project: Whether big or small, hopes and dreams have the power to transform how we see our present and look ahead to the time we have left.
  
  Blessing Hospice understands that hope is never ending and can provide great comfort and strength.
  
  The Blessing Hospice HOPE Project provides our patients and their loved ones with an opportunity to fulfill a special hope or remaining wish as they approach the end of life.  This wish may be for a special outing, a computer with the ability to stay connected to family and friends, or a party to recognize a special anniversary or birthday. It may be to go outside on a sunny day for ice cream or leave a recorded message for family to hear as their life unfolds. Whatever your hope, the Blessing Hospice HOPE Project wants to help you fulfill your wish.
• We Honor Veterans: Blessing Hospice is proud to be a Level 1 partner of We Honor Veterans, a program of the National Hospice & Palliative Care Organization and the Veteran’s Administration. As a partner in this program Blessing Hospice recognize the unique needs of Veteran’s and their families. Blessing Hospice staff and volunteers are prepared to help veterans journey through their life stories and help the veteran and their family achieve understanding, acceptance and a peaceful end of life experience.
• Big Heart TAPPS: Thanks to a generous initial donation in 2004 and ongoing community donations, the TAPPS fund’s only purpose is to bring families together at the end of life. Whether the need is assistance in purchasing gas to visit a family member, or a ticket for transportation for a faraway family member to make a final visit, Big Heart TAPPS may help meet this need. 
• Music Therapy: Music is a enjoyable way to provide healing benefits to address the physical, cognitive, social, and emotion needs of individuals at the end of life. More than a music activity, music therapy assesses the strengths and needs of patients and provides a treatment plan that includes singing, moving, listening, and creating music to provide comfort and support.
• Massage Therapy: Touch can be magic. In the hands of a skilled therapist, massage can ease pain and anxiety, enhance relaxation, and promote inner peace for patients at the end of life. Massage can also help families make a connection with their loved one and bring a sense of peacefulness as patients and families make this journey together. Massage therapy can be a powerful tool to enhance quality of life and improve an overall sense of well-being.
• Volunteers: Hospice volunteers are an important part of the hospice team that may help meet some of the short term, nonmedical needs of hospice patients and their families. From reading to a patient, to accompanying a patient in a long-term care facility to an activity, to making phone calls to check in with patients before the weekend, hospice volunteers provide support and compassion. 
• B.E.S.T.: The Bedside Emotional Support Team (B.E.S.T.) is a group of volunteers especially trained to provide presence and support to a hospice patient living in a facility who is without the support of family or friends during the final hours of life. These volunteers sit with the patient during the patient’s final hours, so the patient will not die alone.
• Bereavement Services: Blessing Hospice provides bereavement support to families for 12 months after the death of their loved one. Support is provided through visits, phone calls, a monthly newsletter, and an annual memorial service.
• Memory Bears: As part of the Blessing Hospice bereavement services, one memory bear or pillow is offered to the family of the hospice patient after the patient’s death.  This handcrafted item is made by a hospice volunteer, typically from an article of their love one’s clothing provided by the family. 
• Butterfly Moments: Blessing Hospice & Palliative Care annually sponsors Butterfly Moments as part of its commitment to provide end-of-life care to the whole person – body, mind and spirit – providing any area residents with a unique and beautiful way to remember deceased loved ones.  Participants receive their butterfly and after the reading of the honoree names, release them. The butterfly symbolizes the transition between life and death. The caterpillar forms its cocoon and prepares to leave the life it knows, becoming a lovely butterfly and beginning a new life.  The butterfly release provides the community an opportunity to share with others and honor the memory of a deceased loved one.

For additional information regarding these programs and services, contact a member of your Blessing Hospice team.